Real ale challenge to Welsh brewers

Award-winning West Wales brewer Evan-Evans has sent out a challenge to the rest of the Welsh brewing industry to accept the need for a unique Welsh Quality Marque for beers produced in Wales.

“We need to protect the excellence of the Welsh brewing sector by setting benchmark standards that all brewers should achieve,” said Simon Buckley, Chief Executive of Evan-Evans, based in Llandeilo.

“We are seeing an increasing number of brewers setting up in Wales, many of whom who do not produce beer of commercial quality.

“We need to create a Welsh Beer Marque that says to the rest of the world that the brewers that hold the marque brew to the very highest standards, using only the finest raw materials, and use production methods that produce high quality cask and bottled ale.

“Too many brewers use artificial sugars and additives, and if we are to protect the values and identity of the Welsh brewing industry, and, in particular, the specialist brewers of Wales, we need to have a benchmark that all brewers can be judged by.

“The consumer then knows that the beers produced by that brewery, meet the threshold test for quality and excellence. Do our consumers really know what brewers put in their beers? At Evan-Evans we think they should know.

“Those that don’t achieve the standards should be helped to achieve them over a period of time, so that we can get to a position in the next three to five years where the Principality is seen as the centre of excellence for craft brewing in the UK.

“Each year we see more and more brewers coming to the market claiming to brew great Welsh ales, when, in fact, the beers are not always of quality, or meet the commercial palette that is needed.

“Bad beers give the brewers of Wales a bad name, when, in fact, the specialist brewers of Wales brew some of the finest beers in the UK, if not the world.

“Consumers and tourists alike now want the confidence that what they drink is brewed to the very highest standards, is made from the very best raw materials and has genuine Welsh provenance.

“My challenge therefore is to get the specialist brewers of Wales to rally behind the ‘Dragon of Wales’ brewing marque, and to create the base standard of brewing in Wales at a level that will be envied by others throughout the UK.”