FyneFest teams up with Indie Beer campaign
Scotland’s biggest beer and music festival FyneFest has joined forces with the UK-wide Indie Beer campaign to help put beer drinkers in touch with genuine independent breweries. Jessica Mason reports.
This year the event, which runs from 29-31 May in the surroundings of Glen Fyne, will only feature the very best beer from indie producers in a wide variety of styles – from hazy pales ales and traditional porters, to lagers, IPAs and speciality beers.
Look for the Indie Beer mark
Every beer glass and every beer hand-pull at the event will proudly carry the Indie Beer mark, leaving festival-goers in no doubt that what they’re drinking is the real deal.
Speaking to the drinks business, Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) head of comms and marketing Neil Walker who leads the Indie Beer campaign said: “Music festivals are dominated by global beer, with a captive audience, beer companies with huge budgets can control what’s being sold and attendees are forced to drink whatever is on offer – almost always pushing out beer from independent breweries.”
Walker pointed out that “FyneFest is the complete opposite, with a huge range of beers from genuine independent breweries it is the perfect festival to showcase the Indie Beer campaign. With the Indie Beer mark appearing on every glass, pump clip and bar across the event attendees are left in no doubt what they’re buying is the real deal.”
Fyne Ales head of marketing Aidy Fenwick told db: “Independent breweries are a huge part of what makes FyneFest special. From the very beginning, our festival has been about bringing people together to celebrate great independent beer, and showcasing the incredible talent within UK brewing. That’s why partnering with Indie Beer UK is such a natural fit.”
A shared belief
Fenwick explained: “We share a belief that independent breweries are vital to the culture and communities they serve, and we’re proud to help champion the people and businesses behind them. And as we’re lucky enough to be celebrating 25 years of brewing this year, it feels particularly pertinent.”
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Describing the tie-up, Fyne Ales managing director Jamie Delap also added: “Since its inception, FyneFest has always been about celebrating the best beers produced by independent breweries right across the UK. We are delighted to be working with SIBA to promote the Indie Beer brand, so that all our festival goers can understand how important this is to independent breweries.”
More than 700 independent breweries across the UK, many of which will be on the bars at FyneFest, are now actively enrolled in Indie Beer, and since launch the campaign has had real cut through with consumers – with 31% of young (18-24) beer drinkers now aware of the campaign and a growing fanbase of beer drinkers signed up in support.
Walker admitted that he is “delighted to be working with Fyne Ales, who are not only superb independent brewers themselves but who have also created an event in FyneFest which is a perfect showcase a huge number of other indie brewers”.
Seeking what is genuinely independent
He added: “ It’s going to be an amazing event and we can’t wait to see Indie Beer loud and proud across every bar and beer glass.”
Beer fans can find out more about Indie Beer via the IndieBeer.UK website, including access to the brewery checker tool – which allows beer drinkers to quickly look-up any brewery in the UK and see if they’re independent or not.
The initiative has been positioned to make it much easier to find out if the ‘craft beer’ people are buying is actually owned by a global beer company or is genuinely independent.
Fyne Ales will also be joining indie brewers from across Scotland in showcasing their beers at another beer festival next month, the upcoming Indie Beer Scotland in Edinburgh (26-27 June), which boasts “the biggest selection of Scottish beers available anywhere on earth”.
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