New Beer Signals Bold Partnership with Barley Farmers

Scotland’s leading brewer, Tennent Caledonian, is this week celebrating an exciting new phase in its history with the launch of Caledonia Best – a distinctive beer that is rooted in a progressive new partnership with the nation’s barley farmers.

Caledonia Best was unveiled in Glasgow yesterday as the embodiment of this new focus on the grain at the heart of the glass, with the company’s brewers offering a first taste of the new pint to assembled guests.

The new beer has been created by bringing together the most experienced and the youngest master brewers into one team at Wellpark Brewery, combining centuries of brewing craft and expertise with bold new thinking around sourcing and sustainability in one high quality new pint.

The resulting beer is a refreshingly modern new pint that is perfectly balanced, sweet and smooth, with a malty, roast flavour and a pleasant hoppy bitterness.

Tapping into rising consumer demand in the ale market and Tennent Caledonian’s impressive and prolific ale heritage which dates back to 1556, the brewing team is championing a new commitment to its most important suppliers – Scotland’s barley farmers – with a commitment to 100 per cent use of Scottish barley for Caledonia Best to make a pint of distinction.

Activity will include:

• A strategic plan to forge new partnerships with Scottish farmers with longer term branded contracts that promote stability and complete traceability for the barley in every pint
• A 5p donation from every pint sold for the first six months from launch to create a seed fund to help sustain great Scottish brewing and farming which are core to our business
• An annual ‘doors open day’ at Wellpark Brewery for partner farmers from all over Scotland to visit the brewer
• The issue of Caledonia Best ‘field markers’ to display in the fields of partner farmers

Caledonia Best is the first Tennent Caledonian brand to use 100 per cent Scottish barley, however the company has announced that it will roll this out across the full Tennent’s range in the years ahead.

The company hopes its ambitious plans will enliven the traditional ale category and provide drinkers with fresh, distinctive brands to choose from at the bar – while also responding to the growing interest in the provenance of food and drink choices.

It also hopes that the dynamic new framework for the brewing and farming industries to work closely and productively together will reap benefits for both sides in the future – not just in creating high quality beers but in supporting and recognising the crucial input of the many Scottish farmers who are proud to grow barley for Scotland’s pre-eminent and best known brewer.

Tennent Caledonian’s recently appointed commercial managing director, Steve Annand, commented: "Tennent Caledonian over time has produced some of the market’s most successful beers, and we believe that the time is right in 2011 to continue that heritage and success with the launch of Caledonia Best.

"Caledonia Best is a superb new beer for our portfolio produced using the highest level of skill and expertise of our master brewers and with a bold new attitude that will be exciting for our drinkers and ensure the best quality of ingredients.

"Sourcing 100 per cent  of our barley from Scottish farmers is the right thing for us to do, and we now hope to capture and acknowledge the care and pride that is taken by our partner farmers in growing barley for our high quality beer with some of the initiatives that we have announced today."

Will Hamilton of Bee-edge Farm, situated on the Berwickshire coast, is one of the growers for Caledonia Best.

"The barley is world class here. I think it’s just tremendous that the barley I grow is going be used in a new Scottish beer.

"I get a real buzz out of growing quality barley and knowing that it goes into a real quality product, and for me that’s what farming is all about. I just can’t wait to taste some of the beer when it is produced, and to seeing something I’ve grown right through to when I taste the finished product."

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