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Thirst for craft beer on the rise at Matthew Clark's boutique beer fest

Published:  08 August, 2016

Matthew Clark reported a bumper number of visitors to its Boutique Beers Festival held at British Summertime Hyde Park this summer - up 20% on last year.

Matthew Clark reported a bumper number of visitors to its Boutique Beers Festival held at British Summertime Hyde Park last month - up 20% on last year.

It was their biggest craft beer and cider tasting to date with over 1,000 attendees travelling from across the UK.

Matthew Clark has seen a surge in demand for premium beer and cider over the past year, with volume sales of premium packaged lager up 18% and premium packaged cider up 41% in June 2016 compared to the same period last year.

In response, the on-trade distributor increased its offering during the July event, adding 18 beers and 25 ciders to the portfolio.

This took the total up to 200 beers and ciders from over 60 different craft brewers available from various festival tents, trucks and bars.

The thirst for craft beer was in full flow with over 5,000 pints of craft beers and ciders being pulled on the day along with over 1000 beer cocktails or 'hoptails'.

Matthew Clark's sister company, Peppermint, was the only bar operator at the British Summertime event, running 26 bars serving a range of premium beers from the Heineken and Caledonian Brewery range to the 345,000-strong crowds.

Justin Wylde, category manager beer, cider and softs at Matthew Clark, said: "It was a great opportunity to showcase our new range of beers and ciders, including the mellow malt flavours of the Wandsworth brew Stiff Upper Lip by By The Horns, the Jasmine rice infused Colorado Pilsner Crazy Mountain Creedance, the caramel hints of the first ever Chilean craft beer to be imported into Europe, Rothhammer Brave Red Ale and Sxollie from South Africa, made with 100% Golden Delicious apples."

Conviviality PLC acquired Matthew Clark in a £200million takeover in October 2015.

It then acquired a majority stake in Peppermint - currently one of the largest event bar operators in the UK - in November 2015.

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