Weekender: Yorkshire breweries to feature in Portland as part of beer exchange
Beer from across the Northern Powerhouse regions will be shipped to Portland, Maine, next month, as part of a beer exchange following the Leeds International Beer Festival (6-9 September).
The beer exchange comes after the Maine Brewers’ Guild, a group of craft brewers from Maine, brought its ‘Maine Beer Box’ to Leeds for the beer festival.
The box is a custom-built container, complete with 78 beer taps and a fully self-contained draught system
Representatives of the Maine Brewers’ Guild attended the four-day festival, during which guests were offered a selection of beers from 65 of Maine’s breweries.
The beer box will now be repacked with beer from across the North of England, with Leeds’ North Brewing Co already signed up to take part.
The Northern Powerhouse beers will be featured at the Winter Session International Beer Festival in November.
This trade mission to Portland, organised by the Department for International Trade (DIT), takes place between the 4th to the 10th of November.
The latest export figures show that Yorkshire breweries are selling more products into the US market. The region’s beverage manufacturers almost doubled their overseas trade to the US from £4.9m in 2012 to £8.8m in 2017, according to HMRC data.
The beer exchange is being supported by Food is GREAT, a UK government initiative led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and DIT.
Sean Sullivan, executive director of Maine Brewers’ Guild, said: “UK brewers are hugely influential within the American craft beer industry. This partnership is extremely exciting as we’ve been able to join forces with a region and bring back some of Yorkshire’s finest craft beers via our Maine Beer Box.
“We hope to continue this collaboration and it helps to influence the success we are having with craft beer in Maine.”
Stephen Noblett, international trade adviser food and drink sector specialist for DIT Yorkshire and the Humber, added: “The Maine Beer Box exchange has been an incredible opportunity for brewers across Yorkshire to showcase what they have to offer an international audience. Maine is renowned for its craft beer tourism, so we are excited to have Yorkshire craft beer showcased in such a discerning and important craft beer market whilst at the festival in November.
“There has been a significant rise in the number of craft beer exports over the past year, a trend I hope will continue. We are seeing breweries benefitting from this beer boom across the region and with the right support, I know other brewers can reap the benefits of exporting to a global audience.”
