Independent beer is made by real people who truly care about the quality and flavour of the beer they are producing. By choosing independent beer you’re not only getting a great tasting pint, but supporting local businesses, protecting pubs, and making a more sustainable choice.
Here at Chorlton Beer & Cider Festival, we’ve been supporting and promoting independent brewers since 2005.
The INDIE BEER campaign was launched in 2024 by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) with the support of CAMRA. It seeks to highlight and champion which beers and brewers are genuinely independent – brewed in the UK by a company that is UK based, UK owned and not be under the control of or connected with any other brewery.
Sadly, many beers appearing on bars around the county which are marketed to appear as small independent ‘craft’ breweries aren’t independent at all either having been bought, or in some cases, simply invented by one of the handful of global beer companies who dominate the beer market in the UK with around 80% of the beer sold in pubs coming from just six global companies.
The campaign toolkit includes a brewery checker tool which allows people to quickly check any brewery to find out if it is genuinely independent or owned by a global beer company such as Heineken, Budweiser, Asahi or Molson Coors. Find the checker at indiebeer.uk
Is your beer independent?
Here’s just a few beers which you’ll see on the bars of your local giving the impression that you’re getting a choice of independent brewers when you’re really just getting more from the same global giants.
- Bass – owned by Molson Coors, made by Carlsberg
- Beavertown – owned by Heineken
- Brixton – owned by Heineken
- Camden – owned by AB InBev
- Dark Star – owned by Asahi
- Fullers – owned by Asahi
- Madrí Excepcional – made by Molson Coors in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire
- Meantime – owned by Asahi
- Sharps – owned by Molson Coors
- Shipyard – made under license by Carlsberg
