Adnams toasts success of its new beers

Brewer Adnams toasted higher profits yesterday after a range of new beers helped it cope with “the most difficult year” it has faced.

The Suffolk-based firm said own-brewed beer volumes rose 5 per cent in the six months to June 30, as sales through off-licences and supermarkets rose 13 per cent and it held its prices for pub customers for the fourth year in a row.

Demand was boosted by new products such as pale ale Ghost Ship, a Diamond Ale to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee and a new low-alcohol beer.

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While it cited industry figures that showed cask ale volumes were down 2 per cent, Adnams managed to grow sales to its pub customers, even if volumes at its own 71 tenanted pubs, which are mainly in East Anglia, were slightly down amid the wash-out start to the summer.

Demand for its ales, including at 11 Cellar & Kitchen stores, helped operating profits rise 5.5 per cent to £857,000, while turnover was up 5 per cent to £25.8m. Chairman Jonathan Adnams, who is the fourth generation in his family to run the company, said: “We are pleased that against a market that is down somewhat, we have continued to grow beer volumes.

“It’s the most difficult year we have faced in terms of encouraging people to part with their hard-earned cash.”

The company was started in 1872 when George and Ernest Adnams bought the Sole Bay Brewery in Southwold.

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Two years ago, it opened a distillery, which has started producing vodka and gin, with orders from as far afield as Dubai, Canada and the Falkland Islands. Its first whiskeys, which are currently maturing, will go on sale next November.

More recently, the group had launched a new Flame Runner beer to help celebrate the Olympics, which had proved popu- lar.

But Mr Adnams said trade in London had been hit by the event as people vacated the city amid fears of widespread disruption.

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