South Wales Echo

BRAINS DRAIN

40,000 PINTS OF BEER SCRAPPED BY CARDIFF BREWERY OVER QUALITY CONCERNS

- THOMAS DEACON Reporter thomas.deacon@walesonlin­e.co.uk

BRAINS brewery has scrapped almost 40,000 pints of beer in recent months over quality concerns.

The iconic brewer has binned thousands of litres of beer since June because of problems with the way it tasted.

In June, the company confirmed it got rid of around 36,000 pints of Brains Bitter from the former brewery in Cardiff city centre.

Since moving to its new brewery on the outskirts of the capital, the brewery has now confirmed it was withdrawin­g between 1,750 and 2,100 pints of beer that do not meet its “standards”.

It is understood that a number of bars across Cardiff city centre have been affected in recent weeks, with customers complainin­g about the taste of some of the beer.

In June, Brains recalled the faulty batch and the company believed most of it was spotted before it ended up in pubs.

Yesterday, the brewery said the latest affected batch was “primarily” Brains Bitter.

Brains confirmed the two incidents were not related.

Although the current affected batch is still drinkable the company has decided to withdraw the barrels.

The company has taken the decision ahead of what is expected to be a busy weekend for its pubs across the capital for the Wales v England rugby match.

Tens of thousands of people are set to watch the match at the Principali­ty Stadium on Saturday.

The brewery estimates it will be withdrawin­g around 250 to 300 “containers” from trade in total in the latest recall. One container contains 72 pints.

In March, the company opened the new brewery on the outskirts of Cardiff in Tremorfa.

Brains moved from its iconic base near Cardiff Central train station with the area set to be redevelope­d.

Plans are under way to turn the former brewery into 2.5 million sq ft of office, residentia­l and leisure space.

Developmen­t work is set to commence later this year.

A Brains spokesman said: “At Brains, we maintain a system of quality control checks right through from the brewery to the glass.

“Unfortunat­ely, we have recently identified a number of casks of beer that while drinkable do not meet our high standards in every respect.

“As a result, we have taken the proactive decision to withdraw beer from these production batches from the distributi­on chain.

“We have already produced fresh supplies that have been rigorously checked and we have begun delivering these into pubs across our estate.

“We have taken this decision to ensure that we have the best quality beer available to all our customers and to make sure that supplies are ready for the busy rugby weekend ahead.”

The Brains Bitter affected is the traditiona­l “real ale” and not Brains Smooth.

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 ?? MATTHEW HORWOOD ?? Inside the new Brains Brewery and, inset, the outside of the building
MATTHEW HORWOOD Inside the new Brains Brewery and, inset, the outside of the building

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