Horsforth Brewery has launched Brewed in Leeds, a campaign celebrating the vibrant, diverse, and often-overlooked independent brewing scene in the city.
At the heart of the campaign is the Brewed in Leeds Beer Festival, which will take place from 22nd to 24th August at Horsforth Brewery’s taproom.
The festival will showcase cask and keg beers from across Leeds, celebrating the creativity and craft of the city’s brewers. Attendees will be asked to vote for a Champion Beer of Leeds.
In the run-up to the festival, Horsforth will be spotlighting local breweries on a dedicated Leeds Line at their taproom, rotating through every brewery in the city. Supporting bars will receive Brewed in Leeds point of sale material, including beer mats and table notices, and social media shout-outs.
Leeds breweries are taking part in a collaboration brew of a beer which will have its first pour at the Brewed in Leeds festival. It will then be available to venues in and around Leeds.
“Too many pubs and bars in Leeds are dominated by the same handful of beers,” said Mark Costello, founder of Horsforth Brewery. “Brewed in Leeds is about giving people a real choice — to support genuinely local, independent breweries who are grafting day in, day out to make something great.
“We’re not pretending to be the biggest, but we care deeply about doing things properly, supporting other small breweries, and reminding people that Leeds has a bloody brilliant beer scene that deserves to be shouted about.
“It’s not just about the beer. As local breweries we can offer support the big multi-nationals can’t. We can offer the best customer service, we can and do push people to your venues, and we can give advice on how to get the best out of the beer that is being poured.”
Festival tickets are available here.
A view from the bar
“In this extremely competitive market, you have a single moment in time to impress, capture, and nurture each new customer when they walk through your door, and that is before you even think of the beer proposition,” said Owen Wilson, operations manager at Against The Grain.
“We make sure ATG always has the best local beer proposition we can offer at all times, by reaching out and working with breweries who are able to respond, communicate, and educate our staff at each point of the process. This ensures, at any point, the beer we are pouring has been presented to our customer the way the original brewers intended it to be, and that it is kept in the optimum conditions to make sure every pour is the best it could possibly be.
“The local breweries we buy from operate on a level where the hands-on work and pride is evident at every stage of the brew, and they react and share knowledge personally with us as a beer bar that we could never receive from larger commercial breweries.
“There is a huge sense of community and collaboration that you can feel the second you walk into ATG bars, as a result of these close working relationships with the local breweries we choose to pour from across Leeds (and further afield). This chain throughout the breweries and bars is key to our customer experience and us retaining long term loyal trade!”
