India has become St. Peter’s Brewery’s 50th export market and this milestone falls in the year that the company marks its 20th birthday.
St. Peter’s is the brainchild of John Murphy, founder of Interbrand, the worldwide branding consultancy and the firm which first identified ‘branding’ as an important business discipline.
Interbrand was also the firm which carried out the first ever formal brand valuation. Travelling around the globe in the 70’s and 80’s John Murphy was surprised not to see English beer on sale in
overseas markets and vowed, at some point, to see if an English beer could become an international Having sold Interbrand to Omnicom in 1993, Murphy decided to test his theory and purchased St.
Peter’s Hall, a 13th century moated manor house located in a beautiful, unspoilt rural area in north Siting the brewery at St. Peter’s was ideal because of the excellent quality of water extracted from a deep bore-hole and the brewery was built in an attractive range of traditional former agricultural buildings. St. Peter’s was one of the first ‘microbreweries’ in the UK.
Unusually for a small brewery, from the outset the company concentrated on bottled beers using a beautiful and unique oval-shaped bottle, a copy of one from Gibbstown, near Philadelphia which dates from c1770. The bottle is trademarked around the world to give St. Peter’s exclusivity of this shape for a beer bottle.
In the last 20 years the brewery has been expanded countless times adding new vessels to meet growing demand from around the world. Originally the brewery could brew 10 barrels (3,000 pints) per brew; it now has the capacity to brew 80 barrels a day. “Our aim”, says Managing Director Colin Cordy, “remains to brew high quality, traditional beers as well as differentiated and interesting premium ale and beers.
Around the world, different countries particularly enjoy different tastes. In Scandinavia, for example, consumers enjoy our dark beers including our famous Honey Porter; in the USA and Canada, organic beers and our multiple award-winning gluten free beer are very popular; in Mexico St. Peter’s Cream Stout sells by the container load and we are hoping that our latest market, India, will see our “Saints Whisky Beer” becoming a big seller in the country which is the largest market in the world for whisky”.
Export accounts for over 50% of the company’s sales and bottled beers are 87% of the company’s production with the balance for cask and keg beer for pubs and other on premise establishments. Keg beer sales are also growing in export markets, thanks to new technology which allows draught beer to be exported in one-way kegs which can be recycled and, with no transport necessary to return empty kegs to the UK, such packaging is better for the environment.
Commenting on the 20th anniversary Cordy said “We are delighted to start our anniversary year with our new deal to sell beer to India. Predicted to be a top 3 world economy within the next 15 years, we are pleased to be an early entrant into that market selling English beers. Adding new markets and reaching the milestone of 50 export markets further adds to the credibility of St. Peter’s as The International Brand of English Beer”.
Ends
The following photographs are available from this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/orhti2oy95fqk2f/AADQJQ3bHE4atKc4-g8iLrz5a?dl=0
1) John Murphy (left), Chairman and Founder of St. Peter’s Brewery and Colin Cordy (right), Managing Director.
2) Organic Ale is St. Peter’s best selling beer and is on sale in over 35 countries world-wide.
3) St. Peter’s Hall is the centre-piece of the brewery site. Built in c1280, the east wing was added in 1539. The materials used had previously formed the nearby Flixton nunnery, a small monastic house given to Cardinal Wolsey by King Henry VIII to help fund the Cardinal’s College of St. Mary in Ipswich.
4) The Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell is St. Peter’s pub in London. It is named after the Priory of St John of Jerusalem founded in 1140 of which St. John’s Gate is the most prominent remnant.
Background
Locally malted barley and wheat is used at St. Peter’s, together with quality hops to produce a wide range of premium beers and ales which are available in bottles, cask and keg.
The company has won an impressive number of awards in the last few years. The St. Peter’s range of bottled beers are brewery conditioned and then cold filtered to give a smooth rounded finish.
In the UK, Waitrose is our largest customer though we supply virtually all major retailers and wholesalers.
Major export markets include USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Mexico, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Australia. Other recent new markets include China, Taiwan and Singapore.
St. Peter’s also has one pub – the lovely and historic Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell, London which is renowned for its delicious ales and unique ambience.
‘The Saints Whisky Beer’ is produced using peated whisky made by the English Whisky Company at St. George’s Distillery, East Harling in nearby Norfolk.