Over the last few weeks, the Guild Board has received several emails and one official complaint about the promotion of Cask Ale Week by Cask Marque.
At the end of last week, Cask Marque director Paul Nunny resigned as director and treasurer for the British Guild of Beer Writers with immediate effect. The T-shirt at the centre of the complaint has now been changed. Cask Marque has made it clear to the board that the intention was never to offend anyone, and it will continue to engage with the BBPA’s “Open to All” charter and other appropriate industry initiatives.
Beer is for everyone. This is a fact that underpins everything we do as beer writers, broadcasters and communicators and is a core value of the British Guild of Beer Writers. Cask Marque has an important role to play in the promotion of the cask ale category so the board hopes that everyone will use the recent events to learn how to talk about beer in a more inclusive and constructive way.
The board would also like to recognise and thank Paul Nunny for all his hard work on behalf of the Guild to date.
The Guild Board will appoint a Director as interim Treasurer at the next board meeting, and the handover of day-to-day Guild finance operations from Paul will be completed by the end of the year.