Faitrade Fortnight

Fairtrade fortnight starts on Monday and runs, rather predictably, for a fortnight.

According to the Fairtrade website there are only four Fairtrade beers produced in the UK. That comes as a bit of a surprise to me although admittedly I cannot think of any that aren't on that list.

Additionally the Mongozo beers from Huyghe in Belgium are readily available over here, if you like that sort of thing.

Faitrade is a cause well worth supporting and there's no better excuse to support than during this fortnight.

I've still got my bottle of Freeminer's latest Fairtrade beer which I will get round to drinking and reviewing during the next couple of weeks.

New UK Fairtrade Beer

Freeminer Brewery of Gloucestershire are producing a new beer exclusively for the Co-Op chain of supermarkets. They already produce a couple of beers for them, one of which is fairtrade. This one is both fairtrade and organic.

I seek out new beers regardless of how ethical they may be, but I do like to shop fairtrade if at all possible.

Fairtrade beer in the UK usually means honey, and UK honey beers just don't float my boat. I can't even say I'm that struck by Belgian beers using honey. I drank a bottle of fairtrade Wychwood BeeWyched immediately after my bottle of Ruddles Rhubarb and I actually preferred the Rhubarb nonsense. The other Freeminer fairtrade beer Bumble Bee is also disappointing.

The difference here though, is that the fairtrade product is Demerera Sugar. Now obviously I am expecting another sweet beer, but at least it won't be bloody honeyfied. Hopefully after this, brewers can consider using other fairtrade products more often. I look forward to trying it and filing my report.