3 Rivers brew on national festival list

October 25, 2007: A successful national distribution trial, encouraging customer feedback and positive recommendations from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) have helped earn 3 Rivers brewery's Murphy's Law (4.5%) a place alongside more well-known beers in next week's Wetherspoon Beer Festival.

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First brewed in 2006, at the request of a local landlord looking to offer customers an interesting guest beer, the occasionally produced, russet amber-coloured beer has a noticeable bitterness on the palate and is one of Reddish brewery 3 Rivers' less well-known but most highly regarded ales.

Its listing in the Wetherspoon Beer Festival programme has meant an initial order equivalent to almost 13,000 pints.

Mike Hitchen, founder, head brewer and managing director of 3 Rivers, is hoping that local enthusiasts visiting the popular Wetherspoon pubs in Stockport and Manchester will give his beer their backing by voting for it online, helping to boost its festival rating, and potentially securing additional national distribution agreements for other 3 Rivers beers in future.

He said: "The Wetherspoon festival provides a terrific opportunity for people to enjoy a wide range of wonderful beers from across the UK, most of which won't normally be available in their respective towns and cities.

"Perhaps customers will find themselves a new favourite drink and help a smaller, local brewery, like us, to expand the range of quality cask-conditioned ales available on the high street.

"There is no doubt that JD Wetherspoon has been an innovator as far as real ale sales have been concerned over the years, making more beers available and consistently supporting more independent brewers than the norm.

"It's also a fact that our association with them over the last few years has been extremely helpful to our expansion so I hope we can reward their faith in us by delivering their customers the perfect pint."

The opportunity to supply Murphy's Law for the duration of the festival follows on from the brewery's first national rotation with the pub giant which came about on the back of an agreement, in April this year, to provide an initial half a million pints of its best-selling brew, Manchester IPA (4.2%).

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