Rapid growth in “craft” beers – with the UK now home to more breweries per head of the population than any other country – means UK drinkers are spoilt for choice.
But who knows a good beer from a not-so-good one? The answer, according to a group of self confessed “beer-loving business nerds” from Finland, is a new smartphone app, Pint Please.
Based on user feedback, the app lets beer-lovers rate the beers they’ve tried linked to where they were drunk, so that other users can seek them out – or know what to avoid.
Company CEO Juha Karppinen said: “Pint Please has 70,000 beer reviews on the app at the moment, and this is growing everyday. We’ve been building and testing the app for more than a year, and now we are preparing for a global launch with a focus initially on the UK as one of the world’s major beer-loving countries.”
Beer drinking in the UK is going from strength to strength (literally), according to statistics published by ONS (the Office for National Statistics). The number of microbreweries in London, within the M25, has increased to 70, bringing the number of craft and other brewers in total across the UK to more than 1,300, an increase of ten per cent from the previous year.
This number means there is approximately one brewery for every 50,000 Brits – and that equates to more breweries per head of population than any other country in the world. But for the team at Pint Please, the UK is the first step on a big mission, according to Karppinen.
He said: “We may be a bunch of beer-loving business nerds from the Arctic Circle, but Pint Please is a serious endeavour for us. We want to level the playing field in the beer market, so that smaller breweries get a better profile next to the bulk beer brands. Ultimately, our goal is to help people locate and drink better beer – and then signpost and share their experiences for others.”
Read more about craft beer:
- Heineken buys stake in Californian brewer to take “US craft beer vibe” global
- Craft beer craze continues as former Magners sales head joins Scottish brewery
- HonestBrew uses strong customer base to bottle up crowdfunding round
Pint Please is currently looking to raise funds from investors to support the global launch of the app, through increased brand-building activity and developing strategic links with microbreweries, retailers and pubs and other drinking locations, targeting a global market for craft beer worth in the region of £50bn, according to industry data.
Karppinen explained: “There are at least 200,000 beers in the world and this number is growing all the time. In London alone, there are around 7,000 pubs, some of which offer a minimal or poor beer selection, so where do people go to find the beers they might like? We provide a platform with these answers, and our user community is growing fast, and they are engaged and passionate about the subject.”
With beer the third most drunk liquid in the world after water and tea respectively, the Pint Please team believes the opportunity for bringing a community together through an engaging digital platform is not just a good idea, it is something the market really needs.
“We have brought together an outstanding team with experience in a variety of fields and created an attractive app that is delivering user retention way above the industry norm, but more importantly than that, we love to enjoy good beer,” said Karppinen.
Craft beer innovation turning Britain into
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