It’s fair to say the “whiskey beer” problem he’s now facing is firmly in the other 25 per cent bracket.
Douglas was formally appointed FD of Fuller’s in January. Before joining the London brewer, he was FD of telecoms operator Fibernet Group. I met up with him this week on-site at the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick.
While I was there, Douglas and Fuller’s PR manager Georgina Wald discussed the company’s whiskey beer dilemma. Apparently, Fuller’s decided it might be fun to mature some beer in a whiskey cask but as it turns out, the alcohol by volume of the new beer is slightly different, which means it falls under a different set of Customs & Excise rules.
To cut a long story short, Fuller’s now has a whole heap of whiskey beer that can’t be sold, moved or drunk.
The good news is that Douglas thinks there’s a way out of it. Fuller’s will be speaking to the local Customs & Excise officers and hopefully the product will be on the market in the not-too-distant future.
It’s clear Douglas is enjoying life in Chiswick. He says Fuller’s checked all the boxes when he was looking for a new job – stable company, market leader, good management team.
We’ll have more about Douglas soon.
Picture source
