St Austell Brewery enjoy the taste of their SALSA success

Originally founded in 1851 by Cornishman Walter Hicks to supply the local estate and its villages, today St Austell Brewery remains 100% independent and family-owned. Brewing fine ales is at the heart of the business; the Victorian Tower Brewery (the original site) which looks out proudly over St Austell Bay is busier than ever, today brewing award-winning cask and bottled ales for customers not just in the South West but across the UK.

Since the launch of its modern flagship Tribute Cornish Pale Ale in 2001, other award-winning beers followed, including Proper Job, Korev Cornish Lager and Mena Dhu Stout and have become synonymous with the West Country and with quality. Indeed, many of the South West's most famous pubs are part of the St Austell Brewery estate. Each year the brewery also creates a collection of seasonal and small batch cask ales to help customers celebrate the changing season or specific landmark events in their calendar.

St Austell Brewery is highly focused on quality control from grain to glass and has been an Approved SALSA member since 2011. 'We chose to adopt the SALSA plus Beer certification as it enables us to demonstrate an effective quality management system and encourages us to continually assess and improve our standards,' says David Barr, Quality Manager.

In 2016, the Brewery made a successful transition when they were audited against a new 'dedicated' SALSA plus Beer Standard, Issue 1. 'The audits are a valuable source of advice and verification that our systems are up to scratch and it is always good to get a fresh pair of eyes on any system to ensure it is working properly,' comments David.

In 2017, St Austell will be audited against a strengthened SALSA plus Beer Standard (Issue 2, launched 30/01/17). To support their brewery & bottler members through the audit process, SALSA offers a growing range of resources, services and support to make the steps to certification as smooth as possible. 'SALSA provides supportive auditors for the plus Beer standard who are there to facilitate improvement. Coming from the brewing industry, they don't blindly enforce a set of generic rules (some of which may be relevant to open food production, but not brewing) but rather see production from a brewer's perspective and can advise on elements specific to brewing (HMRC, micro control, specific due diligence etc).'

David goes on to add, 'Gaining SALSA plus Beer has been invaluable. The certification is highly valued by customers and distributors without which we would not be able to get our beer to market. I would strongly encourage other small and local breweries to gain certification.' 

For more information about St Austell Brewery, visit their SALSA Directory entry or go to: www.staustellbrewery.co.uk