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Who knew that empty casks and kegs would become a huge crime target? Well in the United Kingdom that’s apparently true. Being ripped off is never fun… but during the holiday season it can be especially painful.
Old Basford England’s Little Star Brewery, brewer of Shipstone’s beer, is facing a challenging Christmas after over 300 empty casks and kegs (worth over £20,000) were stolen from the brewery yard last month. And now the small brewing company, with only three employees, is being forced to purchase casks to and kegs keep up with holiday orders.
So craft beer crime at Christmas…
And if that wasn’t unfortunate enough…the Drinks Business is reporting that the insurance they’d recently taken out declined to cover the loss incurred by the seasonal theft.
CCTV, the national cameras that’s always so prominently featured in those BBC crime dramas, captured the rip-off crew in a Ford Mondeo and a long wheelbase Ford Transit making several journeys to the brewery…So these beer keg criminals (who made four separate trips) were confident if not brazen…
Keg Watch, a UK-based trade organization that helps to reunite breweries with their lost or stolen casks, confirmed in a tweet that it was investigating the theft…
A local friend of the brewery has set up JustGiving page to help Shipstone’s recover some of their losses…And if you want to send a little holiday cheer to our brewing friends in England you can contribute HERE.
