Campaign logo Raising CAIN

Good Beer Guide editor Roger Protz has used the new Guide to praise some current heroes of beer and brewing.

They include brothers Ajmail and Sudarghara Dusanj who are praised for their key role in saving Liverpool's last major commercial brewery, Robert Cain. The brewery has had a pass-the-parcel existence in recent years: it was bought by Boddingtons of Manchester; Boddingtons in turn was taken over by Whitbread, which closed the Liverpool brewery. It was then bought by the Danish Brewery Group, which concentrated on cheap packaged beers for supermarkets and failed to make money. The magnificent redbrick Victorian site, founded by Robert Cain from Cork in the 19th century, was once again threatened with closure until the Dusanj brothers bought it in 2002. Protz said, ‘As well as concentrating on reviving sales of draught beer, they have also won contracts from such major retailers as Asda and Tesco. They won the coveted Tesco Beer Challenge with their innovative Raisin Beer and have helped boost the fortunes of Mild Ale by winning a contract with Asda for a packaged version of Cain's Mild. They have produced a British lager that is stored, or lagered, for three months in the classic European fashion and have brewed a beer to mark Liverpool's status as European City of Culture in 2008. These are remarkable achievements in just two years of ownership.’

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