BII boss responds to BrewDog vs Diageo controversy

Peter Thomas, the chief executive of the BII, has appeared on Radio 4 to address the recent scandal involving Diageo and BrewDog at the BII Scotland Annual Awards.

Diageo was forced to apologise to BrewDog following last weekend's event in Glasgow, after it emerged that Diageo staff had threatened the BII with the withdrawal of its sponsorship from future BII events if the "Bar Operator of the Year" award was handed to Aberdeen-based pub company and brewer BrewDog - despite the fact an independent judging panel had chosen it as a winner.

BrewDog learned what had happened two days after the awards after BII Scotland chairman Kenny Mitchell called the company to explain what had happened. BrewDog posted a blog entry detailing the events on its website and the post soon went viral around social networks, including Twitter, garnering huge levels of press and media interest in the process.

Speaking on Radio 4's You and Yours programme today, Thomas said: "This is a regrettable and isolated mistake. I am pleased that my colleagues acted quickly to address this situation. We have never had this sort of issue before and will be ensuring that this never happens again.

"It is crucial that awards of this kind are entirely independent, transparent and above question. Therefore, we will be reviewing exactly what happened, and we will ensure that our usual rigour and high standards will operate in the future. The judging process must be clear, straightforward and understood by all concerned."

Diageo apologises to BrewDog over BII Scotland awards fiasco >>

By Neil Gerrard

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