To celebrate his decision to make Budvar the lager of his Draft House pub group Charlie Mcveigh invited Budvar UK Sales Director Joe Laventure to a “summit” meeting at his Tower Bridge Draft House from where he told Laventure he could possibly see the site of what will be the first Draft House North of the River. Unfortunately smog blocked the view and in any event, as the picture hints, Laventure is a man who likes to keep his feet firmly on the ground.
After a year long evaluation of different lagers the decision to go with Budvar puts in place, says Mcveigh., another important building block in the Draft House mission to become the Local of choice for the capital’s young professionals.
The Mcveigh search for the Draft House lager has been a Pan-European affair very much influenced by the strong food element in the Draft House vision that arises from his former life as a restaurateur. Mcveigh said that in the end Budvar not only ticked all the boxes as a drink but was an excellent match with a wide variety of food as well.
Box ticking aside Mcveigh admits that he is also influenced by what he calls Budvar’s “earthy quality”. Both beer and brewery have “genuine integrity” he says and becoming a mainstream beer had in no way diminished its artisan qualities. Also essentially a word of mouth brand Budvar is very much in tune with the values of the Draft House’s core customer- the HENRY. This is an acronym for High Earner Not Rich Yet , but by implication well on the way. The complete Budvar range is being stocked; Original and Dark, packaged and draught as well as Budvar unpasteurised, which Mcveigh describes as “a rare phenomenon”.
