Beer Day originated from the United States, in Santa Cruz.  Beer Day began with the purpose of celebrating the craft of brewing.  And it was also created with the intention of showing appreciation for those involved in the making of beer.  The day then quickly expanded to include celebrations of bartenders and other beer technicians as well. Whilst M&B no longer brew our own beer, we can still show our appreciation to Richard Yarnell, our Category Manager for Beer and Cider. 

We caught up with Richard about his time with M&B, and find out what it's like working in a job that your beeriously passionate about.

What is your role at M&B?  

My role is Category Manager for Beer and Cider working within the Drinks Trading team.  In addition (and in my spare time) I’m also an accredited Beer Sommelier and competition beer judge both in the UK and overseas.

If you had to explain your job to a five year old, how would you best describe it?  

I work with our pubs to make sure they have the best range of beers and ciders available for their guests.

How did you get into your role and have you worked in this industry before?

I initially started with M&B in Finance way back in 2006, doing the accounts for the drinks team!  My previous career history was all in Finance, but I’d worked in pubs since I was 17 and always had an interest and a passion for beer and cider so when the opportunity came up to join the Drinks Team as a category analyst I jumped at the chance.  The rest, as they say, is history.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What beer is M&Bs best seller and what is your favourite?  

Our top selling beer across the Company is Carling, with Peroni hot on its heels.  Of all the beers we stock permanently in M&B my current favourite is Beavertown Neck Oil, but my absolute favourite of all time is a beer called Torpedo from Sierra Nevada in California – it’s a big, hoppy beer and definitely not a beer for the faint hearted!

I know people pair food and wine, but do you pair your beer to your food? If so what do you recommend for a red meat dish?  

Absolutely!  I qualified as a beer sommelier in 2014 and a huge part of that course was learning how the different components of beer match with different types of food.  There are four key ingredients in beer (water, malted barley, yeast and hops) and by adjusting one of more of these elements you can pretty much find a beer match for any food dish.  In terms of red meat, the classic match here in the UK would be a pint of a classic amber ale such as Sharp’s Doom Bar with roast beef, but if you look to the continent and over to the Czech Republic, the full flavour of the very first golden lager Pilsner Urquell works brilliantly as the beer is robust enough to stand up to the big rich flavours of something like steak.

Have there been any innovative trends emerge in your sector over the last 12 months?  

Beer and cider tend to follow a lot of the macro trends, so the biggest growth area right now and the one with most innovation is low and no alcohol.  The quality of beers in this arena has gone through the roof over the last few years, particularly in lager and pale ale.  Across M&B we’ve moved our packaged ranges on substantially – only two or three years ago sites would have just stocked Beck’s Blue as our low/no beer offering, whereas now businesses stock up to four different products.  Watch out for low and no beer on draught very soon!  There is also a new wave of small UK breweries who solely brew craft lager, and many of these products are already winning global awards so this category is really hot right now.

Do you see innovation changing the beer category over the next five years?  Product innovation is something that happens constantly within beer whether that be development of new hops, or finding new ingredients to brew with (mushroom beer anyone?).  I think we’ll see more development in the low and no sector, but in addition more and more beers will be brewed to be suitable for vegans and those on a gluten free diet.  The way the beer is served is constantly evolving too, so I would expect to see more developments in this space.

If you're passionate about beer, food and all things hospitality, why not take a look at our jobs. Just like Richard, you never know where the first step of your M&B career could take you. If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at M&B, check out our culture page.