John Harley
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John Harley (born Barrow in Furness, October 9, 1964) is an English expert on international beers.
In 2001, he became CEO of Budweiser Budvar UK Ltd, the wholly-owned subdidiary of the Czech brewer of the same name. He has also written about international beer in various UK publications including The Morning Advertiser, The Publican, Off Licence News, Theme, Class, Drinks International, Beers of the World and Financial Times and in 2003 and 2004 appeared regularly on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, commenting on Budweiser Budvar and on international beers in general. He has also appreared internationally on CNN, talking about trademark disputes due to his knowledge of the long-running dispute between Anheuser-Busch and Budweiser Budvar.
Together with Roger Protz, the beer writer, he is a fierce defender of Budweiser Budvar remaining publicly-owned by the Czech government. In 2003, CAMRA (The Campaign For Real Ale) produced a petition signed by thousands of its members asking the Czech government not to privatise the brewery.
Harley is generally recognised in the drinks industry as being the person that first drew attention to the burgeoning imported beer sector in the UK. Indeed Euromonitor, the research company cited his work with Budweiser Budvar as being "one of the finest examples of word of mouth marketing that has taken place". As a result of his interest in imported beers he founded NoFibs (The National Organisation For Imported Beers) in 2005 to promote the benefits of beers that are 'brewed at source' as opposed to beers that are brewed under license.
More recently, he has been connected with the importation of a number of brands including Tsingtao, the Chinese beer and Carib from Trinidad & Tobago.
He lives in London.
