Pubs ‘missing out’ on selling more beer

That’s one of the findings from the fifth annual Cask Report, which said that customers will drink more if encouraged to try a different beer to match each course, rather than ordering one bottle of wine with a meal.

The report’s author Pete Brown said: “I know a lot of pubs do beer and food matching nights, but a lot of them don’t do it on an ongoing basis. They don’t know where to start with it, they may lack confidence or not have the time to arrange it.

But if you ask any beer writer or enthusiastic brewer, they will fall over themselves to come and help you.”

Brown added that his top tip to get more punters drinking cask ale is to offer a try-before-you-buy scheme and he also advised licensees to make use of chalk boards to promote the product.

The report, which found that cask has a 15% share of the UK beer market, also encouraged licensees to stock a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar brands be-cause “cask drinkers like to try new ales, but also want the reassurance of a known name”.

Key findings from the report showed cask drinkers are twice as likely to visit the pub, spend more when they are there and cannot go to the supermarket to purchase their favourite drink.

While total on-trade beer volumes fell by 7.8% in 2010, cask dipped an estimated 2.3%, the report said. It added that there had been a 4% increase in distribution as 2,500 new pubs and clubs started to sell cask ale last year.

The research found that there had been an 11% rise in cask ale drinkers since 2007 — 7.8 million people now drink it in the UK — and one in five people who drink alcohol will drink cask at some point.

The report comes in the run up to National Cask Ale Week, running from 1-9 October. It will focus on ‘Try Before You Buy’, with 7,500 pubs offering free tasters all week.

Research highlighted in the Cask Report shows 42% of people who have never drunk cask would do so if allowed to taste it first.