Brakspear set to feel the chill

Brewer launches chilled version of flagship bitter

Brakspear is set to play it cool this summer with the introduction of a colder version of its flagship Brakspear Bitter.

The Henley-based brewer briefly tested Brakspear Chill Cask within its own estate last summer before reintroducing it earlier this year following a break during the winter period.

Following positive consumer feedback Brakspear has decided to roll-out the new concept into the freetrade in time for the summer.

"Chill Cask is a cold version of Brakspear Bitter. It's exactly the same bitter and uses exactly the same recipe. The main difference is that it's filtered before it leaves the brewery to prevent chill haze," said Joe Laventure, director of sales and marketing at Brakspear.

Chill Cask, served at around eight or nine degrees celsius, is aimed at recruiting younger drinkers and has been introduced into a number of Brakspear's new young person's venues alongside the conventional version.

"Ideally, we'd like to have both versions on the same bar but we realise that there are a lot of traditional cask ale drinkers who would have no desire to switch to a colder alternative and that in some of our pubs it might not be ideal," added Mr Laventure. "However, it's well known that younger drinkers in particular prefer drinking beer at a lower temperature and this is one of the reasons why younger people opt for lager. During trial the take-up by people who would not normally drink cask ale has been very good."

The first brewer to introduce a cooler version of cask ales was Youngs, based in Wandsworth, London, which launched Triple A two years ago in an attempt to attract a new generation of cask ale drinkers.

This was followed by national brewer, Scottish Courage, which invested heavily in special cellar and dispense equipment designed to ensure a regular temperature of 10 degrees celsius, before releasing Theakston Cool Cask this time last year.

Bass also launched Arc last year, a super nucleated lager which is served at a temperature below freezing.