Fuller's fulfils cool promise

We live in a cool age. I smile when my two sons ­ one just into his teens, the other two years younger ­ tell me that something is "cool", for it brings back memories of the 1960s when the term was first in vogue. We certainly like our beer cool these days. That cack-handed remark by John Major in the 90s about drinking warm beer on the village green while old ladies were mugged as they cycled to church has a monotone tinge to it. The impact of cold drinks, lager and cream beers in particular, has had a knock-on effect on cask beer. Brewers and publicans know that a warm pint of beer not only tastes unpleasant, but could deter a customer from trying the style again. Enormous efforts are going into ensuring that cask beer is kept and served cool. I readily accepted an offer from Fuller's to visit some of the Chiswick company's pubs to see the steps being taken to cellar and serve ale in the best light and best condition. I met Simon Emeny, Fuller's retail director, and PR supremo Georgina Wald in the Counting House in Cornhill in the heart of the City of London. It's a sumptuous marble and glass extravaganza, a former NatWest bank. This is a rare pub where cask ale outsells other types of beer, which means that the temperature of the beer in the glass is crucial. At £2.40 for a pint of London Pride, beer quality has to be spot-on. Publican Peter Biddle took us down to his vast cellars, which house part of the original wall of the City of London. It's one of the most spacious pub cellars I have ever been in, and it gives Peter ample room to install the equipment Fuller's is making available to its tied estate to improve cellaring and serving cask beer. The aim is to deliver Chiswick Bitter, London Pride, ESB, Honey Dew and seasonal ales to the bar at between 11 and 13°Celsius. This is achieved by attaching half-inch pipes from the cask to the "cask out", and from there the beer flows through quarter-inch pipes inside pythons up the bar. The temperature of the water inside the pythons is kept at 11°Celsius. After enjoying some Chiswick Bitter, we moved on to the Red Herring, just a few block away in Gresham Street. This was once a traditional pub but it has been redesigned with a wine bar feel. Manager Mark Yeo faces a different problem to Peter Biddle: cask beer is a minority drink in the Red Herring, though he gets through five 18s a week. Nevertheless, beer quality is paramount when cask ale is turning over more slowly. Mark is delighted with the way the pipes-and-python equipment keeps the beer in sparkling and cool condition. We went further afield, to the Ship in Wardour Street, a remarkable pub that is fiercely traditional, with chandeliers, glazed glass and woodwork, but which was packed to the rafters with a mainly young clientele. In spite of the crush and the heat from the crowd, landlady Charlotte Renwick pulled deliciously quenching pints of Pride. The Victoria in Strathearn Place near Paddington Station was an oasis of calm after the Ship. This delightful pub, with half-panelled walls, old prints, open fireplaces and marble surrounds to a large food servery, is run by Helen Wilson and Chris Cochran. London Pride is far and away the biggest seller in the pub and Helen said the new cellar cooling system had been a major boon to beer quality and customer appreciation. Our final stop was in one of London's best-known pubs, the Churchill Arms in Kensington Church Street, run by Jerry O'Brien, one London's most revered and popular guv'nors. Choosing Churchill Night, an annual celebration of a British prime minister staged by an Irishman, meant that Simon, Georgina and I were plunged into a maelstrom of noise, the pub bursting with people dressed in World War Two uniforms. The bustle and crush made conversation almost impossible but the beer was cool and delicious. Taking a line from the great man (Churchill, not O'Brien): where beer quality is concerned, Fuller's will never surrender. www.protzonbeer.com