From cellar to glass

After years of neglect, brewers and pub companies are starting to address the problem of the poor quality beer that is served to drinkers.

At one point this week a desperate PR decided to boost the image of beleaguered Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith by getting a picture of him in the newspapers drinking a pint of beer. This kind of thing is doing neither of us any good.

A decade ago one of IDS's predecessors, John Major, extolled the virtues of being British and drinking "warm beer". Why can't they leave us alone? At least the Labour lot all take wine these days.

No. If there is hope for beer in pubs it lies not in celebrity but in the cellar. And not just the cellar. A licensee's duty of care for beer extends from the moment the dray drops the keg through the hatch to when the glass is firmly in the hand of the punter.

Get the product quality right and you have a firm foundation for doing something for the image of beer that a whole convent of Madonnas couldn't deliver.

It's easy to blame the brewer for a bad pint but with all the resources that go into quality control these days you can believe the producers when they reckon they have got it 99 per cent right.

There is much more that can go wrong in the pub, and in recent years draught beer has been a victim of industry restructuring as brewing has split from retailing, breaking the organic link that gave brewers a closer control over their product at the point of dispense.

The industry has only just begun to repair this rupture - but we are making progress.

In January the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) is piloting a nationally-recognised cellar management qualification with the aim of launching it by the end of March 2004.

The remarkable thing is that the content and structure of this qualification has, through the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), been agreed by the brewers and pub owners who are in a position to work together to make a real difference to the way beer is kept, dispensed and served across the industry.

It's taken some time but the qualification has the potential to form the basis of a national standard that, in time, all licensees will be expected to meet.

The next few months will see brewers, pub companies and other trainers gaining BII accreditation to teach the course which will lead up to an "inexpensive" exam and a certificate for delegates who pass.

The BII is also looking for volunteers to trial the qualification so it can be fine-tuned before the launch.

"We are setting a benchmark for cellar management which will form a portable qualification for licensees and pub staff," said Rees Ruchat at the BII.

Once the qualification is properly launched the BII will look at a second stage involving an on-site assessment of a licensee's delivery of quality beer.

Cask Marque director Paul Nunny, who has been involved in the project from the early days, is excited about the opportunity to follow up and check that licensees are actually implementing what they have learned.

"It will be useful for licensees to have a report on how they are performing and ensure that the knowledge they need is there and that it is being used properly," he said.

Paul also hopes that as well as bringing something completely new to the industry the qualification will be picked up by brewers and pub companies to integrate into their existing induction courses for licensees.

"On managed house estates the qualification will also make it possible for pubs to employ a qualified cellar manager who will take ownership of standards in cellar practices and beer quality," said Paul.

"This is a big positive step for the whole industry and something that Cask Marque will certainly champion out in the field."

The qualification forms a key part of the BBPA's long-term campaign to raise the quality and image of beer, said the organisation's spokesman Mark Hastings.

"We included a wide range of people in putting this together and we are confident that, subject to dotting i's and crossing t's, we have got it right," he said. "Obviously, once it is out in the real world we shall be able to make continuous improvements to ensure it meets the needs of licensees.

"This is the result of an awful lot of learning from the cellar management training programmes that are already out there," he added. "Until now brewers have all taken an invidual approach but this qualification will consolidate and rationalise best practice and give us the chance to establish a national standard.

"The whole industry has been involved in putting it together so I see no reason why the whole industry should not take it up and use it."

• Licensees and pub companies interested in taking part in the pilot of the new BII cellar management qualification should contact Rees Ruchat on 01276 684449.

Quality comes up short​

Shocking results from a beer quality survey have again confirmed that the British pub really does have a problem in serving a decent pint.

Cask Marque inspectors, all retired brewers, recently visited 200 pubs within the M25 and sampled a total of nearly 500 pints of lager - to discover that 58 per cent of them were less than perfect.

The main problems were poor head retention, which can be caused by the state of glasses or by misuse of dispense equipment, and beer served too warm, which can itself cause fobbing problems.

Glassware and dispense issues, including over-filling, dirty glasses and fobbing, accounted for 15 per cent of bad pints, and hazy or off-flavoured beer another 12 per cent.

John Holberry, director of on-trade sales at Coors Brewers, has used the research findings to deliver a stern Christmas message to licensees.

"Quite frankly these are gloomy findings," he said. "People say that beer's image is poor, but what do you expect when nearly 60 per cent of beer is poor!

"The industry has to deal with the reality before we can address the image."

Dispense monitoring company Brulines has lately joined the debate from an independent standpoint. New managing director James Dickson estimates that the incidence of sub-standard draught beer is as high as eight out of 10 pints and has called for a "quality-driven approach to pouring pints".

"There has never been a more competitive drinks market with consumers offered an increasing range of alcoholic drinks," he said. "This added choice, coupled with changing lifestyles, has inevitably led to a change in the way the individual chooses his or her tipple. Consumers are now more discerning and base their choices on two very important factors - taste and quality."

Although, as he believes, improved technology and quality controls means that "there has never been better quality beer leaving the UK's breweries", people continue to turn away from their traditional pint because "it is what happens to the beer after it arrives in the pub that influences quality and the resulting consumer experience".

"Beers, much like fine wines, should be kept well, presented at the right temperature and in the correct manner," he continued. "For the drinker there is nothing better than the perfect pint - a full measure, good head, chilled to perfection and with the head clinging to the side of the glass as it's drunk.

"So why do eight out of 10 pints poured fail to meet these criteria? The answer, invariably, is a mixture of shortcomings in cellar management, dispense standards, training and a lack of focus.

"Only by the industry improving the whole drinking experience and adopting a robust approach to dispensing perfect pints can the threat of wine and other drinks be tackled," he concluded. "It is not too late to save the Great British pint but action needs to be taken by the trade to ensure that drinkers