St Austell winning war on sales rollercoaster'
How do you survive if you're a regional brewer in a tourist area where the population drops by more than half when the main holiday period ends? The obvious answer is: make less beer, but that's not acceptable to the new team now running the St Austell Brewery in Cornwall.
When I last visited the brewery in the early 1990s, the then head brewer told me: "Beer sales fall off the cliff when the school holidays end". It seemed like an irreversible act of nature.
But attitudes as well as people have changed. The young, energetic MD James Staughton, is the great-great-grandson of Walter Hicks, who launched the brewery in 1851. A dynamic new head brewer, Roger Ryman, has joined him, and both are determined to break out of the straitjacket of peaks and troughs in beer demand.
They have been remarkably successful. They are producing 25,000 barrels of beer a year, up from 15,000 barrels just five years ago. Roger Ryman's ambition is to grow the business to 35,000 barrels.
At present he produces between 800 and 900 barrels a week in spring and summer. Production falls in the autumn and winter, with just 250 barrels a week brewed in the dog days of January.
The problem is being addressed by a two-pronged attack. A substantial investment is being made in the company's tied estate of 157 pubs; a growing number of people take short breaks throughout the year and pubs have to be smart, welcoming and comfortable, especially in cold weather.
The second prong is the national beer trade. Staughton and Ryman are determined to build a countrywide presence for their beers. They scored success with the bottle-conditioned Clouded Yellow, which won the Tesco beer challenge and now has national distribution in Asda as well as Tesco.
The beer is a Cornish interpretation of a Belgian wheat beer, with vanilla, coriander and cloves added to the mash of barley malt and wheat. It's a rich, tangy, wonderfully refreshing beer with a pronounced banana fruit and vanilla character. Now St Austell is looking for similar success with its premium bitter, Tribute, a 4.2% abv pale bronze beer with a fruity aroma and flavour imparted by American Willamette hops, balanced by juicy and biscuity malt.
The company is bolstered by the fact it is the agent for Carlsberg in Cornwall, delivering the national group's products to pubs, restaurants and hotels. St Austell also supplies its own wines and spirits to the tied and free trade, a sector that is as important financially as the beer business.
But despite its national ambitions, St Austell makes much of its Cornish roots. With more than 1,000 employees in the brewery, delivery, pubs and hotels, it is one of the county's key employers. As well as brewing beers with a distinctive West Country character, it is encouraging local farmers to grow high-quality barley for malting, and 20% of the malt in St Austell beer comes from the county.
Roger Ryman is determined to broaden his beer portfolio with new products. Alongside the magnificent, traditional brewhouse he has a two-barrel micro plant where he can fashion trial brews.
Clouded Yellow was first brewed in the micro plant. In the superb Blisland Inn, Camra's national Pub of the Year in 2001, I sampled a smooth, roasty and chocolatey stout and a stunning Admiral Ale, both products of the micro plant.
The beers will be available at the Cornish Beer Festival, held in the brewery's cellars in December, along with a hoppy, bitter IPA that Roger Ryman is currently perfecting. A pint or two of that may make you fall off the cliffs, unlike the thriving business being developed by the brewery.
