Beautiful Beer points to cask challenge ahead

Related tags Beautiful beer campaign Beer Cask marque British beer & pub association

by John Harrington One third of the 340 pubs surveyed in the run-up to the launch of the Beautiful Beer campaign, which aims to improve beer's...

by John Harrington

One third of the 340 pubs surveyed in the run-up to the launch of the Beautiful Beer campaign, which aims to improve beer's image, served a below-standard pint of cask ale.

The findings point to the challenges faced by the industry as the campaign, which is set to receive £1m investment over three years, gets off the ground.

The initiative, led by the British Beer & Pub Association, was launched at the Ebury bar in London on Friday and aims to boost flagging beer sales by improving the standards of service in pubs, combined with a PR drive to improve beer's image.

A scheme to boost service standards, conducted by Cask Marque, the BII and the Beer Academy, was piloted at 340 managed and tenanted pubs in the run-up to the launch.

The initial test showed that 64% of pubs served cask ale to the correct standard, whereas between 95% and 100% of pubs served lager, keg and stout correctly.

Those pubs that received training by Cask Marque served better pints when they were re-tested three months later ­ and beer sales increased by 3%.

The PR campaign will kick off later this year, targeted at the food, drink and lifestyle sections of weekend newspapers, plus women's magazines and TV and radio shows.

It will emphasise the positive aspects of beer, such as its natural ingredients, how it goes with food, and the health benefits of moderate drinking.

Coors chief executive Peter Kendall, who chairs Beautiful Beer's steering group, stressed that part of the problem at the moment is beer's "lager lout" image. "I think in the UK, beer has become associated with a certain lifestyle and we want to change that," he said.

Kendall said £300,000 is being spent on the campaign annually for at least the next three years, but he expects this amount to rise.

"Compared to a major brand like Stella or Carling, it's a pretty small amount, but as we build on the campaign we will invest more as time goes on."

Related topics Beer

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