Chris Maclean: cask beer never better

Last night I was invited to give a talk at the district CAMRA AGM on beer keeping. I was flattered to be asked.

I duly arrived at the venue and was surprised to discover not one tank-top, not one beard and not one pair of sandals. Indeed the chairman was wearing a suit and conducted the meeting in an exemplary way. Ordinary people in fact.

The difficult bit was when one of them, in the question and answer session, suddenly pulled out a copy of my blog about the Good Beer Guide​. I had been rumbled.

There were some difficult questions and I was made to wriggle a bit. Which pub had been excluded from the guide because the landlord upset the members, they enquired? I wriggled some more.

But what was apparent, and this was the thrust of my talk, was that despite tumultuous changes in the industry with pubs closing and whole aspects being altered the one undeniable fact was that cask beer is getting better and better.

Brewers and pubcos are investing in the technology to create more consistency. There is massive investment in cellar cooling and improvements in all areas of cask beer care. There is more training and investment in people, presentation, glassware, cleaning and service. Cask beer has never been better and people are waking up to the fact that, with almost every other part of our trade available for home consumption, the one unique thing available to us is cask beer.

Some of the old purists might argue that the art of beer has now become the science of beer. No more lumpy, inconsistent beer with bits in. Summer beer. Winter beer. The lottery of the seasons. They might feel this a loss. But I am not sure. That was, for me, a thing of the past.

I think I am happier with the current state of affairs. I like my pint as it is. Cool, clear and with condition. No more flat, cloudy, warm beer for me thank you.

Cheers!