Coughing up for kit

Who will fund dispense equipment for cask, as volumes shift from the national brewers towards a growing plethora of regionals? Noli Dinkovski reports

The decline in cask-ale volumes among the national brewers is well-documented as InBev, Carlsberg,

Coors and Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), have all, to a greater or lesser degree, diverted their attention away from the sector in favour of key lager brands.

In turn, regional brewers have continued to gain market share, and as the days when a pub is tied to one brewer for its cask beer largely become a thing of the past, there is a greater opportunity than ever for this band of brewers to get a foothold in pubs.

But it raises another question - with so many smaller players now having a say in cask, why should the major brewers continue to be the chief funders of cask-ale equipment if they are no longer certain their brands will remain on the pumps for any length of time?

And if they pull the plug, who should pay?

Avoiding subsidy

Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) says it currently "funds" nearly 50,000 hand pump installations in UK outlets. These were originally installed to dispense its own cask-ale brands, but over time the picture has changed.

According to the brewer, records show that other brewers and retailers now benefit from selling other cask products through a growing number of these installations. As a result, S&N has made it clear that dispense equipment not constantly used to dispense S&N brands "is an unnecessary trading cost to its business and can present a risk to beer quality".

An S&N spokesperson adds: "We need to re-

apportion equipment costs where we are

effectively subsidising non-S&N cask sales. We plan to discuss the issue with our brewing and retail-trading partners to find an equitable resolution."

Coors' position is that it continues to offer a full package of support for new installations - including everything from hand pulls and badges, to equipment such as kegs. However, it doesn't provide support for upgrading old equipment to new.

Julie Charge, commercial director of Innserve, the company contracted by S&N and Carlsberg to maintain its dispense equipment, empathises with the national brewers.

"Just think of the logic - if you haven't got a brand out there, why would you support putting in new hand-pulls? If they don't have such an active role in the market, it has to fall on someone else, and the obvious place is on whoever is producing cask ale," she says.

Cask Marque director Paul Nunny says the larger regional brewers are contributing to equipment funding, but many of the smaller brewers and the Society of Independent Brewers (Siba) members will have to look at the issue in future.

"You're still going to have the situation where a lead brewer takes ownership of equipment, and 'cross-charging' across the brewers takes place - but this should be fairer," says Nunny.

He adds that pubcos should also raise their game, particularly when it comes to the upkeep of equipment.

"I think the biggest problem within the larger pub estates is not going to be investment in hand-pumps, instead it's the cooling systems and cask-ale pythons - the areas so important in maintaining cask-ale quality."

Nunny says it's up to tenants and lessees to put pressure on their pubcos, demanding the equipment to dispense cask ale properly.

"They should insist their pubcos work out a formula with suppliers that charges for equipment based on the amount of cask ale sold - that brings the smaller brewers on board as well," he explains.

Own your own

In the managed sector, some pubcos take things a stage further. JD Wetherspoon actually owns all its cask-ale dispense equipment - a move that brings two main advantages, says chief executive John Hutson.

"Firstly, the major brewers, which usually install them, don't provide the guest beers our pubs serve, and secondly, the equipment is bespoke for each of our pubs - made to suit the bar layout."

The equipment is maintained by a service contract from a dispense specialist: that's where the likes of City Dispense Services and Innserve come in.

"We look after leading brands from Carlsberg and S&N, but can also pick up all cask-ale responsibility," says Charge. "It's more efficient for pubcos to have their service needs managed by one provider, and a firm such as ours has the reach to manage their whole estates."

In the freetrade it's a different matter. Nunny says if there's a local and regional brewer that supplies a large share of a pub's cask-ale sales, it will generally invest in the equipment.

"In this situation individual negotiation takes place, but the licensee must insist on the right equipment to serve cask ale well."

Funding for cask-ale equipment and maintenance is far from straightforward - and with the cask-ale market in a state of flux, clearly one that won't resolve itself in a hurry.

"Licensees will do well to remember that, whoever foots the bill, what matters most of all is that the equipment is good enough to do justice to what goes through it," says Nunny.

Regionals leading cask dispense innovation

Traditionally, customers in the north of England are said to like a creamy head on their pint of cask ale, while those in the south prefer a glass full of looser bubbles.

Greene King had this in mind when last autumn it launched new ale St Edmunds, unveiling what it claimed to be a revolution in cask-ale dispense. The brewer developed a unique beer engine that allows people to choose between a creamier variety and a gassier one. What's more, the switch between the styles can be made automatically without the need for barstaff to touch the nozzle.

According to Innserve commercial director Julie Charge, the St Edmunds beer engine is a great example of innovation in cask ale.

"Regional brewers are in a great position, as they've potentially got more control over hand-pulls and beer engines than ever before," adds Charge.