Raise a glass to Cask Ale Week
It is one of the most overused mantras in the cask ale industry: "We need to throw off company rivalries and work together, to get behind the category".
And now National Cask Ale Week has been created to celebrate Britain's National Drink.
Running from April 6 to 13, the event is being headed up by Cask Marque - but the beer quality champion has got committed support from national and regional brewers, the Campaign for Real Ale and countless pub companies.
Paul Nunny, director of Cask Marque, says the real opportunity of Cask Ale Week lies in the potential for licensees to drive new footfall into their pubs.
"The long-term goal for the organisers is that consumers think of Easter as a cask ale celebration. Easter is a holiday period and no other national event takes place over this period," he says.
"The activity in the pub will not only attract new customers but also new drinkers to cask ale. We have a target of 5,000 licensees participating in cask ale week in 2009."
A programme of suggested activities - set out on these pages - has been planned throughout the week to help licensees make the most of this huge opportunity. A key supporter is the Daily Telegraph, which is a major running prize draw as well as editorial in the days leading up to the event.
How to take part
All pubs can join in Cask Ale Week. You simply have to register with Cask Marque and pay £40 to be part of the initiative (£35 if you hold a Cask Marque award). Pubs will then be sent a generic POS kit and be entered on the Cask Ale website with details of the activities that the pub will be holding during the week.
As well as beermats and posters, the kits include sample glasses, t-shirts, a pub quiz on beer with 25 answer sheets and collector cards for pub customers.
Supporting the kit will be branded activity organised by the pub groups across a number of supplier brands, by regional brewers on their own brands and by free trade from their existing suppliers. There will also be bespoke activity such as beer festivals by the managed pub groups and many regional brewers are holding events within their own estates.
To register your interest for the week, call 01206 752212 or Visit the Cask Ale Week website
Cask Ale Week - day by day...
Monday April 6 - National Beer Day
The organisers of National Cask Ale Week will be launching the event by calling for April 6 to be recognised as National Beer Day!
St Pancras station in London will be the venue for high-profile launch, with a national photocall featuring celebrities. Activity will be supported with mass sampling session as we try and convert the French at the station - where Eurostar departs for the continent - from wine to cask beer.
The day is the perfect opportunity for licensees to get their local community involved in the week. On this day why not push:
* Free sampling
* Tasting sessions
* Meet the brewer sessions with local brewers
* Beer and food matching.
Wednesday April 8 - FemALE Day
This will be FemALE day - see what they've done there?! - when pubs are being invited to make a special effort to try and get more women drink cask. Only 16 per cent of females have ever tried cask beer.
There is no more important time to make full use of tasting notes on chalkboards around the bar or to introduce a 'try-before-you-buy' system, if you don't have it already. Make sure you are fully stocked with sampling glasses.
To support this initiative there will be a targeted media campaign focusing on female brewers and the UK's only female beer inspector.
Thursday April 9 - Introduce a Friend
Only 35 per cent of British adults who drink alcohol have actually tried cask beer! So Cask Ale Week is the perfect chance to encourage regular drinkers to get their friends to try cask.
There will be a huge amount of high-profile media support for this initiative both through support from celebrity ambassadors, and on online and social networking sites. There is a national Cask Ale Week group on Facebook, an account on Twitter, and viral content of 'ambassadors' introducing friends to cask ale will feature on sites including YouTube.
Friday April 10/Saturday April 11 - Visit a Brewery
Easter is a great time to attract families to a brewery and discover the heritage, traditions and secrets behind cask beer and why it's a national treasure. So over Easter weekend brewers will be encouraged to open their doors to the public for free for behind the scenes tours and tastings.
Pubs could organise Meet the Brewer events, offering opportunities for customers to meet the men or women behind Britain's national drink. All licensees are being encouraged to help promote tours of local brewers in pubs
Saturday April 11 - The World's Biggest Toast?
The week's organisers are hoping to enter the Guinness Book of Records by encouraging thousands of drinkers in thousands of pubs to raise a simultaneous toast to cask ale.
All cask beer pubs can be part of this landmark event to break the world record for the biggest simultaneous toast, taking place at 7pm on the day. The record currently stands at 485,000.
What we're doing for Cask Ale Week…
How two of the pubs in The Publican's Sell More, Save More project are getting involved in the week:
Tim Robinson at the Rose and Crown in Perry Wood, near Faversham in Kent is keen to get his regulars to try local brews such as Whitstable IPA and Goachers Goldstar as well as his usual real ales.
To encourage customers to try an ale for the first time the Rose and Crown is going to be matching the ales on the bar with samples of food.
The Rose and Crown is also focusing heavily throughout the week on getting female customers to try a sample of real ale - and running a pub quiz with a beer theme and prizes reflecting National Cask Ale week.
Mark White at the Cross Keys in Henley, Suffolk has a wide ranging number of activities planned. Already known locally for its range of fine ales, the pub will be running a week long festival serving between 12 and 14 beers - and Mark is using the week to launch his own Cask Ale Club. He is setting up a text messaging service so customers can text to find out what beers are on before they arrive at the pub.
Two bands have been booked for the week, one featuring some of Mark's regulars in the pub.
Beer-themed food dishes available throughout the week will include beef, mushroom and Norfolk Nog stew and traditional beer-battered fish and chips.
