My Shout: Three cheers for the revival of cask ale

I love beer —and most of all I love a good pint of cask ale in a pub. It's something that just cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. You only have to look at the array of stands at the Great British Beer Festival to realise we've got something right. With every brewer from up and down the country showcasing their brews and never short of an eager audience to try them, the festival really is something to behold. It's all about tasting the new and savouring the old.

That's what cask ale is. It has come along way — after all, Greene King has been brewing in Bury St Edmunds for more than 210 years, and we stand alongside others, like ourselves, who have similar histories. So why the appeal now? We continue to innovate and continue to be very proud of our beers — all very different, but with one guarantee: all brewed with precision and care, using the most natural ingredients and methods dating back centuries.

Each cask brewer in the country is located where the water is unique, and is surrounded by barley growers that support them. You can't get more local than cask ale: it can't be imported, and it's got to be handled and served carefully by pub landlords. And if you are looking for products with provenance, then you have it in abundance with cask ale.

So if you are a loyal lager drinker, do one thing this year — try cask beer and maybe take a visit to a local brewery to understand just what a precise technique brewing cask beer is. Then maybe next year you'll appreciate the appeal of the Great British Beer Festival and all that it represents - a decent British pint! This is why at Greene King we insist on all our prospective licensees attending a Greene King cellar course prior to moving into their pub. Attending this training helps to ensure that fresh, quality beer is dispensed every single time.