The hip in hops: Choosing the right cask ale

It used to be so straightforward stocking cask beer — a best bitter from a regional hero, alongside whatever another equally heroic regional was putting out seasonally, plus a golden ale or something darker from what used to be called a micro.

However, cask got hip (and even became craft/crafted) and opening a brewery continued to prove pop-ular — the result is that there are now almost 1,500 breweries in the UK and the majority of them produce cask beer. That’s a lot of firkins to choose from, especially as Britain’s beer revolution has seen a dazzling (some would say bewildering) variety of styles and sub-styles emerging.

It certainly makes economic sense to stock quality cask, as the current edition of the Cask Report​ shows. According to author Pete Brown, there are currently more than 634m pints of cask being drunk annually and 60% of the total on-trade is now cask. The market is worth £1.72bn, which is up 23% since 2010, and the demographic of cask is much broader than the beards and sandals clichés of yesteryear.

The view is equally positive from the bar-top, as Tom Gee, licensee of the award-winning Red Lion in Cricklade, Wiltshire, (it also has its own in-house brewery), points out. "Cask is definitely thriving," he says. "Keg is increasing massively and people are interested in bottles but, in the face of this, cask sales are still rising month on month, year on year. The age range is broadening and the barriers that used to restrict cask including gender and age are being quickly broken down. Cask is trendy now and so sales keep on growing."

Margins

This view is echoed by Jeff Bell, former publican at the Gunmakers in Clerkenwell, north London, and now in charge of the Finborough Arms, Earls Court, west London. "Cask beer offers better margins than ‘craft keg’," he says. The low carbonation and generally moderate ABVs of popular cask ales mean customers tend to stay around and drink more. Therefore cask is a winner in terms of both volume and margin."

So far, so benevolent, but this growth brings with it another kind of problem for the licensee; an enviable problem some might say. Which cask beers should be stocked to encourage customers; how many should be on the bar-top; and which tactics should be employed to bring in (and keep hold of) cask beer novices? Some pubs only need a couple of well-kept beers, while others can get away with a broad range of casks.

Custom

Some publicans initially discover that displaying a large number of casks brings in many new customers, but such are the whims of contemporary drinkers they can just as easily vanish, especially if a new craft bar (or some-thing similar) opens up in another part of town.

Therefore, it makes sense to add slowly to the range, which is often a good way of testing whether the pub has the punters, or the potential to gain more customers, that can support a large range of ales.

One man with no such problem is Mark Nicholson, who has been in charge of the Bedford in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, for almost two years under a Greene King Local Hero agreement. Nicholson has a great by 10 handpumps at the bar. As part of his agreement with Greene King, half of the cask beers come from the Bury St Edmunds’ brewery, while the rest are local.

Passion

"Since taking on the pub," he says, "I have become incredibly passionate about cask ale, so it is a real pleasure to serve such a variety of quality and local brews that go down a storm with customers. Of our local beers, we never have the same thing on twice because we are constantly rotating our selection. We use 50 microbreweries within a 50-mile radius of the pub.

"Cask ale sales are a big part of our turnover because real ale fans know that they are always going to find a decent pint and something new to try here."

Given the variety of beer styles being brewed, it’s also essential to get the right mix of casks, rather than whacking on four IPAs or Best Bitters, say, all of a similar colour and alcoholic strength, and hoping for the best. Variety is an essential part of the cask beer plan.

At the Finborough Arms, Bell always has at least four cask beers on and for him the variety is, "at least one bitter, one golden and one dark. You’ve got to offer choice. That’s tough for a low-volume pub, but sadly one well-kept cask ale isn’t enough to create a buzz around the product.

Recent beers have included Hobsons Mild, Hastings Sturdy Stout, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold and Adnams Southwold Bitter.

Care

Like any chef choosing their ingredients or a DJ mixing a set, the licensee must also take special care with their cask beers. Good cellar keeping is worth its weight in gold, which is why it makes sense to let the customer know that their pint is being looked after.

"It is good to let customers know what you do in the cellar that keeps the beer at its best," says Bell. "People love to know what’s happening behind the scenes and because with cask beer they’re drinking a living product, they deserve to. In this connection, staff training is key. It doesn’t take long to describe the essential attributes of a beer. It can be a quick rundown, or a broader discussion, depending on what the customer wants."

Other ways in which the licensee can engage with the cask-loving customer is by putting shot glasses of beer at the front of the hand pump. This shows the colour, while the strengths are on the pump clip.

"For us," says Mitch Adams, general manager of the Bull in Highgate, north London, "keeping customers interested in cask beer is about changing the beers, giving tasters, knowledgeable staff and brewery tours because we have our own microbrewery. Our staff offer samples often without being asked, a dithering customer with a taster makes them feel much more confident to choose something now."

Meeting

Another way in which a growing number of pubs have been encouraging their customers to drink cask beers is the so-called ‘Meet The Brewer’ night. As the title suggests, a head brewer is brought in to discuss his or her beers on the bar and the result is a win for both brewery and pub.

‘‘Meet the Brewer nights are increasingly popular," says Bell, "and they work really well for both the pub and the brewery: if someone attends one of those evenings and enjoys it, they’re sold on the brand and might even have a sense of ownership."

Cask beer is certainly on a roll and there’s no reason why your pub shouldn’t join in, because as Nicholson at the Bedford points out, "cask ale is absolutely thriving and I can only see it getting stronger."