Beer

Does cask have its rivals over a barrel?

By Nigel Huddleston

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Cask ale Beer

Does cask have its rivals over a barrel?
Cask ale cannot be matched outside pubs. Nigel Huddleston finds out why stocking it will give you the edge.

There’s no drink that contributes as much to the character of a British pub as cask ale. The economic case for cask ale is compelling: it accounts for 57% of all on-trade draught ale sales, according to this year’s Cask Report, and has had three consecutive years of growth in a declining overall beer market.

Its share of on-trade beer is forecast to rise from its current 17% to 20% by the end of the decade, by which time, annual sales will be worth £2.3bn, accounting
for seven out of every £10 spent on ale in the on-trade.

But cask ale is about far more than the sales charts on a brewery boardroom wall. It provides pub-goers with choice in beer that can be matched pretty much nowhere else on the planet. Britain’s 1,700 breweries make an estimated 11,000 beers between them at any one time — and the figure is rising.

Many of them are from small breweries that supply only the local market, allowing pubs to connect with their local communities in a way that big brand lager does not.

The pub is the only place to enjoy this quality drink in a safe, sociable environment

Rupert Thompson, managing director at Surrey’s Hogs Back Brewery, says: “A beer from a local brewer has an appeal that no other drink can match. People support their brewer the way they support their football team.”

For many pub customers, a good range of cask ale served well is a sign of quality and authenticity, making a pub look and feel like a ‘proper’ pub.

Get the complexities of cask ale right and customers will assume you’re going to be pretty good at getting other stuff right as well. “Cask ale is essential to pubs,” says Wadworth sales and marketing director Paul Sullivan. “Quality cask ale is directly proportional to the quality of the whole pub.”

People will seek out a pub for its real ale but they won’t do the same because it sells a great pint of mainstream lager.

The Cask Report​ says that cask-ale drinkers are twice as likely to visit the pub as the average person and more likely to influence the choice of pub in mixed groups.

They may spend less on each visit, and are more likely to be wooed by the atmosphere of a place than a fancy food menu, but they go to pubs more often, meaning they spend more. They spend almost twice the national average in pubs each year — some £967 against just £507. 

Six out of 10 cask beer drinkers are in the top economic band of ABC1s, meaning they have more disposable income.

But perhaps the thing that makes cask ale special, above everything else, is that pubs still have pretty much the whole market to themselves and, consequently, it’s one of the things that makes pubs special.

Restaurants and stylish bars are more likely to turn to craft keg and, apart from a smattering of keen bottle shops, the off-trade is completely cask-free.
As Moorhouse’s managing director David Grant points out: “Cask ale cannot be bought in supermarkets.

This makes the pub the only place to enjoy this quality drink in a safe, sociable environment.”

10 reasons for your pub to back beer friendly event Beer Day Britain (June 15, 2016)

  1. Cask Ale is only available in the pub and sales of cask ale are growing.
  2. Beer is Britain’s national drink and drinking beer is associated with the pub.
  3. Britons love a good reason to celebrate and go to the pub. Many people celebrate St Patrick’s Day and St Valentine’s Day at the pub — why not national beer day.
  4. There will be a National Cheers to Beer starting at 7pm. For Beer Day Britain we trended on Twitter with the national cheers.
  5. Beer drinkers are among the most active users of social media. If you get behind Beer Day Britain they will get behind you.
  6. The beer and pub industry supports this initiative — don’t miss out!
  7. Beer Day Britain 2015 garnered a huge amount of publicity including the whole front page of a national newspaper. Local media love a good news pub story.
  8. This is a national celebration and pubs are at the centre of the nation’s communities.
  9. A visit to the pub is in the top three things tourists want to do when they visit Britain. Beer Day Britain will increasingly attract tourists into pubs as the event grows in popularity.
  10. It’s good for business!
beersuppliers

Related topics Beer

Related news

Show more

Spotlight

Follow us

Pub Trade Guides

View more

The MA Lock In Podcast

Join us for a Lock In