The week that will see the pride of the UK’s brewing focus championed until Sunday 28 September will be a chance for pubs to drive customers to enjoy cask beer.
West Yorkshire-based Ossett Brewery is partnering with pubs across Liverpool to offer drinkers the chance to try their most popular beer, White Rat, for free during Cask Ale Week.
Anyone ordering a craft beer in one of four participating venues will be offered the chance to switch their usual for White Rat instead, and if they agree their pint will be on the house. There are 2,000 pints to be given away in total and pubs taking part in the limited-time promotion include the Bookbinder, Pilgrim, Ye Cracke and Doctor Duncan’s.
The brewery has chosen Liverpool for the promotion due to White Rat’s popularity across the city and hopes by giving away the free pints they will convert more drinkers to cask, which it believes is the freshest and most authentic way to enjoy beer.
Ossett Brewery managing director Edd Simpson – who is taking part in The Cask Webinar later this month – said: “White Rat is our flagship beer, and those who drink it already know it for its hoppy, bold taste.
“But all too often we believe cask can be overlooked in favour of more familiar feeling world lager and craft keg, so we hope by offering drinkers the chance to try it for free during Cask Ale Week, more of them will consider it next time they’re in a pub or bar.”
Ghost Ship mid strength launch
Suffolk brewer Adnams has launched a limited-edition pale ale in time for the start of Cask Ale Week.
The new brew – Ghost Ship Session IPA 3.4% ABV – also marks 15 years since the original Ghost Ship, which Adnams labelled as a “runaway success brand”.
The new cask beer is available across the pub trade and in bottled packaged format from Thursday 18 September, the start of Cask Ale Week.
Adnams said Ghost Ship Session IPA 3.4% ABV sits between Ghost Ship Alcohol Free and the original Ghost Ship Pale Ale 4.5% ABV between making it a “perfect lower alcohol option”.
Adnams head brewer Dan Gooderham said: “Ghost Ship Session IPA is a great new arrival for our Ghost Ship fleet, neatly fitting between our original and alcohol-free variant in terms of ABV.
“We’re really excited to introduce an IPA to the product family – particularly at a point when we’re marking 15 years since Ghost Ship first appeared.
“Throughout that last decade and a half, our customers have consistently shown us how their requirements and taste preferences have evolved and that’s led to the development of a wonderful citrussy IPA, which is lower in [alcohol] volume.”
Cask Marque incentives
Meanwhile, beer quality and training expert Cask Marque has listed incentives from brewers and pub operators in a bid to lure more customers into sites across the country. Its list is as follows:
- Arkell’s: managed pubs are selling cask ale at £3 per pint between 3pm and 4pm on Monday to Friday
- Fuller’s: anyone on its database who brings a friend to the pub can claim a free pint of cask ale for them
- Ember Inns: the group’s Cask Ale Club offers pints of cask ale for £3.50 every Monday and Thursday
- Craft Union: customers who buy five pints of cask can claim their sixth free
- Nicholson’s: 80 pubs are running a Cask Card loyalty scheme – buy four pints, get the fifth free PLUS, during September, 5p from every pint of Nicholson’s Pale Ale – which is brewed by St Austell Brewery – will be donated to Social Bite, a charity and social business working to end homelessness.
Cask Marque said its Caskfinder app has been downloaded 1.4m times and is used 40,000 times a month to find pubs and added it will give away T-shirts highlighting the pub is the only place to find cask ale because it cannot be replicated at home.
Kent-based Shepherd Neame is offering a free pint to customers on its database during the elongated week.
Cask ales available include classic Spitfire Amber Ale (4.2% ABV), newly rebranded Whitstable Bay Pale Ale (3.9% ABV), autumnal special Late Red (4.5% ABV) and new cask ale Creekside Juicy IPA (4% ABV).
Vouchers are redeemable during the entire event from 18-28 September.
- Cask Ale Week runs from 18 to 28 September, so if you have anything going on you think is worthy of mention in The Morning Advertiser, email gary.lloyd@wrbm.com.
