Considering the company’s position as the leading brewer of cask beer, having bought and consolidated competitors for many years, some in the sector will even see this as a major betrayal of the category as a whole.
- Read more about the Marston’s brewery closure here
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But let’s face it, the writing has been on the wall for sometime, as the consolidation and closure upon closure of historic breweries over the years shows an ongoing pattern of retrenchment and some might say limited interest in the heritage brands the company owns.
Carlsberg Britvic - and its various previous incarnations - had acquired and become the defacto brewer of cask ale in volume, but rather than leverage that position to develop and grow a market which is unique to the UK and pubs, for all my time in the business, they’ve been content to manage the decline of once mighty brands.
Controversial decision
Now, don’t get me wrong, tastes change, what once might have been a fashionable brand can now look like your dad dancing at a discotheque (showing my age there) and there’s a cyclical nature to brands in any market, look at the boom and then decline in Doom Bar for example, a decline which has now seen Molson itself also make the controversial decision to shut the Sharp’s Brewery in Cornwall.
But brands certainly do not stand a chance if they’re left to gather dust on the shelf, if no love is shown to them, if there’s no promotion of investment into driving interest, love and respect within the industry and consumer base.
Carlsberg Britvic cites the declining volume sales as the driver behind its decision, and while that is true of the mainstream brands it owns, smaller cask brewers claim the opposite, pointing into increasing volumes according to data from SIBA.
The SIBA claims show there’s an interest and demand for cask beer as a category, one that is being nurtured and cared for by the smaller independent brewers - revealing there’s a love for cask among consumers, but you might have to work and encourage it.
But where is that love and nurture from the big boys?
Growing the category
Why can the independents get it right and the bigger brewers not?
They should be fanning those flames the smaller brewers are building and helping to grow the category, rather than giving up and managing the decline.
This whole situation reeks of a decision made by accountants with spreadsheets, and no passion or love for the product and sadly, it’s not hugely surprising.
The only good thing that I can see of this decision is that Carlsberg Britvic is now looking to sell off a good chunk of those brands, which could see brewers who actually have an interest in the category giving them the love and nurture the big boys have failed to do for the past decade and more.
