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THECASKREPORT
by Pete Brown
Helping British pubs beat the recession
2009-10
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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The Cask Report is the definitive analysis of the state of Britains caskbeer market, a reference document providing:
- Recent market data, trends and developments.
- Detailed analysis of the cask ale consumer and why they are more
valuable to pubs than other drinkers.
- Case studies of successful cask ale pubs demonstrating that Britains
national drink is a key tool in beating the recession.
The report is backed by all major bodies in the cask ale industry
but written by an independent author, using independent third-party
data to ensure complete rigour and objectivity.
It gives publicans and pub companies everything they need
to know about how to stock, serve, and make a profit fromBritains national drink.
Whatsinaname?
Caskale,Caskbee
r,Realale,Hand-pu
lledale
Cask-conditioned
beer
Britainsnational
drinkisaunique,
traditional
product.Whereas
mostbeerispaste
urisedand/or
lteredorl
ongershellie,r
eal/caskale/beer
is
reshbeerwithliveyeastinthe
cask.Itsundergo
ing
aslow,secondary
ermentationthatkeepsitinpeak
condition,ensurin
gdepthofavour
andanatural
carbonation.
Itsservedinacas
kratherthanapr
essurizedkeg,
normallydispense
dbygravityrom
abeerengine
(handpull)orstr
aightromthecas
kbehindthebar.
TheCampaignor
RealAle(CAMRA)n
ameditrealalein
the1970stodier
entiateitrommas
s-produced,poor
qualitykegbeers
.
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yrepresentingth
ecaskindustry,an
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noonetermorth
ebeer.Thisreport
usesdierent
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eably,refectingth
ediversityand
idiosyncrasyo
theproduct.
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The Headlines:Cask outperforming any other draught beer
Cask Beer at a Glance
- Cask ale creates a unique value chain
in pubs that stock it well. It attracts
more drinkers to a pub, who visit
pubs more oten than other drinkers,
with a higher spend per visit than
other drinkers (p18).
- Growth in cask beer volume and value
in 2009 to date, ollowing slight decline
in 2008 (p10).
- Growth long-term in casks share
o total beer (p11).
- Growth in number o people drinkingcask ale. Doubling in number o emale
drinkers year-on-year (p22).
2007-08 2008-09
Market volume 2.467m barrels 2.386m barrels
Volume share o total beer 7.0% 7.6%
Number o regular drinkers 7.4 million 7.9 million
Number o occasional drinkers 640,000 654,000
Total number o drinkers 8.1 million 8.5 million
Number o breweries in Britain 589 660
- In volume terms, cask ale is
outperorming not just all other
draught beers, but almost every other
drink on the bar, including wine and
most spirits (p6).
- Cask beer is thereore helping pubs
beat the recession. Theres strong
evidence that cask beer pubs are
ar less likely to close than pubs
generally (p16).
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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The Economy
Meltdown at the Local?
2009 has been dominated by the news
that 52 pubs are closing every week. The
recession is having an obvious eect on
peoples spending habits, with people
going out ar less than they did. And the
Chancellors aggressive duty escalator on
beer - increasing tax on beer by 2% above
the rate o ination or our consecutive
years rom 2008 while other industries are
bailed out by taxpayers money - makes
brewing the only British industry to be
punished during the recession rather thanbeing given government help. Added to
this, the ever-increasing price dierential
between on- and o-trade, increasing red
tape or landlords and the threat o ever
more draconian legislation have combined
to ensure that whatever downturn the rest
o the retail sector eels, pubs eel it harder.
There are success stories. And there is a
view that were simply seeing bad pubs
close more quickly than they otherwise
would. But no one can deny that trading
conditions are tougher than theyve been
or sixty years.
Cask ale
Bucking the trend
Two years ago, we reported that cask
ale wasnt in the terminal decline many
believed it to be. Last year we showed it
was outperorming other beer categories.
This year we can go urther and say that
cask ale is outperorming most drinks on
the bar, including wine and vodka. In the
o-trade, premium bottled ales, particularlybottle-conditioned beer - the closest thing
to cask beer outside the pub - continues to
show strong annual growth, despite being
priced at a premium to heavily discounted
lager brands. Year-on-year, cask ale is still
showing slight decline. But in 2009 to date
it is in net volume and value growth - much
earlier than we have previously predicted.
Bottled premium ale is the only o-trade
beer category in growth, with a record
number o brands available.
The Year in Review
The worst year for pubs in living memory?
Maybe, but its not all doom and gloom.
With 52 outlets a week closing and widespread media coverage of the
death of the British pub, there are also strong indicators suggesting
that the market for flavorful, lovingly crafted beer is more robust than
it has been for years.
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Beer Festivals and events
Grassroots activity shows burgeoning
consumer interest
Augusts Great British Beer Festival saw
records broken: on the frst day, CAMRA
announced its membership had broken the
100,000 barrier or the frst time. With an
increase o almost 10% in the last twelve
months, membership has doubled over
the last decade. At the end o the week
CAMRA announced that, ater a slight
dip in attendance in 2008, 2009 had seen
record attendance o 64,000, again up
10% year on year. And its not just the bigestival in Earls Court thats seeing growth.
In addition, there are now over 150 local
and regional beer estivals around the UK,
with an estimated total attendance o over
hal a million. Many o these now sell out
in advance, something that was rare a
ew years ago. A growing number o pubs
are organizing their own beer estivals
and seeing a huge increase in turnover
as a result. Cask beer is also increasingly
eaturing in and selling well at music
estivals, ood estivals and sporting events.
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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Cask Ale Week
The pub industry celebrates Britains
national drink
Easter 2009 saw Cask Marque organise the
frst national Cask Ale Week. Running rom
6th to 12th April, it saw over 7000 pubs take
part in a nationwide programme o activities
to get people into pubs and to try cask ale,
including a mass wave o brewery open
days, a emALE day ocusing on women
and cask ale, and an attempt to break the
record or the worlds biggest toast. Pubs
that took part saw not only a 27% increase
in the amount o cask ale they sold versus
non-participating pubs, but also growthin premium lager and stout. The event drove
turnover, and premiumised the product
mix on the bar. Cask Ale Week will run
again rom 29th March to 5th April 2010.
Breweries
Structure o cask ale market turns
broader trends on their head
The our major multinationals that dominate
the British beer market continue to disinvest
in their ale brands, retrenching to the
regions they came rom decades ago, and
almost becoming local brands once more.
But large regional breweries are investing
heavily and thriving as a result, and small
crat brewers are springing up in ever
larger numbers. There are, inevitably, some
brewers alling casualty to the recession.
But 71 new breweries have opened in
the UK in the last year, bringing the total
number o British breweries to 660 - the
highest since the 1940s.
The Media
Mixed messages but a denite growth
in interest
Ater 19 years in which there was no
coverage o British beer on TV, late 2008
and early 2009 saw not one but two national
TV series about beer - Oz and James
Drink to Britain and Neil Morrisseys Risky
Business - plus a major regional series,
Yorkshires Perect Pint. Neil Morrisseysventure with partner Richard Fox has seen
the pair create a new beer brand specifcally
designed to broaden the appeal o cask
ale. Oz Clarke and James May covered
more than real ale, but gave exposure to
many regional and local breweries as well
as educating an audience o millions on the
ingredients and processes behind natural,
quality beer. More generally speaking,
while the news media loves a negative
story about the drinks industry, they are
also increasingly interested in good news:
the launch o the Good Beer Guide 2010
in September garnered an unprecedented
amount o positive coverage across TV,
radio and press. Theres a renewed broader
interest in cask beer - and its proving it can
attract new drinkers.
The Year in Reviewcontinued
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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The Market for Cask Beer
While it has been a strong performer relative to other beer for the
last few years, no one expected cask ale to return to growth in 2009 -
especially in the grip of the worst recession for generations.
But if current trends continue, 2009 will be the year cask ale returned
to positive volume and value growth.
Cask ale: the UKs best-perorming
draught beer
- Cask ale is increasing its share not
just o the total ale market, but total on-
trade beer - up rom 12% in 2007
to 13.5% in 2008.(1)
- 2008 may have been a bad year or beer
- on-trade volumes were down 8.7% -
but over the same period, cask ale
declined by only 3.3%.(2)
- In 2009 so ar, the decline in on-trade
beer volumes appears to be stabilizing.(The second quarter o 2009 saw a
decline o 4.5%, compared with a 6.3%
decline in the frst quarter).(3) But between
January and June 2009 cask ale volume
grew by 1%, with growth in our out o the
six months.
- This means cask ale is outperorming
almost every other drink on the bar. In the
year to May 2009, premium lager in the
on-trade declined by 15%, standard lager
by 8%. Wine in the on trade ell by 9%,
spirits by 8%.(4)
- Cask ale is increasingly recognised as
the star perormer in a difcult on-trade
market. When asked i any one drinks
category is perorming better than the
rest, 42% o tenant publicans answered
cask beer. Standard lager was a distant
second with 13%.(5)
- Unsurprisingly, distribution o cask ale in
UK pubs is increasing, with over 3,000
new pubs stocking cask in the twelve
months to June 2009.(6)
- Most decline is coming rom large
multinational breweries as they retrench
and ocus on core lager business.
When the growth o regional, local and
independent breweries overtakes the
decline o the multinationals, cask ale will
return to long-term sustained growth.
(1) Nielsen Cask Ale Report(2) Source: BBPA Annual Barrelage Survey, adjusted toinclude estimate o microbrewery volumes.
(3) Source: BBPA beer barometer.(4) Nielsen Drinks Market Strategic Overview - on-trade(5) CGA Research in the Morning Advertiser, July 2009(6) CGA Strategy
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Volume: much better than it could
have been
The 3.3% decline in total cask ale volume
is a slight deterioration on the 2007 fgure.
But in the context o a terrible year or beer,
it could have been much worse. With the
punitive beer duty escalator, record pub
closures, record price dierences between
on- and o-trade and people reining in their
spending due to recession, cask beer has
proved more resilient than any other beer.
Only cider is outperorming it on the bar.
Cask ale is thereore increasing its shareo total beer (ie stout, lager, cask beer, keg
and smoothow beer). It now represents:
- 34.5% o all ale in the on-trade
- 13.5% o UK all draught on-trade beer
(versus 12% in 2007, 11% in 2006)
- 7.6% o total UK beer (versus 7.0%
in 2007)
In Enterprise Inns, cask ale now accounts
or 51% o all ale, with keg at 49%. We will
soon see this played out across the rest o
the British on-trade.
Value outpaces volume
Cask ale showed a small value decline
o 2% overall - smaller than the volume
decline, because premium ales are doing
particularly well.
Cask ale thereore increased its value share
o total ale rom 30.4% in March 2008
to 31.5% in March 2009. Neilsen estimates
that the cask ale market now has a retail
value o 1.7 billion.
The small decline in value was almost
entirely due to the shrinking o themultinational brewers brands, who saw
an 11% drop in the year to March 2009,
whereas value o regional, local and
independent brewers remained at. Once
we are able to add in the adjustment rom
Customs and Excise fgures (see ootnote
below) it seems certain that, like last year,
this fgure will actually show small growth.
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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The Market for Cask Beer continued
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Winners and losersMost o the small overall decline has, once
more, come rom the our multinational
brewers who dominate the British lager
market - their volumes are down 10%
in the year to March 2009 as they continue
to ocus on building national and
international lager brands, and their ales
revert to areas o regional strength.
As these big brands diminish, two thingsare happening:
- The next tier o brands - large regionals
such as Adnams Bitter, Bombardier,
Greene King IPA, London Pride, Marstons
Pedigree and Deuchars IPA - grow to fll
the void. Many o these brands are seeing
strong year-on-year growth.
- Giants are replaced by minnows - thenumber o small breweries continues to
grow strongly each year, with 71 new
breweries opening in the last year
alone. On average, members
o the Society o Independent
Brewers (SIBA) are reporting
10.7% annual growth.
Regional, local and independent brewersnow account or 78% o cask ale volume
and 81% o value.
This success means that regional, local
and independent brewers continue to grow
their share o total ale, now accounting or
over hal the market - a great achievement
considering how big some mainstream
smoothow brands still remain.
Looking at the social trends driving trial and
adoption o cask ale among more people,
regional and local cask ale brewers have the
potential to do more than mop up volume
rom the shrinking giants. When the rate
o their growth passes the rate o decline
o the multinationals, the market will return
to steady long-term growth.
13
Sep07Mar08
Sep08Mar09
49.6
50.4
50.1
49.9
50.6
49.4
51.1
48.9
Multinat
ional
brewers
Valueshareo
ftotal
Regional/
Local/
independent
brewers
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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RegionalityCask ale is a very regional product - local
origins and identity orm a strong part
o its appeal. This does mean that cask
perormance varies markedly by region.
Cask ale has a much stronger perormance
in the south-east o England. In some
regions it is underperorming, and actually
losing share. But strong growth in London
- and in Scotland which, or a small basea ew years ago is seeing very strong,
sustained volume and value growth in cask
ale - mean net share growth overall.
Distribution
- Cask ale distribution in UK on-licensed
premises increased rom 48% in June
2008 to 51% in June 2009.
- Based on an estimated market o 105,000on-licensed premises, this means a net
increase o approximately 3000 pubs
stocking cask ale - in a market where
approximately 2500 pubs have closed in
the last year.
- This reects signifcant investment
in cask ale rom managed houses,
such as M&B and Tattershall Castle,
who have reinvested across their
estates, and sustained new investmentin cask ale rom groups such as
Wetherspoons, Marstons Inns and
Taverns, and Greene King.
A brie word about the o-trade
Cask ale is a unique product in that it is
only available in pubs - or other venues that
have the acilities to keep casks o living,
breathing beer in good condition.
But most leading cask ale brands havepremium bottled variants - theyre
dierent beers in that they are not cask or
bottle conditioned, but they share some
characteristics and are recognisable to
drinkers as the same brands.
Premium bottled ales have been
sustained in growth or almost ten years,
and 2008 was no exception - volumes
increased by 5%.
Within premium bottled beers, the closest
thing to cask ale is bottle-conditioned ale,
where yeast is added to the bottle or
a secondary ermentation. Bottle-
conditioned beers are growing strongly,
driven in part by CAMRAs campaign
promoting them as real ale in a bottle.
This success is particularly noteworthy
because whereas real ale is priced cheaper
than lager in pubs, in the o-trade it is
signifcantly more expensive because it is
price-promoted nowhere near as heavily as
lager is - and yet its growing, while lager is
in decline.
O-trade premium bottled ale perormance
demonstrates that ale drinkers are preparedto pay a premium or beers with quality,
avour depth and integrity - something the
on-trade should perhaps take on board.
A word about the fgures: BBPA and Nielsen fgures,used throughout this report, underestimate the volumecontribution o small crat brewers. BBPA and Nielsencompensate or this by adding in additional volume
estimated rom Customs and Excise receipts. However,these fgures are only available once a year. The wholeyear fgure or 2008 is thereore the most accurate fgure.Weve used some data or 2009 so ar, but these fguresunderestimate cask ales perormance. Because we areusing dierent sources, time periods o data sometimes vary.
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M&Bs businessisbuiltaroundm
anaged
houses,otenorganized inbrand
edchains.
In 2009,twoprominentchainsTo
byCarvery
andCrownCarvery,bothtraditio
nalpub
conceptspopularortheirSund
aylunch
menussawanear-universalrol
loutocask
ale. Handpumpswerereintroduce
dto 131out
o133Tobypubs,and 106outo109Crownpubs.
100%rolloutwillbecompleted
bytheendo
theyearaternecessaryupgrad
eshavebeen
fnishedcaskbeerhasnotbeen
introduced
wherethepubdidnthavetherig
htacilities
to guaranteeconsistentquality
,but
thegroupis investinginthenec
essary
improvementstobringeverysing
leoutletup
toscratch.
AllmanagershavebeenonaBIIt
raining
programme,andM&BsBeerQual
ityManager,
RachelBoyd,saysthataminimum
oone
personperpubwillbetrainedto
ABCQ
standardbytheendotheyear.
Already,
manypubsareCaskMarqueaccre
dited. The
aimistohave120Tobypubsand80
Crownpubs
accreditedbytheendoOctober
,withthe
ultimateaimo gaining100%accr
editation
throughouttheestate.Wehada
bigpushon
training inconjunctionwiththe
suppliers
whowere supportiveinnotjustt
hetraining,
butinstallationsand
marketing,saysBoyd.
Fromthemanagerspointoviewtheyenjoy
beingincontrolotheproducta
sitneeds
specialattentionandthisgives
themgreat
pride. The eedbackIhavereceiv
edhasbeen
extremelypositive.
Mostpubshaveanationallyreco
gnised
brandandalocalhero,withath
irdpump
readytobeusedasbusinessbuil
dsand
businessis building. DavidMcCon
nell,
managerotheTobyCarvery,Edin
burghWest,
saysOurreputationisspreadin
gandmany
customerscomeintothebarkno
wingthatwe
serveagreatqualitypinttimea
tertime.
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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Cask Beer and Profitable Pubs
Its great for brewers that cask ale is performing well. But what does
it mean for the publican? With a lower retail price and margin than
other beers, and extra care and attention required to keep it well, while
consumers may want to drink it, whats the benefit in selling it? New
data reveals that cask ale drives profitability and therefore helps keep
pubs open.
The cask beer value chain
- Cask ale brings more drinkers into
the pub.
- Cask ale drinkers visit pubs more oten.
- Cask ale drinkers have a higher average
spend per pub visit.
- This increase in income isnt just in ale,
but in other drinks and in ood - cask ale
drives higher turnover overall.
- Cask ale pubs have thereore closedat a much slower rate than other pubs.
Cask beer keeps pubs open
The UK is currently witnessing record pub
closures - as many as 52 every week. In the
past year Britain has lost 5% o its pubs.
But within the pub market, there are still
those that are thriving. Anecdotally, weve
seen that pubs with a good range o well-
kept cask ales seem to be perorming
relatively well. Its not possible to obtain
comprehensive fgures that show the
rate o closure o cask ale pubs versus the
rate or those that dont. But we can look
at correlations.
Holding Cask Marque accreditation
is one way o looking at good quality cask
ale pubs. And it appears that such pubs
are closing at around hal the rate o pubs
on average:
Cask ale pubs closing at a much slower
rate than other pubs
Total Pub
Universe
Cask Marque
Pubs
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
% closuresin last 12months
Source:
Cask Marque/
CGA Strategy
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So why are cask ale pubs perormingbetter?
At frst glance it may seem counter-intuitive:
i you sell a greater proportion o your beer
at a lower margin how can you possibly
make more money?
The dynamic o more drinkers, visiting more
oten, and spending more money when they
do, creates a cask beer value chain.
1. Cask beer brings more drinkers into
the pub
Why? How? There are two key reasons:
Cask ale stockists are seen as better
quality pubs
Cask ale requires more care and attention
than other beers. A publican who makes
the eort to keep cask ale well oten makesthat extra eort across the board. There
is a broad correlation between good cask
ale and good ood, hygiene, etc. Drinkers
recognize this - the presence o cask ale on
the bar is oten a quick signifer that the pub
is a better pub generally, and is thereore
more likely to attract their custom.
Cask ale drinkers decide pub choice
in groupsCask ale drinkers are generally regarded by
their peers as knowing their beer and pubs.
They also know their drink is only available
in certain outlets, whereas their riends
drinking lager, wine, cider or spirits know
that most pubs will have an acceptable
selection. In mixed groups o drinkers,
thereore, the cask drinker is deerred to in
pub choice. Cask ale pubs sell more drinksacross the board - not just more cask ale.
2. Cask beer drinkers visit pubsmore oten
Cask ale is only available in pubs
Research shows that cutting down on visits
to the pub is the second most common
behavioural change in response to the
recession. (32% say they are going to the
pub less because o the recession: only
buying ewer clothes scores higher with
40%).(7) The experience o drinking wineat home is exactly the same as that in a
pub or bar - a bottle is opened and poured
into a wine glass. Beer is dierent - with
any beer, drinking rom a bottle or can is
less satisying than having a pint drawn on
draught. And cask ale is unique - it simply
isnt available outside pubs. Cask ale
drinkers have to go to the pub i they want
to drink cask beer.
Cask ale drinkers are more afuent
The section on the cask beer drinker (p22)
shows in detail that cask drinkers are
more auent than other drinkers, and less
anxious about the state o their fnances.
In this recession, they are thereore less
likely to eel the need to economise
as described above.
So cask ale drinkers visit pubs more oten
than non-drinkers - 40% o people who
have tried real ale go to the pub once
a week or more, versus only 23% o people
who have not tried real ale.
(7) Social Issues Research Centre: RecessionGeneration, July 2009
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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Caskaledrinkersvisitpub
smoreoften
Havetried
caskale
havenever
triedcaskale0102030405060708090100 Lessthan
onceaweek
Onceamonth
2-3timesa
month
Onceaweek
ormore
Source:
CAMRA/CAPI
Omnibus2009
95%
24%
10%33%
85%
15%
13%
23%
20%
40%
3. Cask beer drinkers have a
higher average spend perpub visit
As already discussed, cask ale drinkers
are more auent than other drinkers.
This means they are more likely to spend
more - we can prove this by showing that
cask ale drinkers are more likely to
buy ood in pubs than other drinkers.
Cask ale is thereore a clear driver oootall - and proftability.
More drinkers in the pub, visiting the
pub more oten, mean higher total
beer turnover.
This, plus higher spend on ood etc,
means higher overall turnover.
TheBlacksmithsArms,StAlbansStAlbansishometoCAMRAHQ,andthereorehasapopulationconsistingothemostdiscerningaledrinkers.Fiteenyearsagot
heBlacksmithsArmswasagoodalehouse,butasuccessionobrandedconcepts,poorlyexecuted,letitwithnoaleandapoorreputationasapuboverall.CurrentownersTownandCitygavenewlandlordMarkFrazeralmostareereinintermsowhathewantedtodoandateronlyourmonthsincharge,apolicyoocusingoncaskaleisreapinghugerewards.
Markinstalledfvehandpumps,oeringachangingmixoestablishedandeclecticrealales.Casknowaccountsor30%otheproductmixandthatcontinuestorise.Beerestivalsinamarqueeinthegardenalsoprovidesomethingnewandspecial,drawingmorepeoplein.
Alemighthavealowerpricepointthanlager,saysMark,butitproftsusbecauseothevolume.Werebusyeverydayotheweeknow.Thealedrinkermightcomeinwithhiswie,andshemightbedrinkingsomethingelsebutitsallextrabusinessweotherwisewouldnthave.
Percentageeatingmealsinpubsonce
amonthormore
Daytime Evening0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90100
Caskdrinkers
Noncask
beerdrinkers
Source:
TGI
Jan-Dec2008
47%
70%
43%
60%
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
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Cask Beer and Tourism
Foreign visitors to the UK love British pubs and British beer.
As Britains national drink, cask ale has iconic status. Any pub in
a tourist area is simply missing a profit opportunity by not selling it.
- 13 million oreign tourists - 40% o
all visitors - visit a pub on their stay
in the UK.
- 55% o prospective tourists say visiting a
pub is something theyd like to do while in
the UK.
- And with more Britons holidaying at
home in 2009, 70% o those considering
a UK holiday say it is very likely they will
visit a pub.
The pub as the tourist hubIn May, VisitEngland launched Inn England
- turning pubs into tourist inormation
centres. The pub has always been a hub
o social lie, and this is a brilliant evolution
o its role.
Within tourist pubs, cask ale plays a unique
role. Its recognised as a quintessentially
British icon, unique to the UK. Even British
drinkers who drink lager at home are more
likely to drink cask ale i they visit a country
pub on holiday.
Ale trails are popular throughout the
country. Cask Marque guides promoting
great real ale pubs throughout the UK,
requently need to be restocked in tourist
inormation centres. (These guides are
available rom www.caskmarque.co.uk)
Hotels see ale potential
Hotels in tourist areas that dont stock cask
ale are missing a major driver o tourist
custom. Not all hotels have the regular
throughput or cellar space to keep and
serve cask ale well. But in cases like this
bottle conditioned or other premium bottledales provide a neat solution.
Weve shown already that drinkers are
prepared to pay a premium or these
beers where stocked - the Connaught, an
exclusive hotel in Mayair, sells Schiehallion
at 8 a bottle!
Travelodge sponsors CAMRAs Champion
Bottled Beer o Great Britain Award,
announced each year at the Great British
Beer Festival. This year, the hotel chain is
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The Cask Beer Consumer
More people are drinking real ale - and theyre the kind of people any
profitable pub needs to attract.
More drinkers, with more to spend
- Number o people who have ever tried
cask ale has increased rom 35 to 50%.
- This has resulted in 400,000 new cask ale
drinkers in the last year.
- The number o women drinking cask ale
has doubled - to 1.3 million.
- Cask beer drinkers are more auent than
any other group o beer drinkers, less
anxious about their fnances and have
ewer big fnancial commitments. Theyrethereore happier to spend money than
other beer drinkers.
- Cask ale drinkers drink beer more oten
than other beer drinkers.
Growing interest
Trial and sampling programmes, beer
estivals, Cask Ale Week, the growth in
availability and diversity o cask ale and
increased media attention are all paying o:
the number o people who have ever tried
cask ale has increased rom 35% to 50%
year-on-year. The number o women who
have ever tried cask ale has doubled rom
15% to 30%.
Trial = conversion
One in six o adults now drink no alcohol at
all. The number o people who say they everdrink beer has allen rom 28 million to 27.8
million in the last year alone.
And yet, the number o people drinking cask
ale has increased rom 8.1 to 8.5 million.
This has been driven by a staggering
increase in the number o women who
say they now drink cask ale - more than
doubling year on year: Cask ale drinkers
thereore represent an increasing proportion
o the market: 31% o beer drinkers
now claim to drink cask ale, up rom 29%
a year ago.
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Cask ale drinkers are afuent drinkers
Everyone is eeling the pinch in the credit
crunch. But 68% o cask ale drinkers are
social grade ABC1, compared to 52% o
non-cask beer drinkers and 55% o the
population as a whole.
On average they earn more - 46% earn
more than the national average amilyincome o 30,000, compared to 33% o
non-cask beer drinkers.
But recession makes everyone more
anxious - ewer than 10% are directly
aected by unemployment etc, but most
people become anxious and change their
spending habits. Spending is determined by
how happy people are with their income, as
much as what level it actually is.
74% o cask ale drinkers are comortable
or coping on their current income, versus
63% o non- cask ale beer drinkers.
Cask ale drinkers are at a liestage where
they have ewer outgoings - theyre less
likely to have young amilies, and more
likely to be independent. Again, this
means they are more likely to have higher
disposable income.
More people are drinking cask ale
Source:
TGI Jan-Dec 2008
Men Women0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,390
Numberofdr
inkers(000s)
631
7,187
1,353
6,000
7,000
8,000 2007
2008
How do you eel about your currentlevel o income?
Cask ale drinkers liestage means theyre more independent
Source:
TGI Jan-Dec 2008
Source:
TGI Jan-Dec 2008
Comortable
Fle
dglings
Flownthe
nest
Nest
builders
Pla
yschool
Parents
Sec
School
Parents
M
id-Life-
Independents
Unconstrained
couples
Hotel
parents
Sen
iorsole
d
ecision
makers
Empty
nesters
Coping Finding itdicult
Findingit very
dicult
70
0
80
20
90
40
100
60
110
80
120
100
133
85 1
11
67
83 1
10
162
151
110
80
129
123
125
116
119
104
101 1
10
93
67
79
1
06
88
77
94 102 1
10 1
12
index vs population
index vs population as a whole
130
120
140
140
160
180
Cask ale drinkers
No-cask beerdrinkers
Cask ale drinkers Non cask beerdrinkers
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Whendoyoudrinkbeer?(inhome)
Source:
TGIJan-Dec2008
Ho
me:
with
ma
inmea
l
Ho
me:
with
frien
d/fa
mily
Ho
me:
relax
ing
alone
Ou
t:mea
l
atfrien
d/
family
s
ho
me
Ou
t:drin
k
atfrien
d/
family
s
ho
me0
1020
30
40
50
25
55
44 4
5
19
46
36
31 3
5
60
70
Caskaledrinkers
Noncaskbeerdrinkers
39
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Focus: Cask Beer and Younger Drinkers
An old mans drink? Younger, affluent drinkers are entering the
cask beer market. But how can more of them be encouraged
to follow suit?
The cask ale liestage- 25-34 age group is increasingly the entry
point to cask beer, with a growing number
o drinkers in this age group.
- Cask beer orms part o a liestyle
change, as people begin to settle down
and seek higher quality ood and drink.
- Growing success at estivals and sporting
events highlights growing popularity withyounger drinkers.
Developing the taste
Received wisdom in the beer market
used to state that there was an automatic
progression o drinking tastes determined
by age: rom white to red wine, rom wine
and beer to white spirits, then dark spirits,
and rom cider to lager to ale as drinkersmove rom their late teens through to their
late thirties and early orties.
There is no longer any evidence o this
graduation - the frst generation o lager
drinkers are now nearing their dotage and
still drinking lager. Cask ale is still recruiting
drinkers - the number o people aged under
35 who drink cask ale has increased rom
1.6 to 1.7 million over the last year - but itdoesnt happen automatically.
Brewers need to understand why someyoung people are starting to drink cask, and
actively encourage more o them to do so.
18-24s: the drinkers-in-waiting
Over 17% o UK adults drink cask ale -
but only 9% o 18-24 year olds do - even
though 47% o them drink beer other than
real ale. Universities have very ew real ale
societies, and real ale has poor distribution
on campus. Venues with loud music andvertical drinking are not ideally suited to
real ale, which is a more mellow, laid back
drinking occasion. There are o course
exceptions - universities such as Shefeld
and Lancaster boast signifcant real ale
communities. But as a rule, these drinkers
are hard to recruit.
25-34s: the cask ale trialistsO the 1.7 million cask ale drinkers aged
under 35, 67% are aged 25-34. The
percentage o cask ale drinkers in each age
group doubles rom 7% among 18-24s to
14% or 25-34s.
This is the age when careers become
established, money becomes easier, and
tastes become more sophisticated. Drinkers
begin to move rom loud clubs and venuesto occasions that are more mellow and
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27
relaxed. They also become moreinterested in premium quality ood
and drink, with a signifcant
upsurge in interest in armers
markets, organic ood, home
cooking and so on.
But positive though this is, still
only 15% o 25-34s drink cask ale,
compared with 47% drinking other
styles o beer. Although this fgures isnow almost in line with the average o
all age groups, theres clearly potential
to recruit many more drinkers.
Occasions or trial
People are more open to trying
new things when they are in new
circumstances. City-dwelling
drinkers who take weekend breaks inthe country are more likely to try the
local ale in a country pub than they
would at home. Holidays, sporting
events and music estivals are
special occasions when people are
more likely to break their routine.
Music estivals are selling
increasing volumes o real ale.
Glastonbury has real ale on all itsbars and one beer tent devoted
entirely to it. Wales Green Man
Festival in August 2009 had
a real ale and cider bar that
was the busiest bar on site. In
sport, Marstons this summer
introduced cask ale to cricket
venues, with great success.
Latitude
TheLatitu
deFestiva
linHenha
mPark,Su
olk,has
builtarep
utationa
saslightl
ymoreupm
arket
estivalt
hanGlast
onbury,wi
thacorea
udience
o25-44ye
ar-oldsra
therthan
under25s
.Hektor
Roussupp
liesreala
lestothe
beertent
sonsite.
In2008,theales
soldoutb
eoreany
otherdri
nk.
Accordin
gtoHektor,in20
09,Wesol
d33,192pi
nts
oale[to
atotale
stivalcrowdoa
pproximat
ely
12,000],wh
ichequat
estoover
4timesmorereal
aleperpe
rsonthan
Glastonb
ury.Thesu
ccesso
realalea
tLatitude
isdenit
elyanind
icatoro
theyoung
ercrowde
mbracing
drinkswit
hsome
favourin
them!
TheDevonshireCat,SheeldAsyoungpersonsvenuesgo,theDevCattakessome
beating:notonlyisitintheheartoSheeldsuniversityquarter,itsactuallyonthegroundfooroastudenthousingblock.Soitcomesasasurprisetosomethatitisoneotheundisputedbeer
shrinesinoneotheUKsmostale-riendlycities.Astunninglistooreignspecialitybeersandgenuinecontinentallagersisjoinedbytwelver
eal
alehandpumps-sixregularsandsixguests.Theregularsareamixolocalheroesandnationally
recognisedbrandsromregionalbreweries,while
guestsarerotatedoraconstantlychangingbut
balancedrangeostylesandstrengths.Wedenitelyseelotsopeoplecomingintothepubandtryingsomethingdierentorthersttime,saysassistantmanagerHannahBovey.Themainstreamissaturatedandalotopeoplearelookingorsomethingthatsgenuinelydierent.
Otenpeoplecometothebaranddontknowwhattheywant,andourstaaretrainedtoguidethem
throughtheselection.Peoplewhohaventtried
alebeoreotengooragoldenale,butthewhole
rangesellswell.Sometimesitsaboutstudentscominginwiththeirparents,whoareestablishedale
drinkers,butweseealotoexperimentationwith
youngpeopleontheirownaswell.
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Focus: Cask Beer and Women
Women are driving the growth in what has often been perceived as a
very male market. There are specific barriers that prevent more women
from drinking beer in general - and cask ale is best beer style to bring
them in.
Women driving growth in cask drinkers
- Number o women who claim to have
ever tried cask ale has doubled.
- Number o women who claim to drink
cask ale nowadays has doubled.
- Women now account or one in six o all
cask beer drinkers.
- Women embrace more complex avour
and character - but have been put o by
a negative, macho image which is now
beginning to be overcome.
Why do British women think they
dont like beer
Only 37% o women ever drink beer,
compared to 77% o men. Women - 50%
o the population - account or only 13% o
beer consumed. This compares to 25% in
the US, and 44% in Spain.
So why dont British women like beer?
Research rom the BitterSweet partnership
a new group aiming to encourage women
to drink more beer - shows that women are
put o beer by a number o actors:
- Image - beer is seen as masculine and
chavvy compared to wine.
- Weight - women mistakenly believe beer
to be higher in calories than wine,
an equivalent sot drink or a large gin
and tonic.
- Taste - women believe they wont like
it i they try it.
- Presentation - many women dont like the
idea o drinking rom pints.
Overcoming the obstacles
- Image - Cask ale has none o the
macho, laddish, ootball-oriented image
characteristics o lager. Potentially, it
could be more acceptable to women.
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29
- Weight - cask ale has ewer calories,
measure or measure, than wine, sot
drinks or spirits with mixers. It is also
less bloating than lager, because it has
no added gas.
- Taste - women are not araid o strong,
complex avours - ater all, thats what
they fnd in wine. They simply need to be
encouraged to try cask ale and fnd the
style they preer. The last year has seen a
great increase in sampling activity aimed
at women, with many events taking place
in Cask Ale Week on emALE day.The most requently heard comment at
events like this is I dont like beer, but
I love this.
- Presentation - the use o branded
glassware and hal and third-o-a-pint
glasses has increased, oering more
attractive presentation o cask beer.
- Partnering beer with ood - cask
beer is the perect partner or locally
sourced ood - resh, natural, with a wide
variety o tastes.
The results o this activity have
been remarkable:
- 30% o women now claim to have tried
cask ale - up rom 16% a year ago.
- And the number o women who now
claim to drink cask ale has doubled -
rom 630,000 to 1.3 million.
Ivealwaysdrunklagerorspirits,butearlierthisyearIwaspersuadedtotryRudgateRubyMild.Ienjoyedthetasteoadarkerbeerbecauseitseemedsweeterandullert
hanlager.Iwasaraidtotrycaskbeerbeore
becauseIwasntsurewhatthefavourwouldbelike.
SueRowley,37
Ialwaysassumed[ca
skbeer]wasabit
fatcomparedtobee
rslikelager-and
Ineverwentintore
alalepubs.NowI
lovestouts,porters
andmildsbecause
theyhaveadeeper,ullerf
avour.I
thinkalotowomen
dontdrinkreal
alebecauseoperce
ption-itsabit
unladyliketobesee
nwithapintglass.
Ialsoneverthought
ocaskbeerasa
drinkochoice.Ith
erehadbeenmore
emaleriendlypre
ss,andmorehigh
prolewomendrank
it,Iwouldhave
drunkit.
JoannaFrith,36
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Meet the brewers
Cask ales unique strength is in the diversity of brewers who make
it, and the flavours and styles they create. Regional, local and
independent brewers each bring something different to the bar. Heres
a guide to how the market breaks down.
- The structure o the market continues toevolves as multinationals retreat to areas
o regional strength in their ale brands
and regionals, independents and locals
take over.
- Larger regionals provide broad investment
and support in the category and
are making cask beer the ocus o the
ale category.
- Smaller independent and local brewers
are growing in number and provide variety
and dierence.
- There is a long-term shit rom keg ale to
cask beer.
The shrinking giants
The old national brands such as JohnSmiths, Bass and Tetleys - all now owned
by multinational corporations ocusing
on mainstream lager brands - are in a
phase o managed decline. They receive
dwindling marketing support and survive on
historical reputation, name recognition and
large distribution deals, although they still
have strong ollowings in the regions they
originated in.
Regional brewers - lling the voidThe decline o the old giants leaves a big
gap that larger regional brewers such as
Adnams, Caledonian, Fullers, Greene King,
Marstons and Wells and Youngs are flling.
These are all brewers whose main ocus is
cask beer all are committed to investing in
and maintaining cask beer quality.
Building a premium image
Regional brewers provide investmentin cask beer in terms o marketing and
promotion, which raises the image o cask
beer as a whole:
- In 2008, 2.6 million was spent on
advertising ale. 90% o this spend was
on cask ale.
- This is increasingly driven by the activitieso the larger regionals - Fullers and Greene
King now heavily outspend John Smiths.
Other national brands such as Tetleys,
Boddingtons and Bass have no recorded
advertising spend or several years.
- Ad spend in 2009 to date already exceeds
3 million - a strong increase in support in
the midst o a deep recession. Again this is
primarily driven by continued spend romGreene King and Fullers, as well as the
high profle relaunch o Courage Best rom
new owners Wells and Youngs.
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31
- Sponsorship is also a major marketinggrowth area or cask ale brewers, but
sadly we were unable to obtain reliable
spend fgures or this. Greene King IPA
gives heavy support to English Rugby, and
Fullers supports gol. In 2009, Marstons
sold an additional one million pints on the
back o its sponsorship o the England
team over their triumphant Ashes series,
oering ans the chance to win tickets, co-
creating a limited edition cricket-themedjar o Marmite made with Marstons
Pedigree, and encouraging good-natured
banter between ans with satirical ads.
Adnams has increased its involvement
with Ipswich Town and Newmarket Races,
and is increasingly visible at grassroots
events such as County Shows and Food
and Drink estivals. This has in part
contributed to a signifcant businessturnaround, with a 6% decline at the end
o 2008 becoming 2% growth by June
2009, with growth coming almost entirely
rom the ree trade.
The combined eect o all this activity is
that the cask beer handpull increasingly
symbolizes the whole ale category. While
smoothow beers still account or more than
hal o total ale volume, they are increasinglyinvisible. Cask beer is creating a new, resh,
premium image or ale in general.
This image appeals to more auent drinkers,
and helps increasingly to relegate the
ale drinkers old-man-in-a-at-cap image
to the past.
Support on the ground
The larger regional brewers also providetraining schemes helping people keep and
serve cask beer in perect condition. Most
large regional brewers give cellar training
throughout their estates, both in the breweryand in pub. Cask Marque has centres o
excellence throughout the country where
they train many o the major pub retailers
as well as individual licensees to gain the
BII award in Cellar Management. Apart rom
training, its oten the regional brewers who
invest in the equipment needed to serve
cask ale, and branded glassware and point
o sale material to enhance its presentation.
Ale Advertising Spend 2008
Fullers 24% Shepherd Neame 3%
Wells & Young 9% Moorhouses 2%
John Smiths 8% St Austell 1%
Theakstons 6% Careys 1%
Belhaven 6% Smithwicks 1%
Adnams 4% Other 2%
Martons 4% Greene King 29%
Source:
Nielsen Ad Dynamix/
Manning Gottlieb
Media
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Local and smaller independents - the
new wave
O almost 700 breweries now operating
in the UK, 450 are members o SIBA, the
Society o Independent Brewers, ormed in
1980 to represent the interests o smaller
independent brewers and to help them get
wider distribution or their beers.
O SIBA members:
- 87% brew less than 5000 hectolitres a
year, and are thereore classed as small or
microbreweries.
- 61% have been ounded since the turn o
the millennium.
Thats an enormous momentum in terms
o new breweries. Its been uelled by
progressive beer duty (PBD), a measure that
allows smaller breweries to claim back tax
paid to Customs and Excise.
Some small brewers have been criticized or
entering the industry just to take advantage
o this tax break - and its true that not every
microbrewer creates good beer. But many o
these new breweries are serious businesses.
Four out o fve small brewers claim the
savings rom PBD go straight back into
building the business. In 2009:
- 81% are spending PBD money on new
equipment.
- 82% are spending it on marketing.
- 75% are spending to increase
brewing capacity.
SIBA members also advertise locally, help
improve the presentation o beers at point o
sale and support CAMRA beer estivals etc,
but do not have the same national ocus as
the larger regional brewers.
SIBA demonstrates its commitment to
encouraging its members to build long-term,
viable businesses by not only holding awards
or the best beer rom its membership, but
also the Small Business Awards that reward
marketing and promotional initiatives.
Meet the brewers continued
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33
Richness in variety
Cask beers strength is the variety o styles
and avours within it. The British crat beer
market is thriving thanks to the interplay
between established breweries keeping vital
traditions alive, providing long term stability
and expertise, and young start-ups seeking
to create something new, sometimes even
pushing the boundaries o what beer can be.
O course the lines between categories
become blurred - some microbreweries are
growing to become regional players, while
at the same time, inspired by their new
competition, regionals are creating new
beers, pushing into new styles, and investing
in grassroots marketing activity as well as
broader advertising and sponsorship.
In truth there are many dierent styles
and sizes o brewer and this section
is an oversimplifcation. Weve marked
out a continuum on which many dierent
types o brewery sit.
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Stocking and serving the perfect cask beer range
Cask ale takes a little more effort to keep well than other beers, but the
results are worth it. Heres everything you need to know in order to
serve great cask beer.
Getting it right- I you dont have the acilities or the
throughput to serve well-kept cask ale,
dont stock it!
- Stock the right number o beers or
your size.
- Stock the right mix o brands and styles.
- Make the most o attractive new onts,stylish glassware and point o sale
promotional material.
- Eort invested in keeping and serving cask
ale more than pays or itsel in terms o
better quality beer, meaning less wasted
beer, a better reputation, and ultimately
more custom.
Perecting the optimal mix o cask ales
Not every pub is suitable or cask ale. I
you have inadequate cellar acilities, low
throughput, or simply dont attract the
right customer base, its essential to think
twice beore rushing into the market.
Serving badly kept cask ale can only
damage both the publicans and the brewers
reputation, turning consumers o both the
pub and the category.
I youre confdent that cask ale can beneftyour pub, theres a stunning variety o
breweries and beer styles to choose rom.
Thats part o the appeal - but it can also be
bewildering i youre stocking cask or the
frst time. Its important to start small with
tried and trusted brands, beore becoming
more adventurous.
Tried and trusted brands
- Have broader recognition and areincreasingly seem as mainstream beers.
- Thereore oer reassurance to drinkers who
are new to the category, unamiliar with the
product and/or are accustomed to using
advertising to help them make a choice.
- Larger regional breweries, who produce
most brands wed describe as tried andtrusted, also have the inrastructure to
help with installation and maintenance o
equipment. Most oer cellar and technical
support and run training schemes on how
to keep and serve cask ale.
- In an area where a local microbrewery or
smaller regional, amily or independent
brewery has a particular ame, their brands
may be tried and trusted in that localitytoo. For example, drinkers in Bristol may
perceive Butcombe as a big, established,
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sae brand, while drinkers in the North East
who are just as knowledgeable about beer
may see it as an unusual choice. Its vital to
know the local market.
Local and microbrewery brands
- Oer variety and diversity o beers.
Being smaller, they can experiment more
and oer a more eclectic mix o beers.
(Although regional brewers increasingly
do this with seasonal and limited edition
beers too).
- Thereore attract experienced ale drinkerswho tend to always be on the lookout
or something dierent. These are the
highest spenders in the category and will
routinely look or the guest ale. Theyre an
attractive audience, but they avour pubs
that have an established reputation or
ale. A bad pint served in a pub known or
the quality o its ale will be blamed on the
brewer. A bad pint in an unamiliar ale pub
will be blamed on the publican.
- Compared to lager, all ale is seen is more
artisanally produced, more local, more
ethical. But within this, smaller, more local
breweries are avoured by drinkers who
want to support local businesses, cut
down on ood/beer miles, or simply want to
sample the variety o local produce in any
given part o the country.
So what should you stock?
Research shows this depends on how much
you sell, or think youll sell.
The worst mistake a publican can make is to
suddenly stock a wide range o ales when the
demand hasnt yet been proven - no one alegets the throughput, so quality suers across
the board, so no one buys the beers - an
inescapable vicious circle.
The ollowing table recommends the optimal
number o handpulls based on the volumes
o ale you serve. This should guarantee
enough throughput to keep quality high.
There are o course ale shrines that stock
as many as ten hand pumps - but they only
succeed in this when either the pub or the
publican already has a amous reputation or
great cask beer.
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Stocking and serving the perfect cask beer range continued
So what types o beers should be on
those pumps?
A tried and trusted session ale. Between
3.5 and 4.5%. A recognised brand in your
locality, whether thats a widely recognised
leading brand rom a big regional brewer,
or a local hero with a big reputation in a
specifcally defned area.
A more premium, select beer. Higher ABV
- 4.2% or above. Either a permanent brand
or a rotating guest beer.
A guest beer rom a small independentor microbrewer, on a rotating basis,
session or premium.
A seasonal beer, such as a golden or
summer ale, or winter ale. Increasingly, this
could be rom a microbrewer or a regional,
but either way it will have an element o
unamiliarity about it.
Every pub is dierent and experimentation
always yields results. But the lessons
here - learned rom independent research
conducted or both Marstons and Wells and
Youngs - is to start sae and build variety as
cask business grows.
Promotion at point o saleAs in all walks o lie, presentation is
everything. Cask drinkers may claim
taste is more important. But serve beer
badly in an old, scratched, warm glass with
oam pouring down the sides, and drinkers
will be disappointed.
Cask beer producers know their drinkers are
auent and discerning, and new drinkers
raised on lager demand an attractive image
as well as great taste. Cask brewers are
thereore investing in ensuring their beers
pass muster. Get it right, and it raises the
image o the pub as a whole.
Revitalising cask beer dispense
The real ale handpull is distinctive and
unique. To many drinkers, its a symbol o
traditional crat and quality, with an unrivalledlineage on the bar going back 200 years. Its
not going to disappear any time soon.
Average sales o Cask Ales Per Week
No. o
hand
pulls
1
2
3
4
0-18
gallons/
week
19-36
gallons/
week
37-54
gallons/
week
55
gallons/
or more
week
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37
But to others, its old ashioned and dated.
The beauty o cask beer is its diversity, and
several brewers are introducing innovations
in the traditional cask ale ont.
Central to these is the idea o illuminated
onts. Lager drinkers are accustomed to
seeing chunky, brightly lit onts that can
make a handpull and pumpclip seem
recessive by comparison. For brands aiming
to tempt lager drinkers into the ale category,
competing in terms o visibility is essential.
The new Black Sheep
ont leaves the traditional
handpull dispense
system unchanged, but
centres it in a chunkyLED illuminated ont that
stands out on the bar,
marrying tradition and
modernity. Where its
gone in, it has increased
beer sales by around
12-15%, and is now being rolled out beyond the
companys local estate.
The new Bombardier
ont goes urther.
Research conducted byWells & Youngs showed
that the iconic handpull
was indeed irreplaceable.
So instead, its been
ramed by a oot-high
illuminated chrome
surround which puts cask
beer dispense on a par with bigger, brighter lager onts
and is more appropriate than a traditional handpull in
more modern, stylish bars. early trials show an average
sales increase o 19% in test outlets. One manager o
Yatess in Nottingham said, Im ully behind it. I you
ask me i I want to keep it or get rid o it, Id fght to try
to keep it!
Greene King haslaunched a new Cask
Revolution ont. Here,
chrome design and
illumination also eature,
making the ont look
more contemporary,
but in addition the
actual dispense o the
beer is moved rom
below to above the bar,
adding a touch o theatre to the pour. Drinkers can
choose between a northern-style pint with a creamythick head and a crisper, southern style. Seamus
OKane, manager o Williams Wine and Ale House in
Whitechapel, London, has seen burgeoning interest in
cask beer since he had the ont installed, saying The
pump really stands out on the bar and encourages
people to enquire about the beer. Early results suggest
a sales increases o between 5 and 50% across the
700 quality pubs in which it has been installed, with
many new drinkers particularly women being
attracted to cask beer or the frst time.
Surely the next twelve months will see many
more cask beer brands making dramatic
improvements to their presence on the bar.
Whats the most important actor in infuencing a drinkers
choice o brand ?
Source:
Box Marketing research or
Wells & Youngs, May 2009
Taste
47.8
34
Be
erquality
22
11
Locally
sourced
10
0.5
Price
6.7
12.9
Fro
ma
hand
pull
3.8
0
Strength
1.9 4
.8
Cask ale drinkers
Lager drinker
Image/
eye-
catching
font
36.8
7.2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
38
Stocking and serving the perfect cask beer range continued
Glassware: making beer look beautiul
Historically, among label-conscious drinkers
bottles were seen as more stylish than
draught products because with a label,
people could see what you were drinking, that
you had made a discerning choice, whereas
pints were simply anonymous brown or
blonde liquids.
Many brewers are now investing in branded,
bespoke glassware:
- Making cask beer look more stylish and eel
more special to order.
- Glasses are oten shaped and styled
to accentuate the colour and aroma
o the beer.
Great design in glassware is also challenging
the dominance o the pint glass. Standard
hal pints dont really appeal to either
established or potential beer drinkers.
Stemmed and shaped glassware can make
a hal pint look attractive.
Third o a pint measures are also gaining
much wider distribution, encouraging trial o
a wider selection o beers, particularly strong
beers that are less suitable in pints.
Elegantly designed smaller glasses are vital
to overcoming the main obstacle preventing
more women trying cask beer - an overtlymasculine image.
Promotional ideas and initiatives
Lager tends to rely on large advertising and
promotional activities to create interest, but
cask ales strength is its grassroots nature. It
lends itsel to many promotional initiatives that
are easy to implement on a small budget.
- CAMRA Good Beer Guide - released every
year with listed pubs chosen by local
CAMRA branches.
- Try beore you buy - samples given away
ree WILL pay themselves back.
- Chalk boards - advertising guest ales is justas eective as promoting specials rom the
ood menu.
- Ale estivals - creating your own estival
is a proven driver o ootall and local
media coverage.
- Sta training - its a common rerain that
sta dont stay long enough and are not
paid enough to train. The ipside is that
training in cask ale dispense can increase
pride and job satisaction and increase
tenure o talented sta.
- Meet the brewer - many brewers are happy
to spend evenings in a pub talking to
consumers about their beers.
- Cask Ale Week - participation in the frstyears event was proven to drive volumes
and premiumise the overall beer product
mix on the bar.
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
40
Pricing: why settle or a lower margin on apremium product?
Cask beer is a premium, crated product,
drunk by auent, upmarket drinkers.
Historically this hasnt always been the case,
so cask ale tends to have a lower price than
lager - even than keg ale.
Cask beers lower margin versus other beers
is oten cited by publicans as the main reasonnot to stock it. But this doesnt have to be the
case. Cask ale drinkers want value or money
like anyone else, but:
- 62% o cask ale drinkers agree with the
statement Its worth paying extra or good
quality beer
- Only 42% o non-cask ale beer drinkers
agree with the same statement.(8)
Most brewers frmly believe that cask could
support a higher price relative to other beers
than it currently has - inviting publicans to
create more proft.
Product care: Top tips on keeping and
serving great cask ale
Ordering
Order the correct size o cask that will allowyou to sell it in three days ater beng placed
on sale. Any longer than this, and the beer
will start to lose its condition and suer
compromised quality.
Cellar temperature
Whoever said cask beer should be kept at
room temperature did so when the average
room was much cooler than in todays age o
universal central heating. Cask ale should bekept consistently at an ideal cellar temperature
o 11-13 degrees Celsius.
StillagingCasks should be stillaged on the day o
delivery or three days, allowing the yeast to
drop so the beer becomes clear and sparkling.
Pegging and venting
All casks should be vented with a sot porous
peg 2-6 hours ater delivery. This is actually the
fnal part o the brewing process, bringing the
beer to its ideal condition.
Tapping
Tap all casks 24-48 hours beore they goon sale, always using a clean tap to prevent
microorganisms rom inecting the beer.
Sampling
Sample beer rom the cask every day -
i theres any problem with it, pulling it through
to the bar simply wastes beer.
Line cleaning
The time and money costs o cleaning lines
regularly dont just hamper the taste o theproduct. They can cause obbing and cloudy
beer, which loses money. Any time and money
costs in cleaning lines regularly - once a week -
is more than saved by minimizing wasted beer.
Glassware
Ensure glassware is clean, ree o detergent
and scratches. This doesnt just aect the
appearance o the beer - a clean glass allows
proper head ormation and retention, and dirty
glasses can badly aect the taste o the beer.Glassware needs to be renovated as over time
beer leaves a flm which aects appearance
and gives poor head retention.
More details can be ound with major
regional brewers, at www.cask-marque.co.uk,
and in CAMRAs Guide to Cellarmanship
(CAMRA books).
(8) Source: TGI 2008
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41
Conclusion: where next?
A brighter outlook
As this report went to press, newspapers
were predicting the end o recession. There
will be a signifcant delay between banks
and stock markets returning to normal and
people on the street eeling the eect. But its
reasonable to expect economic conditions to
improve rather than deteriorate in 2010-11.
The beer and pub industry will continue to
ace obstacles - continued ocus on binge
drinking and alcohol consumption generally
will obscure the truth o the responsible
drinking majority, and continue to increase
pressure or urther restrictions and legislation
against alcohol marketing and retailing.
And we have to hope that the cruel,
pernicious beer duty escalator - currently set
to ramp up tax on beer at 2% ahead o the
rate o ination until 2012 - is ended, either
by this government fnally seeing sense at the
damage it is doing to a vital sector o the UK
economy, or by a new government ater the
2010 general election.
But people will start to go out more, and will
return to the pub - perhaps not as oten or in
as large numbers - but we expect to see the
sharp decline in overall beer volumes continue
to bottom out.
Within beer, beore the recession we were
witnessing consumer trends that uel a cask
ale revival - interest in artisanal produce,locally sourced products, and more complex
and diverse avours. Now, trends analysts
are seeing a return to simpler pleasures, a
rejection o consumption or its own sake,
and renewed interest in traditional pursuits
- camping has become glamping; many o
2009s hottest new bands are heavily olk-
tinged; and the years best-selling cookbooks
all centre around the notion o simple, rugal
gastronomy, using good quality but cheap,
simple, locally sourced ingredients. This
behaviour is inspired by the recession, but is
highly likely to continue ater it. Discovery o
cask ale is simply one more acet o this trend.
The uture o beer
The pub trade press has started to reer to the
death o lager. This is as much an overreactionas the predicted death o real ale a ew years
ago, but is nonetheless revealing.
Drinkers demand innovation, excitement,
new interest. Lager traditionally supplied this,
but in the last ten years its only really given
us extra-cold dispense. Cider is the success
story o the decade, completely revitalized as
a category. Its still in growth, but or Magners
- the brand that inspired this revolution - times
are increasingly tough. People are moving on
to smaller, more eclectic brands.
Cask beer is ideally positioned to be the next
big thing. It fts consumer trends. It seems -
suddenly - ull o innovation. But its return to
growth will not happen automatically. Cask
beer requires a commitment to both style and
substance, and a little extra eort. But themarket is there. And this report proves that
there are fnancial rewards or catering to it.
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The CasK Report 2009-10 BRITAINS NATIONAL DRINK
42
Cask ale drinkers Regular Occasional All
cask ale drinkers cask ale drinkers drinkers
2007 2008 2007 2008 2007 2008
Men 6365 6651 565 536 6930 7187
Women 578 1234 53 118 631 1353
Total 7446 7886 640 654 8086 8540
AB 42.7 34.1 42.1 22.8 2
C1 25.8 31.4 26.2 29.2 28.8
C2 18.6 15.4 18.4 24.2 21
DE 12.8 19.1 13.3 23.8 23.5
18-24 6.5 8.7 6.6 15 12.6
25-34 13 19.7 13.5 18.7 15.5
35-44 18.4 24 18.9 21.3 18.1
45-54 21.8 25 22.1 16.6 16.1
55-64 19.5 12.7 19 12.3 14.4
65+ 20.1 5.2 19 13.3 19.7
Median age 50 42 49 43 46
Source: TGI 2008
Regular
cask ale
drinkers
Occasional
cask ale
drinkers
All cask ale
drinkers
Non-
cask beer
drinkers
Population
Appendix: the cask ale drinker
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43
Glossary
Explaining the sometimes confusing terminology
surrounding cask beer.
Ale:
Generally recognized today as meaning beer that
has been brewed with a brisk, warm ermentation
during which the yeast sits at the top o the vessel - a
top-ermented beer. Served between 11-13 degrees.Oten dark brown as opposed to lagers gold, but not
necessarily - golden ales are increasingly popular and
ale can be red or very dark too. Also commonly known
as bitter thanks to its pronounced hoppy character.
Bitter:
See ale.
Cask ale:
Beer that has not been fltered or pasteurised, and has
live yeast in the cask. This means the beer is undergoing
a slow, secondary ermentation that contributes greater
depth o avour and a natural sot carbonation.Cask beer:
A term interchangeable with cask ale that is elt by some
to be a more appropriate description: although the
vast majority o cask beers are ales, its quite possible
- increasingly so - to fnd cask-conditioned stouts and
even lagers. This term recognizes that cask conditioning
is a process rather than something pertaining to one
specifc beer style.
Cyclops:
Named because o the sight-smell-taste graphics that
create an image o a one-eyed ace, this is a system that
clearly and simply describes the taste and character o
beer in a ew words and graphics, giving both bar sta
and consumers a ramework or understanding what a
given beer will be like.
Hand pump/handpull:
Archaically known as the beer engine, a system that
draws beer rom the cellar, straight rom the cask, by
gravity. A glass chamber creates a vacuum that pulls
the beer up through the pipe and them pumps it into
the glass. Because most beers are now in pressurised
kegs and served with either CO2 or nitrogen, only cask
beer is served with handpulls. The handpull is thereoresymbolic o the care and tradition surrounding cask beer.
Keg beer:
Beer that has been pasteurized and/or fltered to remove
any yeast, beore being sealed in a pressurized
container. It is then dispensed with the aid o
CO2, nitrogen or a mix o the two to give fzz orsmoothow texture.
Lager:
Beer that has been brewed with a slow, cold
ermentation and - traditionally - conditioned at low
temperatures or several weeks (the word lager is
derive rom the German to store). Usually gold, but can
be amber or even black.
Progressive Beer Duty (PBD):
System whereby small brewers can reclaim beer duty
paid back rom Customs & Excise depending on their
annual volume. Designed as a fnancial incentive to helpsmall brewers grow, it has made a major contribution to
the huge growth in the number o small crat breweries
in the UK today.
Real ale:
A term or cask ale/cask beer coined by CAMRA in
the early 1970s. A reaction against the industrial mass-
production methods that rose to dominance
in the 1960s, it recognizes that cask conditioning
is the traditional, crat method o making beer.
Smoothfow beer:
Dispensed with nitrogen at cold temperatures or a
smooth, silky texture. Guarantees greater consistency
o product at the expense o avour and character.
Stillage:
Device by which cask are held steady on their sides so
that fnings and yeast can collect in the belly o the cask
and allow the beer to clear.
Stout:
Technically an ale, in that its brewed with top-ermenting
yeast, stout has eectively become a separate beer style
in the eyes o drinkers. Guinness dominates the market
and is brewed with charred barley or a deep roast
character, and dispensed with nitrogen or its creamybody. Stout doesnt have to be served this way, but this
image o it defnes the category.
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Further Information
The Cask Report is supported by:
Adnams
Suolk-based regional brewer.
www.adnams.co.uk
The Cask Marque Trust
Non-proft organization championing cask beer
quality. www.cask-marque.co.uk
The Campaign or Real Ale (CAMRA)
Europes most successul consumer pressure
group. www.camra.org.uk
The Independent Family Brewers o Britain
(IFBB). Body representing 28 o the UKs amily-
owned brewers. www.amilybrewers.co.uk
The Society o Independent Brewers (SIBA)
Representing over 450 small, local and
independent brewers. www.siba.co.uk
CaledonianEdinburgh-based regional brewer, now owned
by Heineken. www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk
Fullers
London-based regional brewer. www.ullers.co.uk
Greene King
East Anglia-based regional brewer.
www.greeneking.co.uk
Marstons
Midlands-based regional brewer.www.marstons.co.uk
Wells & Youngs
Bedordshire-based regional brewer.
www.wellsandyoungs.co.uk
For press enquiries please contact:
Ros Shiel 07841 694137
The Cask Report is written each year by Pete
Brown, author o several books about beer, and
regular contributor on the subject o beer to trade
and consumer press, TV and radio. Pete also has
a background in beer marketing. He has no ormal
afliation with any o the companies or bodies
backing the report.
http://petebrown.blogspot.com
Data Sources
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA)
www.beerandpub.com
Brulines www.brulines.com
CGA Strategy www.cgastrategy.co.uk
Nielsen www.uk.nielsen.com
Target Group Index (TGI) www.bmrb-tgi.co.uk
Special thanks to The Blue Lion, 133 Grays Inn
Road, London WC1X 8TZ