Swimming against the tide?

Cask ale, or “real ale” as the Campaign for Real Ale likes to call it, has been in the news recently, but for all the wrong reasons. Even before the pandemic sales of the type of beer which CAMRA describes as “the pinnacle of the brewer’s art,” were in steady decline. Now, cask sales seem in a terminal tailspin, after the effects of various Covid-lockdowns, the largest, and most serious conflict in Europe, since World War II, plus a tanking economy.

The latter of course, is thanks to a Tory administrations that surely ranks amongst the most inept in living memory, after all, what sane government would offer tax cuts for the super-rich, that are funded by a massive increase in borrowing? All this comes on top of a damaging, ultra-hard Brexit, that has led to a massive fall-off in trade with our nearest neighbours, who make up the world’s largest trading block. With interest rates set to rise, in a forlorn attempt to reel in the rapidly soaring rate of inflation, consumers and businesses alike are really feeling the pinch, and I haven’t even mentioned the price of energy, which has reached astronomical levels. 

The end result, less disposable income, even for those who, not that long ago, could describe themselves as “comfortably well-off.” With less money to spend, eating out and even the odd pint or two down the local, are pleasures which are becoming less affordable for many, and just distant memories for others. Viewed against this backdrop and coupled with the poor keeping properties of cask ale, it’s small wonder that many pubs are either cutting back on the range of cask beers stocked or, even dropping “real ale” altogether.

The fall-off in cask sales has another underlying issue, which is partly due to the image of the beer itself, but more importantly, that of those who drink it. You see, despite decades of campaigning and various promotions from CAMRA, all with the lofty aim of trying to persuade drinkers of cask’s undoubted merits, the fact remains that its core audience consists largely of men (93%), age over 50 (71%). This market has been described as “male, pale and stale,” rather unfairly, in my view, but probably accurate if the statistics are believed.

So, for all those amongst us who appreciate and enjoy cask, what’s to be done about this image problem? Enter, stage left, a new marketing campaign, launched last week, with the express aim of modernising cask ale’s image, and making the drink more attractive to younger drinkers. “Drink Fresh Beer” is headed by Katie Wiles from CAMRA and Neil Walker from the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA). Their campaign plans to raise cask’s profile by making it the modern and more relevant choice at the bar and intends to achieve this by highlighting the things that make cask special.

These attributes include being fresh, artisan, handmade by skilled brewers and offering a diverse range of flavours and styles, and to back up their message, Drink Fresh Beer has produced a series of “eye-catching” visuals to help cask compete on the bar. New cylindrical hand pulls, tulip glassware, table talkers, posters, beer mats and staff t-shirts, will push the message at the bar, whilst social and cross-media promotions will aim to capture the attention of consumers before they step through the pub door. A scannable pump clip will help beer drinkers learn more about their chosen beer, how far it has travelled to the pub and when the cask was freshly tapped.  

Speaking last week, at the campaign launch, Katie Wiles said: “The qualities that make cask beer special, are qualities that young consumers really care about when they are making purchasing decisions. The challenge has been how to convey these qualities without stepping on the toes of “craft beer” or using alienating jargon - such as fermentation, conditioning, or yeast.”

She went on to say that “The vibrant visuals and tone of this campaign help get this across, and that by actually re-designing the look and feel of cask beer in the pub - from the hand pulls to the glassware - we have a really good shot at changing consumer behaviour.”

Neil Walker added: “This campaign isn’t just about dressing up a few hand pulls – we’re looking to connect the dots across the industry, and completely change the public’s perception about cask beer. This isn’t just an “old man’s drink” hidden in a dark corner of the bar - cask is the pinnacle of brewing, the freshest, most handcrafted product on the bar.”

“We want to tell this story not just in pubs, but also by creating an enhanced digital experience that allows drinkers in a variety of venues to learn more about their drink by watching interviews with brewers, discovering where the beer was brewed, or when the beer was freshly tapped.”

To ensure the quality of beer across the venues involved, pubs participating in the campaign will be asked to sign up to the “Fresh Beer Promise.” Alongside displaying campaign materials at the POS in their pub, they will commit to stocking at least two hand pulls with a rotating third cask on tap and ensure a high standard of freshness by promptly replacing barrels and take part in initiatives to improve quality. The activity would be supported outside of the pub with a dedicated PR, social media, and advertorial campaign to keep cask beer at the forefront of the consumer’s mind inside of the pub and out. It all sounds good on paper, but how will these laudable aims actually be implemented, monitored maintained and, is necessary, enforced? 

More to the point, I can’t help thinking it will take a lot more than a few fancy glasses, hand-pull handles, paper trinkets, electronic gimmickry, plus an unashamed, and almost cringeworthy attempt to “get on down with the kids,” to turn around decades of decline in cask ale’s fortunes. I don’t want to knock the effort that has gone into the Drink Fresh campaign, but it’s almost as though the people behind it have tried too hard. The whole thing smacks of focus groups, consumer surveys, coupled with the rather naive belief that “in one’s face” promotions can change not just drinkers’ perceptions, but the way they think and behave.

Fresh is obviously best, but a freshly tapped cask of a bland and mediocre beer, isn’t going to win many converts, especially when up against a fresh keg of well-crafted craft – if you’ll excuse the pun. The unfortunate truth is that many of the accolades attributed to cask apply equally to craft, a style of beer that is actually modern, and one much more likely to appeal to and attract younger drinkers.

Despite these observations, I wish this latest attempt to revive cask’s fortunes, well and will be keeping a close eye on the roll-out of the “Fresh Beer Promise” along with the type of pubs that will be signing up to it. However, set against the deep economic gloom the nation finds itself facing, is this really the right time for a campaign such as this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look, a decent pub, close to the hotel, well fancy that!

My recent post about Barry Island’s excellent Craft Republic bar kicked off with a few slightly tongue in cheek comments about unexpected, or unplanned coincidences. Good ones, of course, but all revolving around the often-uncanny ability of choosing a hotel, and then magically discovering a really good pub or brewery tap in the immediate vicinity.

To this day, Mrs PBT’s swears I do this deliberately, but that’s just not true, as my main criteria in selecting somewhere to stay are as follows: A location that is pleasant, convenient and above all safe. A hotel where breakfast is included – even if it is just continental, a fair, reasonable, and affordable price, that offers free cancellation, just in case the unexpected occurs, plus decent reviews that are unbiased and give a good idea of what to expect.

In almost 3 decades of domestic and foreign travel, I have only cocked-up on a handful of occasions and, fortunately for me, I was traveling solo each time. Furthermore, none of these booking “mistakes” were absolute disasters, they just didn’t live up to expectations, and if I’m brutally honest, were the result of penny pinching on my part. I won’t detail any of these poor choices here, as I want to get on with the main point of the article, but if you really want to know, then ask me privately, preferably over a pint.

So, let’s look now at some positive experiences when we have stayed somewhere, and there mysteriously just happened to be a top-notch pub or bar, possibly even one that’s nationally or internationally renowned as a place of excellence, and one that should be on every beer drinkers wish-list.

The first example that springs to mind, doesn’t fall into that last category, and if I’m being truthful was a place that my good lady wife urged us to try, probably on account of it being just a stone’s throw from our hotel. It was Mrs PBT’s first visit to Prague and the Czech Republic, and I had managed to secure us a really nice hotel, in the form of the opulent Villa Schwaiger, in the Bubeneč district, of Prague 6.

There, literally on the other side of the hotel forecourt, was a real local’s pub called Hostinec Na Slamniku. Offering traditional Czech food, and Únětické pivo 12˚ - a wonderfully tasty and bitter, pale lager, this pub had the perfect combination of good food, excellent beer along with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. It was certainly the find of the trip, so much so that we ate and drank at Na Slamiku on two of the four evenings we were in Prague.

The atmosphere of this unspoilt local pub reminded us of what pubs were like back in the UK, during their 1970's heyday. Even more amazing was the pub was run by just three people: a husband and wife, plus a cook. On our first visit, the place was heaving, and we were lucky to get a seat, and all the while, the husband-and-wife team were busy transporting plates weighed down with good wholesome dishes, and foaming mugs of beer, to the various tables. This they did with a cheery smile for us, and some friendly banter for the locals.

The following year, a visit to Barcelona yielded not one, but two excellent bars, both within easy reach of our hotel.  A day or two before we left for Spain, whilst carrying out a spot of online research – as you do, I chanced upon a bar called Bier Cab. The place was listed as No. 4 of the top 100 beer bars in the world, and whilst I don’t pay a huge amount of attention to these sorts of “league tables,” what I did notice was BierCab being situated in the same street as our hotel! Fortunately, my wife didn’t realise at the time, the pure coincidence of this, otherwise I could have been accused of selecting the hotel purely on its proximity to this bar.

My opportunity to spend a bit of time there came on a very wet and windy Barcelona Saturday afternoon. We had spent much of the morning shopping, followed by a brief spot of lunch. We returned to the hotel to dump our respective purchases, and after several hours traipsing around the shops, both Eileen and Matthew were flagging. I informed them of my desire for a stroll up the road in order to pick up a few bottles of Spanish beer, and asked would they miss me dreadfully if I was to do so? 

Of course, they wouldn’t, so off I went through the steady, but not too heavy rain. There is something about a wet Saturday afternoon, and it doesn’t seem to matter where in the world one experiences it. I was thinking this as I strode the few blocks up to BierCaB, a modern-looking bar housed in an equally modern block. 

The place had only been open just over a year but had quickly established a reputation for itself which has spread far beyond Barcelona. Stepping inside, there was a long room with the bar to the left, and a series of tables opposite. These extended to the rear of the room. BierCaB boasted 30 taps, with an impressive electronic display on the wall behind to inform punters of the choices available, their strength, colour, and cost. I joined the handful of other customers sitting at the bar in true Spanish style and pondered which of the 30 or so beers to order first.

I decided to stay local, and opted for the Spanish offerings, starting with La Pirata Viakrucis; a 5.6% American Pale Ale, brewed at Ca l’Arenys - Cervezas Guineu, a micro-brewery, in the mountains to the north-west of Barcelona.  This was followed by a glass of Farmer’s Choice; a 7.6% Strong Golden Ale from Naparbier of Pamplona. My final beer was another American-style pale ale called Mango, which weighed in at 6.0%. The latter was the most local beer on sale at BierCaB, coming from the Piris Brewery who are based in central Barcelona. Whilst sitting at the bar, enjoying these beers, I indulged myself with a plate of nachos, covered in melted Mexican cheese, to help soak up the rather strong beer.

To have a top-rated beer bar at one end of the street, could be viewed as coincidence, but to have a brewpub just five minutes’ walk in the other direction from our hotel should surely be seen as deliberate influencing our base for the weekend. Again, I swear I picked the hotel purely for its central location, its price and its positive reviews and indeed knew nothing about the La Fabrica Moritz just around the corner. The “Moritz Factory” is a popular and fashionable brew pub on the Ronda Sant Antoni that occupies the site of the original Moritz Brewery.

The Moritz Brewery was founded in 1856 when Louis Moritz Trautmann, who came from the Alsace region of France, brewed his first beer. Just eight years later, in 1864, Moritz constructed a large modern brewery, which became known as the La Fabrica Moritz. Despite winning numerous awards and surviving the Spanish Civil War, the company hit hard times, closing the brewery in 1966 and moving production outside Barcelona to Parets del Vallès.  

In 1978 Moritz closed completely, but the beer re-emerged in 2004 when descendants of the Moritz family resurrected the brand, which is now brewed under license in Zaragoza. By re-launching the beer, they first brewed back in 1856, Moritz have succeeded in making a dent in Estrella's market dominance and remain a very visible emblem of Catalan autonomy. With its location in the heart of the city’s university district La Fabrica Moritz was especially popular with students and young people.  

We visited it three times during the course of our stay; once, in the morning, for breakfast and also on two occasions in the evening. The second of these visits was on our final night in Barcelona, and we had to wait in a queue for a vacant table, such is the bars popularity! So quite by chance I managed to visit two of Barcelona’s most memorable bars and enjoy some excellent beer and food in both. 

Footnote: I wrote about all three of  these bars, shortly after our visits to their respective cities, So, Prague was back in December 2013, and Barcelona, almost exactly one year later.