A hot summer didn’t put John Keeling off his cask beer. He enjoyed lager, too. John just wished he could find more to the standard he expects of UK brewers…

Well, it was hot this summer. Very hot, and even I have been tempted with a lager or two. Now when I go on my travels, I am not adverse at all to drink a pint of lager. When in Rome and all that Rodney.

Funny enough I was in Rome. Also, in Barcelona and Madrid and I did enjoy the beers too. However, is it me or is British lager not very good? Least the ones in the restaurants I frequent.

Sure, it’s refreshing but what about the flavour? Then I ran into some great British lager. I was on my summer holidays and my hotel served Lost and Grounded. I had a pint then another. It was rather good.

So, it’s true we Brits can make good lager thank God. I’m slightly pulling your leg as I have long known that several British breweries make good lager. My other favourite is Utopian who I order cans from fairly regularly, not bad for a cask beer drinker.

So, to put it more concisely some British lager is very good, unfortunately most of it is not as good as it should be. That’s certainly concise I didn’t really have to fanny around with the first two paragraphs, did I?

I should make one thing quite clear though my preference is always cask, and I admit I don’t really drink enough lager to make me an expert. What of cask beer in the summer? Not the ideal drink for this hot weather I hear you say….

Let me stop you right there. Properly brewed, looked after and served cask beer is still superb.

I will give you an example. During the summer I was in Manchester for a few days visiting old friends and family.

Two of my old chums, Matthew Curtis and Peter Alexander (aka Tandleman) decided to meet for a few pints. We decided to meet in the new Holts pub, The Spinners Rest in Ancoats.

Ancoats used to be the arse end of Manchester, not anymore! It has certainly gone a bit up market. It was hot, I was in my t shirt (Zappa for those who like to know) and shorts, but the beer was cool and refreshing.

Yes, it was cask and in superb form. We had four or five each and really enjoyed it. This just shows that with the right throughput and equipment cask beer is good in any weather hot or cold.

Unfortunately, not enough pubs have the throughput and leave the beer on too long. There is no excuse nowadays for not having the right equipment. Cellar cooling set to 11-13 C, small bore pipe work, one third pint dispense cylinder and all jacketed and cooled.

I remember converting all Fullers pubs to this type of equipment 25 years ago so as I said no excuse now for pub owners.

However, there is no substitute for turnover most cask beer is at its best when fresh (some dry hopped beers need to be stored in the cellar longer) and in its first day of serve, it will not be at its best on day four for sure.