September 10, 2020

Dear John | Lockdown drinking and Small Brewer’s Relief

Pubs reopening meant one thing to John Keeling – the chance to enjoy a pint of his beloved cask beer. That, and time to dwell on the future of his beloved industry.

Barleywines and Imperial Stouts (well that’s all I had left in the cupboard) around the kitchen table to going to the pub for the first time after lockdown and drinking the freshest cask beer (bliss!).

Then we had the proposed changes to the Small Brewers Duty relief, an unwelcome bombshell for the small brewer indeed. In the scheme of Covid-19, it’s relatively small but for the people involved in the breweries affected, it could change their lives irreversibly.

But back to lockdown. My drinking at home obviously increased, but not just beer. I drank wine, cider and spirits. I also took to cocktail making with great aplomb. My pub drinking, of course, disappeared entirely.

They probably balanced themselves out overall, so I was drinking no more and no less. I was however longing for the pub experience especially that perfect pint of cask.

So, at long last that day did arrive. Melissa Cole invited me to the Red Lion in Barnes for a beer and a catch-up. I ordered a pint of London Pride and I was not disappointed. A good-looking beer with a loose fluffy head, perfect temperature and perfect condition.

Symone tried it too and thought it was wonderful. Now London Pride is not her favourite. Instead, Stouts and Porters are more her cup of tea. However, this was a cask beer served perfectly.

The best beer in Britain is a cask beer in my opinion, however the worst beer in Britain is also a cask.

So, the question arises. Why was this beer was so good and further, why can’t they all be this good? The short answer to this is freshness. Since that day I have had several pints of cask beer and all were excellent. All pubs have had to restock with new cask beer.

There has been a latent demand which has led to good throughput, so I have had no lacklustre beers. Many pubs including all the Fuller’s pubs I have been in have only had two cask beers on, which again has greatly helped throughput and therefore quality.

The single most important thing for cask beer is throughput. Most cask beer is at its best when you change the container once a day, every day. Yes, the cask will last three days and some beers taste best in the second day (ESB for one), however generally it is at its best on day one.

So, landlords, please don’t overstock cask beer. Son’t serve it in its fourth day when it is flat and tired. Send it back to the brewer as ullage. Brewers, please support the landlord and give them good advice on stocking policy. After all, cask beer quality is a partnership between landlord and brewer.

To me the future of cask beer needs to be supported by preferential duty rates.

I have argued this so much in the past. It is the beer of Britain and it is unique in its demands on the supply chain. It is also generally the beer of the small brewer.

I would say a larger proportion of cask beer is produced by the smaller brewer than the larger brewer. Keg ale and lager beers are produced by smaller brewers but as a proportion of the total it is tiny compared to the larger brewer.

Therefore, I would say that a positive duty change would support the smaller brewer more than the bigger brewer.

Now some of this argument is based on where you draw the line between big and small. In America, some craft brewers brew more than a million barrels per year.

To me that is big. Fuller’s at their peak never produced more than 220,000 barrels of beer and I always thought of them as small.

The biggest brewer in Britain produces more than six million barrels I have been told. I personally believe big is above 500,000 barrels and therefore small is below 300,000. In-between is for others to define.

Following on from this I have always believed that those small brewers should speak as one voice for their benefit. And not to align themselves with big brewers who often have differing interests.

So, for me the biggest regret over the spat on Small Brewers Duty relief is how it has completely split the voice of the small brewer.

The small brewers’ voice consists of several different fractions instead of one. Together they can form both an economic argument and an emotional one too.

The only damage that has been done is to the small brewer. Put simply, the big brewer is untouched by this.

The British public would naturally have been on their side. Small brewers also employ more people per barrel produced than the big brewers with all their efficiency. Surely in these times, employment is important to the government.

Now, the various small brewing factions have a voice that is too small for either the government or the public to hear. A great shame and an opportunity lost. The only damage that has been done is to the small brewer. Put simply, the big brewer is untouched by this.

My personal advice before this happened was to leave SBR alone and fight for duty relief on cask as one voice with CAMRA.

Sadly, that time has passed.