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'New cask drinkers offer lifeline' to struggling pubs

26th September 2011

Cask ale’s growing appeal to a new audience of younger, affluent and sociable drinkers makes it a ‘lifeline’ for pubs struggling to stay afloat, according to The Cask Report 2011-12, published today. Cask drinkers are twice as likely to visit the pub as non-cask drinkers, spend more when they’re there and, most importantly, can’t switch to the supermarket to purchase their favourite drink.

Cask continues to outperform the UK beer market and now has a 15% share - equating to around one in every six pints. While total on-trade beer volumes fell by 7.8% in 20102, cask dipped an estimated 2% and all the signs are that the category is moving back into growth this year, as indicated by:

• 2,500 new pubs and clubs started to sell cask ale last year – a 4% increase in distribution4
• A total of 7.8 million people drink cask beer in the UK – an 11% increase since 2007. One in five people who drink alcohol will drink cask at some point.
• The number of 18-24 year old cask drinkers increased for the second year running and the number of women drinkers has doubled since 2008
• Cask is recruiting new drinkers: 37% of current drinkers tried it for the first time within the last 10 years and 10% within the past 12 months

Report author Pete Brown said, “Cask ale can help pubs to not only survive, but to thrive. It’s attracting new drinkers who spend more in the pub than non-cask drinkers, making them valuable customers. And, as our report reveals, cask is shaking off its historic ‘flat cap’ image and is instead seen by younger consumers as a ‘cool’ drink. This increasingly positive picture of cask can only be good news for the pubs who sell it.”

The ranks of cask ale drinkers are set to swell further next month thanks to National Cask Ale Week, running from 1st-9th October. This celebration of cask ale is focusing on ‘Try Before You Buy’, with 7,500 pubs offering free tasters all week. Research highlighted in the Cask Report shows 42% of people who have never drunk cask would do so if allowed to taste it first, so the exercise should recruit thousands more drinkers to the category.

Reality versus myth: the ‘new cask drinker’

This year’s report commissioned original consumer research, exploring the behaviour and attitudes of cask ale drinkers. The results turn the traditional stereotype of the cask drinker - older, working class, northern and exclusively male – on its head. In reality, cask ale drinkers get more upmarket every year – 69% are in social class ABC1 – and younger – 1.6 million are under 35 while the number of 18-25 year-olds, and women, is growing. One in six cask drinkers is now female. 38% of cask drinkers live in London and the south east, compared to 27% in the north.

Similarly, the ‘softer’ pre-conceptions about cask drinkers are proved false. Although cask drinkers are frequently described as ‘traditional’ or ‘set in their ways’, they are in fact more adventurous than non-cask drinkers, both in their drinks repertoire, social choices and general life outlook. Indeed, their appetite for variety creates one of the ‘cask paradoxes’ outlined in the report: cask drinkers are repertoire drinkers, more likely to drink wine, cider and other types of beer than non-cask drinkers . Cask isn’t their only drink – which is one reason why cask volumes aren’t increasing in line with the growth in its popularity.
Among younger consumers, a large part of cask’s appeal is its ‘retro’ quality. They think the dimpled, handled beer mug is ‘old school’ and therefore ‘cool’, for example, while older drinkers, who remember it from their own youth, find it hopelessly dated. Brown says, “Licensees who know who their cask drinkers are can market it to them more effectively. Old-school, retro imagery will hit all the right buttons with new cask drinkers.”

Cask drinkers of all ages are united when it comes to matching cask ale with food – generally, they don’t. As one respondent said, “Ale fits with your pub stuff like pies. If you go out for proper food, fine dining, you drink wine.” Even the most enthusiastic cask drinkers switch to wine when ordering a meal, more out of a sense that ‘it’s what you do’ than having any basis in what drink provides the best match to food – as witness the growing band of chefs who agree that beer is frequently a superior choice to wine.

Cask’s exclusion from the dining table isn’t just about consumer habits though – licensees make better margins from wine and so are happy with the beer-to-wine switch. However, overlooking beer with food is to miss an opportunity for incremental sales: typically, customers will only order one bottle of wine with a meal, whereas if encouraged to try a different beer to match each course, they will drink more. Dessert is the course where beer really comes into its own – a well-chosen ale will enhance the final course far better than the last drop from the wine bottle.

Getting the range right

Achieving the optimal range is vital to building a successful cask business. While many licensees know about the link between cask throughput and number of handpulls, the research from the report emphasises the importance of balance.

Previous reports have talked about national and larger regional breweries offering ‘tried and trusted’ beers and local or microbrewers providing guest ales, but the Cask Report’s research shows that cask drinkers have a less rigid view. For them, it’s a question of familiarity and unfamiliarity, and the ideal cask range needs to offer a mix of both. A bar offering only unfamiliar handpulls is seen as alienating and elitist, while one stocking only familiar brands is too ‘high street’: cask drinkers like to try new ales, but also want the reassurance of a known name. In a pub with three handpulls, therefore, the optimal ratio is either ‘2-1’ familiar to unfamiliar, or vice versa - but rarely 3-0 either way.
The number of local beers on the bar will depend on its individual customer base, but any pub that’s serious about its cask business unquestionably has to sell at least one. The desire to ‘buy local’ remains strong among consumers: 46% say they try to support their local economy through their shopping habits.7 And local beer still means cask beer: among the smaller, independent brewers within the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), 83% of their output is cask ale. Volume sales of SIBA brewers’ beers grew by 8.8% last year.

Communication key to cask success

Another paradox around cask ale is that the novice drinker, who would most benefit from sampling a cask ale before ordering a pint of it, lacks the confidence to ask the bar staff for a taster – unlike many ale aficionados who are happy to try ales before purchasing. Proactively offering tasters to customers at the bar, or even taking them round the pub during quiet times, will pay dividends.
Other ways for pubs to encourage customers to choose cask beer include chalkboards listing ABVs and style notes and beer lists, which are particularly useful in promoting beer with food. More effective than either of these, though, is having knowledgeable staff behind the bar, who actually drink cask themselves and can engage customers in the beers on offer, recommend matches to particular foods and generally share in the passion that most cask drinkers feel about ‘their’ drink.

Brown concludes, “This is the fifth Cask Report and the fourth year in which cask has outperformed the on-trade beer market. The fact that sales volumes dipped last year shouldn’t be cause for concern, given the continuing onslaught on the pubs that sell cask, and punishing hikes in beer duty. Cask is recruiting younger, affluent drinkers, growing distribution and, as our consumer research has shown, shaking off the negative image which has misrepresented it among target consumers for some years.

“Despite the decline in pub visits, cask drinkers are still going to the pub, spending on food and drink when there and, frequently, bringing groups of non-cask drinkers with them – as we’ve found that it’s usually the cask drinker who chooses the pub. If there’s a product out there that’s better designed for getting people back into Britain’s pubs, I can’t think of it.”