Blog Tracker
17-09-2014, 22:56
Visit the Woolpack Dave's Beer and Stuff site (http://hardknott.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-arguments-in-favour-of-keg.html)
It is still amazing that there are people out there who believe keg is evil. It is now staggering me, considering the success of many new breweries with their keg offering, that there are people out there still decrying the introduction of Craft Keg, and citing it as a bad thing.
Of course mostly these people are middle aged, or older, stick-in-the-mud killjoys.
I've been looking back at some of my early blog posts. Back when I was really on a roll and trying to make my own mind up about CAMRA, cask beer, keg beer and the best way to package, distribute, dispense beer for the sake of the best drinker's experience.
Way back in 2009 I had a little play with keg beer (http://hardknott.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/what-is-lager.html). The results were encouraging. Since that time we have been honing our skills at putting beer into keg and strongly believe that there is a huge future for beers from small independent breweries to be distributed in this format.
What has never left my mind is the simple fact that around 85%1 of all draught beer sold is keg.
Moreover, having recently done some sales calls around various local hostelries, I notice that there is a significant brand of IPA making its way into the mainstream in a big way, in the more trendy bars and circuit pubs that are much more popular with the younger drinker.
Many people like their beers cold, fizzy and crisp. Is this wrong? Are we wrong to try and tell them otherwise? I think that if people like fizzy chilled beer than they should be provided with it. I'd prefer they drank my cold fizzy beer than rather than someone else's.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M6NoRe0SIqo/VBoER8N_RaI/AAAAAAAAB1A/46WMv4oeRU8/s1600/Azimuth%2BKeg%2Bon%2Bbar.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M6NoRe0SIqo/VBoER8N_RaI/AAAAAAAAB1A/46WMv4oeRU8/s1600/Azimuth%2BKeg%2Bon%2Bbar.jpg)So, we must accept that the overall keg market is much bigger than cask, and despite noises to the contrary, this situation is likely to remain the case for a long time to come. Notwithstanding the fact that for many outlets there are significant technical advantages of keg beer, for the small brewer it can also be an important route to market for their products.
But more than that, although there has been some ideas stating cask beer can be trendy by virtue of it being retro, it fails to have any long term real impact to a significant number of younger people. By contrast, I notice that many younger people are looking for more trendy drinks, and this has long included keg beers.
So, with the advantage of solid consistency, without the need for cask expertise in the outlet, staying fresher for longer once a container is breached, and an appeal to youngsters, surely we should stop demonising breweries who decide to push keg.
Getting youngsters to enjoy a broader range of beer has to be a good thing, even if they need keg to convince them of it. Frankly I don't care if they never decide to drink cask. Perhaps they like cold fizzy beer. But I'd like more people to drink my beer and if I have to make it cold and fizzy to get them to do it, then I will.
---------------
1Source:The Cask Report 2011-2012 - yes, I know, this is out of date. However, the 2013-2014 doesn't publish the figures, as best I can see. One can only assume this is because up until 2010, the last figures I can find, there was in fact a growth of cask as a proportion of the market. In 2010 cask had a 15.0% share of the total on-trade beer market. This figure was only beaten previously in 1998 when it was 16.1% - there was then a drop down during the Noughties to as low as 12.4%. All very interesting I feel.
More... (http://hardknott.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-arguments-in-favour-of-keg.html)
It is still amazing that there are people out there who believe keg is evil. It is now staggering me, considering the success of many new breweries with their keg offering, that there are people out there still decrying the introduction of Craft Keg, and citing it as a bad thing.
Of course mostly these people are middle aged, or older, stick-in-the-mud killjoys.
I've been looking back at some of my early blog posts. Back when I was really on a roll and trying to make my own mind up about CAMRA, cask beer, keg beer and the best way to package, distribute, dispense beer for the sake of the best drinker's experience.
Way back in 2009 I had a little play with keg beer (http://hardknott.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/what-is-lager.html). The results were encouraging. Since that time we have been honing our skills at putting beer into keg and strongly believe that there is a huge future for beers from small independent breweries to be distributed in this format.
What has never left my mind is the simple fact that around 85%1 of all draught beer sold is keg.
Moreover, having recently done some sales calls around various local hostelries, I notice that there is a significant brand of IPA making its way into the mainstream in a big way, in the more trendy bars and circuit pubs that are much more popular with the younger drinker.
Many people like their beers cold, fizzy and crisp. Is this wrong? Are we wrong to try and tell them otherwise? I think that if people like fizzy chilled beer than they should be provided with it. I'd prefer they drank my cold fizzy beer than rather than someone else's.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M6NoRe0SIqo/VBoER8N_RaI/AAAAAAAAB1A/46WMv4oeRU8/s1600/Azimuth%2BKeg%2Bon%2Bbar.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M6NoRe0SIqo/VBoER8N_RaI/AAAAAAAAB1A/46WMv4oeRU8/s1600/Azimuth%2BKeg%2Bon%2Bbar.jpg)So, we must accept that the overall keg market is much bigger than cask, and despite noises to the contrary, this situation is likely to remain the case for a long time to come. Notwithstanding the fact that for many outlets there are significant technical advantages of keg beer, for the small brewer it can also be an important route to market for their products.
But more than that, although there has been some ideas stating cask beer can be trendy by virtue of it being retro, it fails to have any long term real impact to a significant number of younger people. By contrast, I notice that many younger people are looking for more trendy drinks, and this has long included keg beers.
So, with the advantage of solid consistency, without the need for cask expertise in the outlet, staying fresher for longer once a container is breached, and an appeal to youngsters, surely we should stop demonising breweries who decide to push keg.
Getting youngsters to enjoy a broader range of beer has to be a good thing, even if they need keg to convince them of it. Frankly I don't care if they never decide to drink cask. Perhaps they like cold fizzy beer. But I'd like more people to drink my beer and if I have to make it cold and fizzy to get them to do it, then I will.
---------------
1Source:The Cask Report 2011-2012 - yes, I know, this is out of date. However, the 2013-2014 doesn't publish the figures, as best I can see. One can only assume this is because up until 2010, the last figures I can find, there was in fact a growth of cask as a proportion of the market. In 2010 cask had a 15.0% share of the total on-trade beer market. This figure was only beaten previously in 1998 when it was 16.1% - there was then a drop down during the Noughties to as low as 12.4%. All very interesting I feel.
More... (http://hardknott.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-arguments-in-favour-of-keg.html)