Giving up Cask

[Mobyduck]

I see that Cloudwater Brewery will be no longer producing Cask Beer as mentioned in this detailed Blog Post.

[Aqualung]

I see that Cloudwater Brewery will be no longer producing Cask Beer as mentioned in this detailed Blog Post.

I've never come across them, are they any good?

[ROBCamra]

I've never come across them, are they any good?

Yes. they're excellent we have (had) them on fairly regularly and they did a "Meet The Brewer" for us at The Baum.

That's pissed on our chips then.

[Bucking Fastard]

I see that Cloudwater Brewery will be no longer producing Cask Beer as mentioned in this detailed Blog Post.

That's a shame,I always considered them to be a quality brewer of real ale and would always have a pop at one of their brews if seen at the bar.Reading the blog ,I would conclude that they just want to produce higher margin keg and bottled beer and are prepared to ignore the possibility that the cask versions of these brews is the superior product,if properly conditioned in the cellar.

They've gone down the same route as BrewDog,Camden,Kernel,Meantime etc,etc,etc.

[oldboots]

I've never come across them, are they any good?

Yes they are good brewers, a bit of a shame some brewers feel they have to combat poor cellar work in this way, the same thing happened in the 1960s with disasterous results but I'm sure THAT won't happen this time round.

[Quinno]

Yes they are good brewers, a bit of a shame some brewers feel they have to combat poor cellar work in this way, the same thing happened in the 1960s with disasterous results but I'm sure THAT won't happen this time round.

If a Dark Star or Hawkshead go down the same route, I will begin to worry.

So far, it's been a handful of young start-ups (or they were at the time) that have gone down this path, presumably because;

1. There's more money to be made via pricing
2. Less labour-intensive (disposable packaging)
3. Lasts much longer at the bar
4. Doesn't require a huge amount of publican knowledge to make it work
5. The keg market has been conditioned (ho ho) to disregard appearence of the beer

I'll give Cloudwater credit for being relatively upfront and honest. Personally, the beers of theirs that made it down here in cask were often not that great so I can't get as welled-up as others about it.

From the Twits I see that Melissa Cole is on the stir, blaming CAMRA (though she's refused to say exactly how...)

[Wittenden]

They've gone down the same route as BrewDog,Camden,Kernel,Meantime etc,etc,etc.

Never seen Cloudwater here, though going by the PubCurmudgeon's photo on Twitter, they live up to their name.
Their loss, as I won't drink UK style beers on keg. I have been known to drink saison on keykeg, mainly because I haven't a clue as to how it should taste or appear.
There's plenty of decent cask beer to get on with, at a less frightening price.

[oldboots]

I've read through their blog about this in a little more detail and I think* it still boils down to the same couple of things as it did in the 1960s,

1. landlords can't keep our beer in cask form,
2. we'll make more money if we keg the beer

The old twittersphere has gone a bit bonkers on this one with people taking from it what they want, Melissa Cole for example giving poor old CAMRA a kicking as she thinks, along with every producer of "stuff", that they should be paid more for their product. Aw shucks guys, it's only beer; its 90-97% water, it's a mix of common grains boiled up with a weed and fermented with what amounts to a fungus, christ I've some yeast in my hair amongst other places ( I can't find the link to the beer fermented by that Czech model's vaginal fauna). Regardless of how "awesome" you think your beer is people have been making the stuff for millennia, FFS get a grip!

More comment and bollocks here

https://twitter.com/MelissaCole
https://twitter.com/tandleman
https://twitter.com/oldmudgie
https://twitter.com/BoakandBailey
https://twitter.com/WishboneBrewery

I'd invite those above to consider the total tax on beer and Pubco mark ups as part of this, it's obviously not a one dimensional equation.

* I've had a few and their blog is very boring

PS just noticed a bit of sense in here - http://boakandbailey.com/2017/01/bre...-of-the-world/

[Aqualung]

One of the differences between now and up to fifty years ago is that then (at least from a Southern perspective) the main cask products from the national brewers were complete rubbish with the exception of Bass and the odd Whitbread brew. National brewers today don't have any credentials at all let alone cask. The larger independent brewers tend to get laughed at and there are hundreds of micros producing decent or good beers and a select score or more (at a guess) producing exceptional beers. The loss of cask from this brewer whose beers I don't ever recall seeing won't even cause a ripple on this pond.

[Thuck Phat]

The loss of cask from this brewer whose beers I don't ever recall seeing won't even cause a ripple on this pond.

"Peace for our time."