Random news of the day

[Aqualung]

Here's Tiny Rebel's take on the subject, a brewery I have heard of and like a lot.


http://www.tinyrebel.co.uk/news/a-blog-about-cask/

[london calling]

I forgot to mention this while ranting away above, The answer is that boring beers are cheaper, pubco policy and the fact that many brewers won't do anything but old school. That applies to most of the Regionals but if they do something left field you're not likely to find it in one of their tied houses. Adnam's seem to be the exception. When I go to the Great Western in Wolverhampton I always drink Holden's before bothering with any guest ales but that's because I like them and they are cheap compared to the South and not that dearer than the Wolverhampton JDW where I haven't seen an interesting guest for years.

Boring beers may be cheaper but in west and south west London the Wetherspoons sell, Oakham,Darkstar and Thornbridge beers for maybe 20p more than the dross. How can they do it.

[london calling]

I certainly agree with that but that's partly because we have been treated over the last five or ten years to some exceptional beers that are completely different to the old school UK beers, There are quite a few people around who don't actually like them much.
JDW generally only do a few of them and they are hard to find.
Diacetyl is a word that these trendy beer writers have come up with to give the impression that they ate knowledgeable. It refers to a keytone which is the midway stage between alcohol and acid (vinegar in the case of booze). Why don't the muppets just call it stale like people have been doing for years.

Diacetly is not just for trendy beer writers us trendy drinkers know about it.It isn't a vinegar taste and I am super sensitive to it.Small amounts make my beer taste unpleasant and I cannot physically drink beer with high amounts. A few times I have gagged as I tried to swallow the beer and brought it back up into the glass.I still counted it as a tick. ha ha.

[trainman]

Here's Tiny Rebel's take on the subject, a brewery I have heard of and like a lot.


http://www.tinyrebel.co.uk/news/a-blog-about-cask/

Refreshingly positive about cask and their intention to continue with it, despite the obvious pitfalls beyond brewery control. The article should win them a few friends and hopefully a few more customers and outlets.

What gets me about the huge differential in keg pricing, is why don't all the benefits they quote (easier to keep and serve, longer shelf-life) mitigate some of the extra costs (more hops) and make the pump price more realistic? Are they not just taking advantage of a new-ish growing market and positioning the price at the highest percentile?

[Mobyduck]

What gets me about the huge differential in keg pricing, is why don't all the benefits they quote (easier to keep and serve, longer shelf-life) mitigate some of the extra costs (more hops) and make the pump price more realistic? Are they not just taking advantage of a new-ish growing market and positioning the price at the highest percentile?

Yes.

[oldboots]

Just for a little commercial perspective, for a beer festival last year we paid between £80 and £110 inc VAT for a 9, that's approx 72 pints, it can be a little over or a lot under depending on the brewery. Some were bought direct from the brewers others from wholesalers. That cost works out at £1.10 - £1.50 a pint, I don't know the breakdown of costs for the brewery especially the percent made up by hops, a favourite ploy of craft brewers to justify higher prices. Materials shouldn't be a high percentage, buying or hiring casks is costly, so is power and local taxes, labour can be expensive depending on who you employ. No idea either of the margin added by the wholesaler, I think tax (Duty/Vat) comes out at about 50p/pint depending on strength.

A pub would obviously have to add rent, rates, power, staffing costs etc,etc,etc; most will work on a 60% margin to cover those costs giving a retail price per pint of £2.80 to £3.85 per pint. However as Dickie English has pointed out in another place, cost is only part of the mix when deciding on price, you can't charge £3.80 a pint in some places but you can charge £4.50 for the same beer somewhere else. You might set your prices to keep the riff-raff out or you might subsidise the beer price with the margin on food and soft drinks.

We also need to remember PubCo wholesale prices are typically a lot higher and none of that margin goes back to the brewers, generally a pump price increase is normally only going to benefit the landlord or the PubCo. Here's a thought; at 60% margin 10p/pint wholesale becomes 25p on the pumps.

[london calling]

All beers delivered through the SIBA to the Enterprise pub chain will be paid £8 a firkin less than was paid last year.Take it or leave it.Darkstar have pulled out of the scheme. Should be cheaper beer for us though.

[london calling]

That £80 cask inc vat was sold by the brewer for £67.If it came through a wholesaler they would probably only get £50.Not a lot of money.Not a lot of quality ingredients either I suspect.

[london calling]

Here's Tiny Rebel's take on the subject, a brewery I have heard of and like a lot.


http://www.tinyrebel.co.uk/news/a-blog-about-cask/

They won best beer at GBBF last year so no problem seling cask.Although I have heard they have been getting their award winning beer brewed at Great Yorkshire brewery to meet demand.Not kosher imo.

[Mobyduck]

All beers delivered through the SIBA to the Enterprise pub chain will be paid £8 a firkin less than was paid last year.Take it or leave it.Darkstar have pulled out of the scheme. Should be cheaper beer for us though.

I'm pretty sure the pub won't see any of the £8.00, us punters certainly won't. Brewers lose out,pubs lose out and so do we, ultimately so will entershite, not before they take many down with them on the way.