The Cask Report 2018 has shown there is an appetite among consumers for cask beer served at a lower temperature.
It is one of several measures recommended for boosting cask sales, which continue to decline faster than on-trade beer sakes overall.
Figure from the report show that in the year to July cask was down 6.8% in volume with the wider on-trade beer market declining 1.6%. Certain categories continue to show growth, including premium lager which saw volumes rise 2.2%.
Despite the slowdown, one in seven pints of beer sold remains cask and at £1.6bn it is double the size of gin in the on-trade (£0.77bn). The top 10 cask brands continue to generally outperform the market.
On temperature, the report shows that two-thirds of cask drinkers would prefer cask to be served at a cooler temperature than the recommended 11-13°C. More than half (56%) who say cask is their favourite beer style say they would prefer it served cooler than 11°C, while only 29% say they prefer it at the recommended serving temperature of 11-13°C.
The report also shows:
- · More people ARE including cask in their repertoires – but they drink it less frequently
- · Those aged under 30 are least likely to have tried cask
- · Loyal cask drinkers tend to be at the upper end of age demographics
- · In the minds of many consumers there is an overlap between cask and ‘craft’ beer but craft potentially repositions cask as old fashioned and out of touch
- · There is a gap between the customer’s perception of quality and that of the licensee. Many customers do not return pints they are unhappy with
- · Half of committed cask drinkers believe it is the same price as mainstream lager, indicating cask could be undervalued on the bar
- · Many pubs have too many handpumps for the amount of cask they can sell
Precis
The Cask Report 2018 has shown there is an appetite among consumers for cask beer served at a lower temperature. It is one of several measures recommended for boosting cask sales, which continue to decline faster than on-trade beer sakes overall. Figure from the report show that in the year to July cask was down 6.8% in volume with the wider on-trade beer market declining 1.6%. Certain categories continue to show growth, including premium lager which saw volumes rise 2.2%. Despite the slowdown, one in seven pints of beer sold remains cask and at £1.6bn it is double the size of gin in the on-trade (£0.77bn). The top 10 cask brands continue to generally outperform the market. On temperature, the report shows that two-thirds of cask drinkers would prefer cask to be served at a cooler temperature than the recommended 11-13°C. More than half (56%) who say cask is their favourite beer style say they would prefer it served cooler than 11°C, while only 29% say they prefer it at the recommended serving temperature of 11-13°C.
