Cask ale has increased its share of on-trade beer sales for the third successive year – leading to 1.4% increase in its drinker base, a new report reveals today.
The Cask Report – Britain’s National Drink, 2010-2011 also found that:
· Cask beer grew 5% by value in 2009 to £1.4bn, against a 2% decline in the total UK beer market
· Cask ale outperformed the total (on- and off-trade) beer market in volume terms: cask volumes were steady, compared to a 4.1% decline overall. Last year was the first since 1994 in which cask did not record a volume decline.
· Cask now accounts for 15.2% of total on-trade beer volumes.
· Regional and local cask ale brewers recorded volume increases of 1% and 5% respectively, though the multinational brewers saw their cask volumes fall by 11%.
· 121,000 people started drinking cask ale, taking the total number of cask drinkers to over 8.6 million. The number of 18-24 year old cask drinkers grew by 17%.
· 3,000 more pubs started selling cask ale.
Pete Brown, author of the report, said: “Considering everything else that was happening in the beer market, with continuing pub closures and consumers switching from on-trade to off-trade consumption, it’s hard to view this as anything other than a strong performance from cask ale.
“More interesting than the bald figures are the changing market dynamics and patterns of consumer behaviour. We might be emerging from recession, but we’re not jumping back to conspicuous consumption: instead, we’ve become more thoughtful about our purchases and in our food and drink choices, we’re looking for tradition, provenance and wholesomeness – all values that cask ale can provide in spades.”
Interestingly, analysis of cask sales by region showed that its image as a ‘northern’ drink was misplaced.
It discovered that 41.8% of all cask volume is sold in London and the southeast and the latter’s 24.1% share far exceeded its share of the UK population.
Cask is under-represented in the north, largely because brands with a northern bias such as John Smith’s and Boddingtons are now in decline, while Scotland saw an incredible 31% growth last.
The report also highlighted the ‘cask value chain’. Cask drinkers typically have a higher disposable income than non-cask drinkers, visit pubs more often, and spend more in them, not just on beer but on other drinks and food.
For the first time this year, the report analysed sales of cask beer by pub type. Cask outperforms in branded food-led pubs, recording a 14% volume uplift and a 16% value increase through this sector last year.
Brown added: “This is the fourth Cask Report and the third year in which cask has outperformed the overall beer market. The fact that we haven’t seen an actual uplift in volumes isn’t that surprising, given the continuing onslaught on pubs and the consumer trends around provenance, heritage, taste and so on should give cask brewers and pubs grounds for cautious optimism.
“However, there is clearly still work to do in recruiting new drinkers.”
