Cask beer as a tourist attraction

With travel and weekend breaks now a year-round market we consider the value of promoting cask beer to visitors and holidaymakers

Once upon a time there was a pub in a small English city that sold lots of tasty cask ale. One day a beer writer was there drinking some Adnams Broadside with her lunch. A German couple sat down at the next table and she overheard them asking for some local beer. When the server offered them Guinness she nearly fell off her chair and decided to intervene. She recommended they too had the Broadside and in really bad German tried to explain it was a dark beer. She also managed to convey, although not in German, that cask ale was much closer to local beer than Guinness. The beer came and the couple were very pleased with it. The end.

Except it’s not the end, it’s the start of an opportunity; a reminder of what brings people to the pub and how flagging up cask ale can proactively gain more custom from holiday-makers from home and abroad. Brewers with pub estates are among those already actively using their cask ale this way.

“It’s essential to the visitor experience!” says Darren Batten, head brewer at Palmers Brewery in Dorset. “There’s nothing better than finding a great local pub serving good quality local cask ale.”

“British tourism is built around pretty places, nice people and the classic country pub,” he says, going on to explain that he is a holiday-making pub customer as well as a brewer.

“[When I go away] I always check to see what local pubs are close by as I know I will walk out for a pre-dinner pint or book in for a pub supper, always with a pint or two, and that is beer tourism.”

Another selling point for cask ale is that people often like to do things differently on holiday, including trying local produce – just as the German couple referenced above. ‘Staycation’ customers (holiday-makers who live in the UK) are a prime opportunity to enable people to try cask ale – perhaps for the first time. If it’s perfectly served then it could become a drink they choose back at home to feel like they are on holiday again.

Despite Darren’s take on tourism as pretty places and country pubs, gritty cities need not be left out. Just ask Ali Ross, who is now the landlady of Fuller’s pub The Coach & Horses in London’s Soho. Does she see cask ale as a tourist attraction?

“Definitely,” she says. “Cask ale is uniquely British and for many tourists, from countries where kegged beers is the norm, experiencing a pint of traditional cask ale is a huge part of the authentic UK pub experience and because it’s not something they can get at home it’s a genuine attraction.”

“We focus on serving beers from smaller, independent breweries from up and down the country because we believe that tourists probably want to taste a bit of the local area and a bit from the rest of Britain too, so we make sure we talk about where the beer is from, the story behind the breweries and its unique characteristics.

Explaining what makes cask beer special

She adds that telling customers what makes cask beer special is also a selling point, and that it’s best not to get too technical or overcomplicated.

“We keep it very simple, just explaining that it’s a live product and undergoes a final fermentation in the cask which gives a softer carbonation and unique flavour.

“We also explain that it’s not flat beer – which a lot of people assume – but there’s a lack of added gas that makes it feel different and we talk about the hand pumps and explain how it draws beer directly from the barrel in the cellar – basically we make it sound appealing and special and not complicated.”

Jon Mills, of Canterbury Brewers & Distillers and The Foundry Brew Pub concurs with Ali and says that beer tourism is essential to his business.

40 million visitors to the UK per year

“I do a brewery tour with groups from the USA every week in the summer,” he says.

“[And whenever I do tastings for tourists] I always include a cask ale and go through the history and heritage and how it’s special and different to what they are used to. It is exactly what they are looking for, something that is quintessentially British.

“The general tourist is also very interested but we need to explain and enthuse them. As with everything, the service needs to be top notch and the beer quality has to be at its best.”

With more than 40 million inbound visitors to the UK annually, the potential of cask beer tourism is certainly an opportunity worth considering.