My Shout: Always separate your lights from your darks

We have all heard the phrase "retail is detail" and these days we expect the basics to be right in the great British pub.

At a simplistic level most pubs sell a basic wine range and may offer a few cask ales. Should wine and beer be sold in the same vein?

There is no doubt that pubs have taken great strides with their choices of wine offers over the last decade.

In virtually every pub, customers can now get a glass of wine, be it a house red or a house white as a minimum.

Typically stocked are the popular whites, Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio. Reds, the easy choices are Merlot or Shiraz. Bar staff today are at ease with responding to the request for a crisp light white or a fruity red.

It is hard to imagine that, should the bar run out of white wine, the staff would recommend switching to red as a natural alternative. Advising a customer to switch from a Chardonnay to a spicy Shiraz is unlikely to happen.

Now, while beer education has a long way to go to reach wine, progress is being made. However, when it comes to cask beer on offer, the range is not always so consumer friendly.

Like wine there is a vast diversity of cask beer, from dark to light; golden ales, IPAs, best bitters to strong ales. Yet most pubs offer the range by abv or they operate a rotational scheme for a set number of brands.

Sadly, should the bar run out of light cask ale, there is no hesitation in suggesting a strong dark as an alternative. I have witnessed the scenario.

"Please may I have another pint of that pale bitter please?"

"Oh, sorry sir, that has finished."

"OK, what else do you have?"

"I've got the delicious dark and strong country best bitter and a porter".

I checked the guest ale board — the house ale was a dark 4.1% abv beer — the next one, a dark country ale at 5%; a winter warmer at 5.3% and a malty guest at 4.5%. Imagine the comparison — no white wine for three days!

The other infuriating response I have witnessed is "Sorry sir, we have had to take that beer off in order to sell the others". Alternatively, "No, you can't have the Pinot — we have too many bottles of Riesling that we must get rid of."

There are lots of pressures on pubs to get everything right, but offering the right range and a choice that is suitable for most customers makes a lot of sense. Red, white and the increasingly popular rosé wine. Coffee and tea. Light and dark cask beers. Avoid "We don't have tea, madam, but we do great coffee!"

Make sure the dark and the pale drinkers are catered for at all times.