Chasing volume is madness
When it comes to beer, we are as an industry obsessed by volume. And it is hurting the pub.
Perhaps the obsession should come as no surprise - the very fabric of British pub culture was founded on session drinking of low ABV ales, consumed as both post-work tonic and rehydration aid. But times have changed. Beers have got stronger and the number of people who want to drink large quantities of beer in one sitting are dwindling.
And yet the industry is completely set up to serve and benefit from this anachronistic system. The big lager brewers want to keep their mash tuns full to save on costs. And pub companies have closely linked tenancy contracts with volume sales of beer - they are obsessed with shifting volume.
People may say this is common sense, but you cannot fight social change. People want to drink better quality, less often. They want more choice on the bar, with more innovation.
But in standard lager, for example, all that brewers have come up with in recent years to whet the appetites of drinkers is extra cold. And yet they insist on whacking out gallon after gallon of a product that is losing popularity.
Mind you, these brewers have done more than most. For some reason they don't see it as their responsibility to try to drive innovation in dispense. We have got to a stage where instead of mourning the loss of volume we should be championing the rise of quality.
Twenty years ago a senior figure at one big UK brewer had a mantra: "Volume is vanity, profit is sanity." We have failed to heed that. It is time to wake up and smell the malted barley.
