Roy Beers: Greene shoots of recovery at JD Wetherspoon

The Highland News wrote a tub-thumping leader article, which (in a spirit of righteous post-Hogmanay Calvinism) thundered: "On the day the Highland News launches its new HealthKicks columnist to help people get in shape after the holidays, an offer like this goes completely against the grain.

"We are being encouraged, rightly, to look after our health and our bodies, and Wetherspoon's 99p-a-pint deal does nothing to encourage responsible drinking."

I admit the 99p deal on bottles of San Miguel is a bit different, but where this particular pint offer is concerned I'd argue the opposite might be true.

Consider this: you're a seasoned toper, strapped for cash in January, and you're wooed by a 3.6% sesson cask ale at 99p. Usually you might be drinking 4.2% or thereabouts lager, or 5% premium lager. You find that two or three pints of GK IPA is quite enough, and go home - having consumed a few pints but much less alcohol than usual, and at a shopper-friendly price. What's the problem?

But Scotland, from what I've read, is no different from England. We've had the same howls of protest about JD allegedly encouraging binge drinking (on weak beer) and emulating supermarket deep discounting - and of course these are all arguments well worth having.

However when it transpires that the pint up for grabs is Greene King IPA you have to imagine just how this might go down in a typical Scottish pub, or indeed superpub.

Years ago I remember some Glasgow bars had a special offer beer called White Thistle. I can't remember what price it came in at, but "dirt cheap" would have been about right.

It didn't sell well in the Horse Shoe Bar, perhaps on the premise that anything going really cheap can't be very good - and people who use the Horse Shoe (typically very busy most days) have already made some sort of decision to seek out a "real pub experience" in what is one of the city's most famous hostelries.

Some will drink cask ale or premium lager; most may be happy with an iconic brand of standard keg lager. They'll all look askance at a giveaway - what's wrong with it?

It might do a turn with skint but thirsty students.

Of course the very name was a hostage to fortune - take your pick from White Flag, White Feather, White Elephant. I think it was some ill-fated but possibly apposite tribute to Scottish rugby - and one day, possibly with little or no press attention, it was quietly put out of its misery.

Now, according to some Scottish newspapers, we're expected to believe that a nation apparently addicted to standard keg lager is going to go crazy for cheap pints of a 3.6% abv session cask ale hardly anybody has ever heard of.

I'm not too well up on GK beers myself. Since abv's aren't on pumpclips any more I had a couple of pints of 5% Arroll's, one evening a while back, assuming it was around 3.8% (it slips down very easily) - so that was a good night.

Greene King brands have started popping up in bars a little more often since the takeover of Belhaven, of course, and some Belhaven-supplied independent bars also feature on one or more of their brands on a regular basis.

However it's safe to say that outwith cask ale circles the brand name has almost zero penetration in the Scottish mass market - it's not like, say, St Albans, where the brand name obviously has a major resonance.

So the only possible attraction it can have for the "typical drinker" - who would much rather be drinking Tennent's Lager or Carling - is its shopper-friendly price.

Since Wetherspoon is very aware of the new rigour set to be imposed under Scotland's new Licensing Act - much easier to object than before; licensing standards officers on patrol - I can't see bars dishing out eight pints a man to Rab C Nesbitt and his chums; or many heavy-volume drinkers being terribly thrilled by the offer.

In Glasgow and the west few Rangers-supporting beer drinkers (that's a lot of people) would buy anything conjoining the words "Greene" and "King" anyway.

Greene King aren't thrilled either, of course - who wants a brand with the unofficial soubriquet "cheaper than Iceland oven chips!" - and questions will inevitably be asked about what price they sold it to JD for in order for the firm to crank it out at such a discount.

But is it the end of civilisation as we know it? Not really. The furore has planted the idea of "Wetherspoon" and "bargain" in many readers' minds, and perhaps some will venture to their local outlet to try out the £2.99 meal deal.

Personally I'd rather pay full whack for a pint of 8.4% abv Skull Splitter - just one pint, enjoyed over about an hour along with a quality pork pie - but there you go.