Cask: When local ale goes national

EDWARD AND Tubbs would be proud. Ten years ago, the couple from Royston Vasey with their 'local shop for local people' gained cult comedy status with their perfect depiction of the weirdness of small-minded, small-town England in The League of Gentlemen. Then local produce for local people became the most popular gastronomic concept since someone first looked at a potato, then a deep-fat fryer, and said: "I have an idea…"

The local trend has been perfect for beer. Combined with the introduction of progressive beer duty, it's fuelled the microbrewery boom, which is widely credited for the relatively buoyant state of cask ale compared to the rest of the beer market. But is your local beer really local?

Well, no, not always. Successful beers around the country are being bought up by larger brewing concerns that want a piece of the action. And some drinkers aren't happy about it.

It's a fact of business life - in any industry, building up a business to the point where someone else wants to pay a large sum of money for it is common practice. But it seems to annoy beer drinkers more than most.

Some beers that have been lionised by local branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for years suddenly lose their support when the only thing that changes is their ownership. Regional brewers who were once championed for keeping the flame of cask ale alive are suddenly depicted as rapacious corporate giants.

It's a dangerous game to play for companies that still rely on the organic, grassroots nature of beer appreciation for their support.

So why do the regionals do it? What's in it for them? "For us, it's about getting a balanced portfolio of beers," says Nigel McNally of what is now Wells & Young's. A few years ago he presided over Bombardier and a smattering of much smaller Charles Wells brands. Now these sit in the same stable as iconic beers such as Young's Bitter and Courage Directors.

"We'd made Bombardier into a top five premium cask ale nationally, and now we also have a leading session ale with Young's and a leading super-premium ale with Directors. So we're a one-stop shop that makes it much easier for the outlet buying beer," he says.

Marston's also talks about a balanced portfolio, but to the Midland-based brewer this means a geographic balance. "Local session ales are different wherever you go," says marketing director Peter Jackson, "whether it's north or south, light or dark. It changes."

The purchase of Jennings in the Lake District, Refresh in Oxfordshire and Ringwood in the New Forest have given Marston's a strong regional spread of beer brands.

Historically it's the pubs people want when they do deals like this, but Martson's has committed to keeping each brewery open, to keeping the focus of the brand in its original locality.

"It works two ways for us," says Jackson. "We get to put our full portfolio of brands into the local pubs. But we also get to take strong local brands and develop and grow them in a way they couldn't have done on their own."

Jackson also emphasises the benefit to licensees, particularly in the locality. "There's no question that the beer is still local. It's still brewed and supported in the way it's always been. But on top of that, they get access to our full drinks range, our beer quality technicians and so forth."

Greene King has pursued a different strategy, often closing the breweries of beers it acquires, which has led to fierce criticism from some quarters. But again, the brewer insists it is passionate about the acquired brands.

"We always aim to retain the taste, character and quality of a beer," says marketing director Fiona Hope. "We match the ingredients exactly, and we have an extensive matching process to replicate the true flavour, involving local CAMRA branches, journalists and independent tasters to check the profile of the beer has remained the same."

All three brewers talk about the main benefits to the acquired brand being investment, quality control, and a wider national footprint.

You can now buy a great pint of Directors in Newcastle. And Hardys & Hansons' Olde Trip, which was a popular local beer around Nottingham, is now being sold in Kate Moss's local, Camden's Hawley Arms.

When Morland's was bought by Greene King in 1999, many feared for the future of its iconic Old Speckled Hen beer. The brand is now double the size it was at the time of the acquisition.

Is local best?​

But is this missing the point? Many drinkers choose a beer precisely because it is local. As Marston's Jackson points out, there are differences in taste and expectation across the country, and perhaps in its heartland, core drinkers don't want their brands to grow and acquire a national profile.

Westmoreland CAMRA is the local branch of Jenning's brewery. One committee member who didn't want to be named - "You can't say I speak for the whole branch because everyone has their own opinion" - admits that there was local suspicion when Marston's bought the brewery.

"It's frustrating that it's putting so much money into Cumberland Ale and building it nationally," he says.

But in terms of how Marston's has behaved in the community, he has no complaints. "It seems to have left the brewery well alone. And while it's obviously Cumberland Ale it's interested in, it hasn't cut the range - you can still buy Jenning's Mild. It's definitely still seen round here as Jenning's."

There will always be people who don't like the big guys moving in. We live in an age where large corporations have far too much power and it's right to be suspicious of their motives. But a regional brewer is not the same as a global corporation. When a regional brewer acquires a local beer, the net effect is usually positive not only on its own bottom line, but also on the beers it buys and the pubs in which that beer is served.

"The larger regional brewers are the companies that invest in training, quality control and marketing for cask ale and the whole market benefits from that. We're not here to put the micros out of business," says McNally.

Small-scale ale is thriving, and it's right that locals keep a close eye on what happens when their beers get a chance to play on a bigger stage. But these are tough times, and if you want your local beer to survive, it may not be enough to keep it exclusively for local people. n

Pete Brown is an award-winning beer writer and author of the Intelligent Choice report​