Brewers open taps for Cask Ale Week
Brewers are fermenting plans to get people into the pub and sampling their products during this April's Cask Ale Week.
Get involved with initiatives such as the following and you could tap into the sales potential of the resilient cask ale market.
Jennings
Activity organised by the Lake District's Jennings, now owned by Marston's, will be focused on helping licensees organise loyalty-building trips to the brewery.
All pubs within walking distance of the site will get 20 complimentary brewery tour tickets, and all licensees within Cumbria purchasing any cask ale that Marston's supplies - including Jennings, Marston's, Ringwood, Wychwood, Brakspear and Banks's - during Cask Ale Week will go into a draw to win a brewery evening tour for 25.
Jennings is focusing particularly on drawing women to real ale. Pubs can win a 'Ladies Night' at the brewery, providing they can gather a group of regulars that includes at least 15 women within a party of 25.
St Austell
On Monday, April 6, St Austell head brewer Roger Ryman will celebrate his 10th anniversary in the post.
To celebrate this and the launch of Cask Ale Week, a special event will be taking place at the Rashleigh Arms, in the town of St Austell, Cornwall. Only women will be admitted until 7:30pm, during which time Ryman will be conducting a tasting session of his and his team's handiwork. Annabel Smith, Cask Marque's only female beer inspector, will be on hand to encourage women to sample.
Then from 7:30pm, the event is open to all, and live music and competitions will keep drinkers entertained.
Wells & Young's
Five thousand Bombardier St George's Day point-of-sale (PoS) kits will be going out early this year to the on-trade. Promoting both the English patron saint's day and Cask Ale Week, the PoS will be with pubs in time to drive the beer's sales both during Cask Ale Week and on St George's Day (Thursday, April 23).
Market Town Taverns
Northern favourites Timothy Taylor, Theakston's and Thwaites are likely to figure highly when this Yorkshire pubco produces a poll of its customers' most rated beers from the region to mark Cask Ale Week.
Market Town Taverns has just begun asking its customers in the run-up to the week itself to name their top three cask beers produced within Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and County Durham.
The results will be revealed during Cask Ale Week, and the beers on the final list will be available in Market Town Taverns' pubs.
