How to... keep cask beer at the right temperature
So you've worked out how to taste beer, how to look after it in the cellar, how to serve it and how to sell it your customers.
But none of that counts for anything if your beer is coming out at the wrong temperature. And that's a science that you just have to get right if you want to make sure customers come back for more.
But don't just take our word for it. Listen to Roger Walters, trade quality manager for our Beer Matters partner Greene King. He divides his time between checking quality at the brewery in Bury St Edmunds and checking the state of beer across the pub estate - as well as finding the time to lead a cellar management course for licensees once a week.
"I travel up and down the country checking beer quality and I often find cellars that are too cold or too warm - cardinal sins, both!" says Walters.
"Too cold and the beer may be under conditioned and taste flat and lifeless. Too warm and the beer may over-condition and fail to clarify. Either way, if this happens to you, you can't be serving the best pint for customers so it's vital you keep your cellar temperature between 11 and 13ÞC."
And equally important is getting the temperature right at the point of dispense, he continues.
"If beers are served too cold then all those fruity, aromatic and hoppy characters you'd expect on a good cask ale are lost - and if it's too warm then flavours will become too overpowering and unpalatable," he says. "Just as bad, your beers may fob which will always result in full drip trays and poor yields."
But getting the temperature needn't be complicated, says Walters: "It's simple, just check your cellar and beer temperatures every day to help ensure your customers enjoy a perfect pint every time and return time and again."
Walters offers the following seven key areas for licensees to think about. Tick off the checklist and make sure they are in place in your pub - and you really will keep your cool, even when the beer is flying out over the bar!
