Cask growth continues in declining beer market

Despite declining total beer sales and continuing pub closures, cask ale last year outperformed the beer market, increased its share of on-trade beer for the third successive year and grew its drinker base by 1.4 per cent.

That's according to The Cask Report - Britain's National Drink, 2010-2011​, published today.

Download your copy of the The Cask Report - Britain's National Drink - Volume 4: 2010-2011​

Key findings

• Cask beer grew 5 per cent by value in 2009 to £1.4 billion, against a two per cent decline in the total UK beer market

• Cask ale outperformed the total (on and off-trade) beer market in volume terms: cask volumes were steady, compared to a 4.1 per cent decline overall. Last year was the first since 1994 in which cask did not record a volume decline.

• Cask now accounts for 15.2 per cent of total on-trade beer volumes

• Regional and local cask ale brewers recorded volume increases of one per cent and five per cent respectively, though the multinational brewers saw their cask volumes fall by 11 per cent

• 121,000 people started drinking cask ale, taking the total number of cask drinkers to over 8.6 million. The number of 18-24 year old cask drinkers grew by 17 per cent

• 3,000 more pubs started selling cask ale

Award-winning beer writer, regular Publican​ columnist and author of The Cask Report, Pete Brown, said, "Considering everything else that was happening in the beer market, with continuing pub closures and consumers switching from on-trade to off-trade consumption, it's hard to view this as anything other than a strong performance from cask ale."

Regional variations

The balance of the cask category is changing, with a continuing shift away from the multinational brewers, who are investing in their lager rather than cask ale, to regional and local brewers.

Stripping out the 11 per cent decline from the multinationals - still the biggest cask sector - would give a growth figure for cask overall.

However, the fact that the number of pubs selling cask ale is up by four per cent shows that there's more going on than simple substitution.

Interestingly, analysis of cask sales by region shows that its image as a 'northern' drink is misplaced. 41.8 per cent of all cask volume is sold in London and the south east and the latter's 24.1 per cent share far exceeds its share of the UK population.

Cask is under-represented in the north, largely because brands with a northern bias such as John Smith's and Boddingtons are now in decline, while Scotland saw an incredible 31% growth last year - a testament to the country's burgeoning craft brewing industry.

Cask drinkers spend more

This year's report again highlights the 'cask value chain'. Cask drinkers typically have a higher disposable income than non-cask drinkers, visit pubs more often, and spend more in them, not just on beer but on other drinks and food.

Cask drinkers are more upmarket than non-cask drinkers - 68 per cent of them are in social grade ABC1. They agree that 'it's worth paying more for good quality beer'. But nine out 10 pubs currently charge less for cask beer than lager.

The report examines this paradox, with research showing that cask drinkers of all ages are prepared to pay more for cask than lager, especially those in the younger age groups. Similarly, research demonstrates that, where cask ale is priced the same as lager, it sells better than where it is cheaper.

With 1.9 million cask drinkers now in the 18-34 age group, new research in the report shows the traditional 'old man in a flat cap' image of the cask ale drinker is finally being shed.

Cask's eco-credentials are one of its strongest suits with consumers who are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their food and drink. A pint of cask from a local brewery bought in a pub has a carbon footprint of 300g of C02 equivalent, compared to 900g for a bottle of imported lager in a supermarket.

Future growth

If cask is to meet its true potential, needs to be on tap in restaurants, hotels, theatres, cinemas and sporting venues, enabling drinkers to develop a 'cask habit' - which will ultimately mean higher cask sales in pubs too, says the report.

Brown concluded, "This is the fourth Cask Report and the third year in which cask has outperformed the overall beer market. The fact that we haven't seen an actual uplift in volumes isn't that surprising, given the continuing onslaught on pubs and the consumer trends around provenance, heritage, taste and so on, should give cask brewers and pubs grounds for cautious optimism.

"However, there is clearly still work to do in recruiting new drinkers. In every issue of the report, we have talked about the importance of providing tasting notes, of letting customers 'try before they buy' and other ways of overcoming the obstacles to trial.

"While more pubs are doing this than were four years ago, not enough is being done to make cask a really compelling choice for the new consumers who are needed if the impressive gains of recent years are to continue."