Cyclops Beer embraces keg beer and lager

Cyclops tasting notes are designed to be a quick and easy guide for drinkers to how a beer looks, smells and tastes and how bitter or sweet it is. Previously the Cyclops Beer scheme only covered cask and bottle-conditioned beer.

Breweries are invited to send their beer to Cyclops for analysis, their tasting notes are then added to the Cyclops website​ and made available for the breweries to promote their beers to consumers.

Discovery​

Stephen Gould, managing director of Everards Brewery and Cyclops Beer spokesman, said: “Cyclops Beer decided to make this fundamental change as there are so many great-tasting beers on sale which are not available in cask.

“We’ve increasingly been asked to accredit lagers, craft keg and other beers. Now seems the right time to broaden Cyclops and make our clear and easy-to-understand tasting notes available for the wide variety of beers that you can find in pubs, clubs, beer festivals and the off trade.

“There has never been a better time to drink British beer and we want to encourage drinkers to discover some great-tasting beers, regardless of whether or not they are available in cask.”

The first keg beer to have been accredited is Longhorn IPA from Purity.​

Support​

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said it supported the move. Head of marketing Tony Jerome said: “Although some real ale breweries are experiencing exciting growth, overall beer sales in Britain are in decline.

“It is therefore important for CAMRA to support generic beer promotions such as Let There Be Beer and the Cyclops expansion into non-real ale products, to encourage more consumers to drink beer. Today's keg beer drinker could be the tomorrow's real ale consumer.”

Another new feature of Cyclops is to display information on the primary hops and malt when this has been provided by the brewery.

“Why shouldn’t consumers become more aware of these key ingredients in the same way that they know which grapes are used to make the wines that they enjoy?” added Gould.