Rolling out to all of its 2,900 pubs, the bolstered cask beer range is an addition to a deal organised with the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) deal last year, and brings the total number of breweries to 900 – almost half the total number in the UK.
Star Pubs & Bars managing director Lawson Mountstevens said: “Great beer is at the heart of great pubs. And cask beer is completely unique to the on-trade, giving it a huge point of difference for drinkers. Every pub in our estate is different which means our entrepreneurial licensees can tailor their beer offering to their customer, while adding value to their business.”
Positive news for customers
He added: “With 2,900 pubs from Penzance to Stornoway, and Great Yarmouth to Holyhead, getting beers from breweries all over the country, this is hugely positive news for millions of consumers, thousands of licensees and the entire brewing industry.”
The company is also working with Marston’s to provide category-leading advice on maximising value from cask beer. The category building advice complements Heineken’s ‘Greenpaper’, released earlier this year, which provides actionable category insight to boost the on-trade by up to £1bn over the next three years.
Extensive range
Pete Donne, licensee of the King & Queen, a Cask Marque-accredited former Punch pub in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, said: “It’s clear that the Star Pubs & Bars Foundation List is much more extensive than what we had access to previously.
"Several key breweries have more representation as well as some breweries who weren’t represented before. With the rotational ales, Star’s approach is different, and I believe better than what we had before – monthly rather than six-weekly.
“There’s a good range of gravity and style of beers, which is important to me as is the continuation of access to SIBA beers. With our rotational ales we try to have a balance between traditional and more craft-oriented dynamic beers.
“Cask is the flagship of British pubs and vitally important part of our offer. Ours is one of six pubs in the village so my aim is to be as distinctive and individual as possible.”