The Cask Project
The Morning Advertiser launched The Cask Project in a bid to re-energise the category and reinstall it in pride of place on the bar of pubs throughout the country.
Cask beer is in long-time decline and, having joined forces with some of the UK’s leading cask beer suppliers – Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company, Greene King, Sharp’s Brewery and St Austell – we want to reinvigorate attitudes within the trade to a product which should be rightly cherished by operators.
Cask beer is a unique product that can only be replicated successfully within pubs but the perception of cask, particularly among younger drinkers, is that it is made and loved only by an ageing male population.
We want to create a real buzz about cask to get pub owners, operators, general managers, bartenders, and all pub staff on board and debunk the myths surrounding the drink and educate them on how to make cask work for their business. And by doing this, we can pass on that knowledge, care, and skill into cask beer at the bar for customers to get excited about too.
St Austell Brewery launches new permanent cask
St Austell Brewery has added a new cask brand to its portfolio, Anthem (3.8% ABV), an all-British Pale Ale, available now direct from St Austell.
Anthem’s 100% British ingredients including Maris Otter barley grown in Cornwall and East Anglia as well as four UK-grown hop varieties, Target, Olicana, Jester, and Harlequin bring the beers fruit flavours to the fore.
St Austell Brewery head of marketing beer and brands Laura McKay said: “We’re proud to be launching Anthem exclusively in cask although we will continue to explore the category opportunity for the beer in other formats.
"In a very busy beer market, the role of creating eye catching and stand out brands at the point of purchase has never been so important. Anthem carries a very intentional bold, bright, and energetic design, which ties in perfectly with the beer’s name and is very fitting for celebrating good times at the pub.
“Golden ales, which encompass styles including pale ales and IPAs, are continuing to gain share as the fastest growing segment in cask.
“We’ve called out Anthem’s strong provenance story on the pump clip and hope it becomes a real talking point on the bar.
“Innovation in the category is vital to meet the taste preferences of today, inject a new life into cask, and showcase just how special this English pub staple is.”
The new serve is the first to be launched since Georgina Young took over as St Austell’s brewing director in 2020.
Young said: “We’re delighted to see Anthem joining the likes of Tribute, Proper Job, and korev as part of our fantastic beer portfolio. It’s a really sessionable beer, made with quality British ingredients and – despite its lower abv - is absolutely jam packed full of fruity flavours.
“Brewing cask ale is a true art form and something which takes time, dedication, and precision to get right.
“The process of crafting a pint is a real team collaboration - from grain to glass - and we work extremely closely with our network of trusted suppliers to provide us with the finest raw ingredients. We’ve handpicked an all-star British line-up of ingredients for Anthem.
“The hops are exciting English varieties which emulate the celebrated juicy hop characteristics associated with the US.
“We all know nothing quite beats that pub fresh pint of cask ale, which is why continuing to introduce new beers like Anthem, and experiment with modern flavours, is so important to us.
“While cask ale is having a tough time post pandemic, we strongly believe it is part of the fabric of the UK pub and beer market, therefore as one of the country’s leaders in cask beer we will continue to innovate and invest into cask ale.”
Theakstons bring back its Mild cask
Yorkshire based Theakston Brewery has announced it will brew a batch of Theakston Dark Mild ale in cask form to mark CAMRA’s Mild May, an initiative designed to showcase mild ales from across the UK.
Available as a guest beer, Theakston Dark Mild is a 3.4% ABV dark ale brewed with pale, crystal, and black malts as well as a combination of Progress, Challenger and Fuggle hops to present a low alcohol but high flavour serve.
Though this is the first cask mild from Theakstons in several years, the brewery has long championed traditional ale styles and has continually brewed mild ales in either keg or cask form since its establishment almost 200 years ago.
Theakston joint managing director Simon Theakston said: “In recent years, the explosion of microbrewing and increased interest in alternative beer styles has paradoxically rekindled interest in foundational, traditional ales such as mild.
“Alongside this, microbrewing’s popularity has also generated a renewed interest in cask-conditioned beers, and Theakston Dark Mild in keg has long been a staple of our core range.
“Based on this, we feel there is no better time to respond to customer demand and brew the cask version of our Theakston Dark Mild as a guest ale.
“This relaunch is a particularly special one for me. Mild was one of the original few beer styles brewed by my great-grandfather Robert Theakston when he founded the brewery in 1827, so it is great to bring back a cask version of an ale style which is so intimately tied to our long history.
“While as always, we are led by the desires of our customers, should Theakston Dark Mild in cask turn out to be as popular as it once was, we would be thrilled to make it a more permanent fixture of our portfolio.”
