Why should I drink real ale?

[goldenfleece]

But when you're in the 18-25 age bracket, peer pressure and advertising tend to determine what you drink. If it wasn't for the millions spent on advertising, no-one would drink smoothflow beers, "extra-cold" lagers, etc.

Mind you, when I was in that age group my chosen tipple was traditional cider, so what do I know?

 

I agree....advertising does make people drink tasteless extra cold crap....

Now if the real ale breweries spent a fortune on marketing instead of leaving it all to Camra, it could have picked up trade far quicker than it has over the last 30 years.......I dont recall ever seeing a TV advert for ANY cask ale product....its about time there was......

[BasilRathbon]

Here's a recent CAMRA press release that specifically addresses the question the OP posed and looks at the various reasons why people should give real ale a try.

 

"CAMRA crowns real ale as ‘Drink of Britain'

Beer Consumer Group calls for pride in our national drink

 

On the eve of this week's Great British Beer Festival, beer consumer group the Campaign for Real Ale is responding to recent reports that beer sales in pubs are declining by crowning real ale, our traditional pub drink, as the ‘Drink of Britain'. CAMRA is calling on adults to try real ale this week and show their support for British brewers, British pubs and a unique British product.

 

Research results issued today show that only 35% of British adults who drink alcohol have tried real ale, whereas 61% of the Irish, including those that do not usually drink alcohol, have tried their national drink, stout, while 84% of all French adults have tried wine.

 

Mike Benner, CAMRA's Chief Executive, said, “ Research shows only one in three British drinkers have tried real ale, which is a real growth opportunity for British pubs facing unprecedented pressures from the credit crunch, falling consumer confidence, high tax rates and increasing utility and raw material costs. Now is the time for campaigners and the beer industry to work together to get British people to try and to appreciate real ale. Our culture and heritage is intrinsically linked with ale, as a great British product brewed and enjoyed sociably in community pubs for generations, yet most people haven't even tried it.”

 

CAMRA says there is now more ale choice than ever before with around 700 independent breweries brewing approximately 2,500 different real ales, 450 of which are featured at the Great British Beer Festival, the biggest of its kind in the World. In the last twelve months over seventy new breweries have started up, despite the credit crunch, as consumers move towards products with taste and genuine provenance.

 

Mr Benner added, “Times are tough for lager brewers and many pubs as lager and keg beer sales are in freefall. Latest industry results suggest a 10.6% decline in pub beer sales, but real ale is growing its share of the on-trade beer market as consumers abandon global brands and search out natural, often locally brewed ales with real provenance. I think people increasingly care about what's in their glass, where it comes from and what it brings to the community and local economy. It's a wake-up call for pub bosses to recognise this trend and realise that real ale is the USP of the British pub.”

 

Mr Benner said, “Clearly real ale brewers are generally bucking the trend of decline and many are reporting record sales increases with the market still attracting new entrants, despite the economic downturn and credit crunch. While real ale has been in decline since the mid-nineties, its time has come once again and a return to growth is on the cards. 5.4 million people drink real ale and if each of them drunk just one pint a day that would treble the market to over 6 million barrels.”

 

Promoting Real Ale

 

CAMRA has joined forces with the real ale industry on a number of initiatives to help overcome myths associated with real ale and to encourage consumer trial of real ale.

 

CAMRA, SIBA, Cask Marque, the Independent Family Brewers of Britain, Britain's key real ale brewers and the major pub companies will hold Cask Ale Week over Easter in 2009. It will be the biggest ever event to promote real ale in pubs across Britain. A key feature of the event will be to encourage pub-goers to ‘try before you buy' with sampling glasses for real ales.

 

At this week's Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court 65,000 visitors will be able to try real ales using third pint glasses and many will join in beer tastings and even special beer tours for women.

 

 

The main findings of the research

 

Whilst only 35% of British drinkers had tried real ale, 78% had tried wine and 69% had tried lager.

29% of the Britain's adult drinkers thought that real ale should represent Britain in the same way wine represents France and stout represents Ireland. Lager was the only drink that scored higher with 31%, whilst only 16% opted for smoothflow bitters e.g John Smiths Smooth, 6% whisky, 4% cider, 2% wine and 1% gin.

Only 6% knew that there were over 1,000 real ales on the market. 31% thought there were under 200 and 8% thought there were less than 50.

Mike Benner commented, “There is so much choice and a huge range of diverse flavours that I'm convinced that many thousands of people will be converted to real ale. Given the huge marketing spend of the global lager brewers, it's hardly surprising that 31% of drinkers think lager should be our national drink! Our job now is to convince people that real ale meets their needs and is something we should all be proud of as a flagship British product.”

 

There are thousands of different real ales categorised into a number of beer styles such as golden ales, bitters, milds, porters, stouts, old ales, wheat beers, fruit beers and barley wines.

 

CAMRA's research also showed some interesting myths about real ale, but did highlight that people would be willing to try real ale if certain initiatives were introduced:

The four top reasons given for never trying real ale were (in order)

I wouldn't know which real ale to start with

I don't know what real ale is

I think real ale would be bitter

I think it would taste flat

42% of non-real ale drinkers said they would try real ale if they could sample it first

33% of non-real ale drinkers said they would try real ale if a National Real Ale Week promotion/campaign, such as Cask Ale Week, was launched to promote real ale and explain why it's worth trying.

Mike Benner added, “CAMRA's plans for encouraging more people to try real ale all aim to dispel myths highlighted by this new research. Not all styles of real ale are bitter. Some are very sweet, others chocolaty and even fruity. Real ale should never be served flat due to its very natural process of creating its own carbonation. These points alone show that there is a need for more real ale education and there is no better place to try it than at the Great British Beer Festival.” "

[goldenfleece]

"CAMRA crowns real ale as ‘Drink of Britain'

 

Exactly as it should be....and not before time......anyone who still thinks that the National drink of Britain is a pint of "super chilled Carling" needs to wake up...those days are receding into history, thankfully..the days of 'extra cold' (help my teeth have fallen out the lager is like liquid helium) and "smooth" (yuk this tastes of washing up liquid and froth) keg' products are numbered......

[brianthedog]

Yep. And Carling Black Label came from Canada. Makes you proud to be British, doesn't it?!

[Ousetunes]

Ten Reasons why you should drink Real Ale

 

1 John Smith's Magnet

2 Theakston Old Perculiar

3 Cameron Strongarm

4 Bateman XXXB

5 Timothy Taylor Landlord (but most places don't know how to look after it)

6 Robinson's Old Tom

7 Ward's (in its original, much lamented form)

8 Worthington White Shield (bottled falling-down juice)

9 Jaipur Indian Pale Ale

10 Ind Coope Burton Ale

[haddockman]

I love real ales I'm off out on Saturday for a friend's birthday and fear it'll be the horrid sort of places we're going to where there's nothing to drink except crap

[jamesogt]

Devonshire Arms Ecclesall rd 11 local ales mini beer festival, with live band mag7 at 9, Friday sept 26th!

[goldenfleece]

Ten Reasons why you should drink Real Ale

 

1 John Smith's Magnet

2 Theakston Old Perculiar

3 Cameron Strongarm

4 Bateman XXXB

5 Timothy Taylor Landlord (but most places don't know how to look after it)

6 Robinson's Old Tom

7 Ward's (in its original, much lamented form)

8 Worthington White Shield (bottled falling-down juice)

9 Jaipur Indian Pale Ale

10 Ind Coope Burton Ale

 

My version of this is as follows:

 

1 Abbeydale Moonshine

2 Kelham Island Easy Rider

3 Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger

4 Courage best Bitter

5 Skinners Cornish knocker

6 Wychwood Scarecrow

7 Everards Equinox

8 Belhaven Fruit Ale

9 Abbeydale Black Mass

10 Ind Coope Burton Ale (we agree on this one)

[munty]

Is real ale a thing of the past?

I think Hillsborough hotel has to be the best for real Ale it has 5 of its own brands which they brew them selves very tast pale Ale

[steve_magoo]

You don't wanna be drinking ale, tastes like someone has dug a hole, filled it with water and drunk the resulting muddy water. You're better off drinking anything else, even actual ****...

 

Also, what's with all the carling bashing!? a nice pint of carling can taste beautiful. I think it's because as you get older the bubbles in lager start to burn your tongue and the temperature hurts your sensitive teeth. Could explain why the older gentlemen tend to go for ale over lager...