The trade paper the Morning Advertiser has published a list of the top ten selling cask beers for 2023
Sharp’s Doombar
Timothy Taylor’s Landlord
Greene King IPA
Fullers London Pride
Wainwright
Greene King Abbot Ale
St Austell Tribute
Marstons Pedigree
Butcombe Original
Harvey’s Sussex Best
The list is in order of volume of beer sold. The MA notes that volumes of some beers have fallen and others risen but there is nothing that dramatic in the figures
A key point is that all but three of the beers are produced by what might be termed Big Beer. Marstons which brews Pedigree and Wainwright is owned brewing wise by Carlsberg. Fullers is owned by Asahi and Greene King is owned by a Hong Kong based company. Butcombe is owned by Liberation although it might be arguable if it qualifies as Big Beer.
That leaves Harveys, St Austell and Timothy Taylor as the big selling independents. None is in Wetherspoons which with 800 pubs is probably the largest seller of cask beer. Greene King is in Spoons and it has a pub estate.
Its a mixed picture. Without the big cask producers cask beer would be in even more of a travail than it is often held to be. On the other hand if we are looking for choice on the bartops- of locally produced enviromentally friendly beers we might feel more campaigning is needed.
Leave a Reply