The return of Brains Dark on cask
Noting that Brains are sponsors of the 2025 Great British Beer Festival I asked on a certain social media platform if anyone knew if what to my mind is by far Brains best beer- Dark- was actually available on cask.
You can certainly get it in bottle in supermarkets. However its appearance on cask was rare- Brains claimed there wasn’t much market for it- and when Brains pubs were leased to Marstons it seemed to disappear altogether.
The range of cask beer available is now hugely larger than when I started drinking it in the early 1970s. Then there was bitter, mild (perhaps) and best or special bitter. This last would be a bit stronger sometimes reaching as much as 4.5% ABV.
Dark mild has not fared well since. Historically it was brewed at a range of strengths- its style not a strength- but by the 1970s it had overwhelmingly come to be a low alcohol beer. It might be drunk in quantity by those involved in manual labour but was increasingly replaced by lager.
The social media answer was that Dark is indeed available on cask in at least two of Brains central Cardiff pubs- the Old Arcade and the City Arms. Both are classic pubs in themselves. Last weekend I had a glass in both (around £4 a pint).
The good news is that the beer tastes much as ever. There are chocolate notes and it remains an easy drinking 3.5%. Hopefully it will continue to be brewed.
Much about Brains remains opaque- at least to me- but one thought is now that Marstons have sold their brewing interests to Carlsberg and become a pub company they have no interest is selling what are now Carlsberg beers in pubs they run. Hence in both the Old Arcade and City Arms the full range of Brains beers was available on cask and there was no sign of Marstons. Others might know more on this.
I continue to wish an imperial version was brewed but before that it’s a pity Brains Dark on cask is not promoted more. Its one of the classics of Welsh and indeed British brewing
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