Not sure if I'll be reopening a whole can of worms here that I might just have managed to close on facebook after yesterday!
But here goes - Yesterday I was in Leeds following a job interview, so called in The Brewery Tap close to the station for some lunch....this was my facebook post
Departed from tradition of always going for cask and tried a craft keg beer - Thornbridge Brewery / Sierra Nevada collaboration Twin Peaks pale ale. Far too fizzy and at £4.80 a pint, far too pricey!
My brother responded by saying that "craft keg is a controversial topic within CAMRA. When the pint was served and they told you the price was your response 'how much!!!'"
I replied " Indeed it is. I did have to ask again..
Thought £3.15 for the earlier Leeds brewery Monsoon IPA was bad enough and the casks went up to £3.50"
So now, here goes the rest of the debate when a friend who works for a mjor pub chain as a regional manager joined the debate - I'll call him Mr X here!
Mr X - Craft keg is only controversial because CAMRA refuse to move with the times and support beer in general. Their attitude on this has been tragic at times. I know places in Leeds that charge over £5 for Blue Moon, so think you've done ok at that price for a collab that involved Sierra Nevada and high quality ingredients. Bet you ten to a penny they're making less money at that price than most pubs do from a pint of Carling
Me - It wouldn't be so bad if they got craft keg into pubs that didn't want to/have the sales to do cask, but that doesn't seem to be the case and particular brew was way to fizzy. I'll stick with cask where its on offer. Glad I tried it as I'd previously tried most of the cask on offer and was keen to try this particular brew, but I wasn't too impressed. The cask was far superior at over a quid fifty cheaper.
Mr X - There's room to do both craft keg and craft cask, it's just about whether a certain beer suits either profile. Thornbridge Kipling is far superior on cask to keg, but Thornbridge Chiron is an amazing beer on keg (and not as good on cask). The cost difference is down to the additional labour and costs with producing a keg beer
Me - But given it keeps longer shouldn't that balance the cost out? i.e. less wastage. I'm not saying there's no room for craft keg, just wish they'd start targetting pubs that generally don't do cask.
Mr X - But there's no need to target pubs that don't do cask. It isn't one or the other, they both exist as equally excellent genres of brilliant beer. That's like telling a pub they shouldn't serve Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on draught because they do cask ale? This is the kind of thinking that is setting CAMRA light years behind where it needs to be
Me - You aren't getting what I'm saying. There are many pubs that only sell keg, and poor keg. So target those to get craft keg in, then you are widening the scope of quality beer available. I've no problem with a pub selling craft keg but to me it's a bit lost because the ONLY place you tend to see it is in good quality cask pubs. And if there's cask then I and many others like me are going to have that instead. Particularly if they are going to charge £1.50+ more for the craft keg.
I had 2 pints this afternoon in the Brewery Tap - Leeds Brewery Monsoon IPA on cask at £3.15 and the Twin Peaks on keg at £4.80. The Monsoon was a far better pint in every way, the keg was overly fizzy (don't know if that's just that beer or the nature of it being keg but it was more like a lager), much colder, and generally just not as nice as the Monsoon. Now, ok I'm using one example of craft keg having not tasted others, but lets just say I was not impressed and when they are charging 1.5 times the cost then I expect a much more satisfying product.
Mr X - But that's just one beer and that's just your taste buds? There's nothing wrong with preferring cask to keg, thousands do, but to say one should be pushed in to pubs/bars that don't do the other is an I justice to some of the bloody brilliant beers out there that are only available in keg. The beer is meant to be colder (as it goes through a different cooling system) and will be much more carbonated as well
Me - I never said it should not be sold in cask pubs. But they are missing a big opportunity if they don't look to put it in keg only pubs. I like Belgian bottled beers, I would like craft keg (I like the US craft beers remember)...my point is that you generally only see them in cask pubs and good cask pubs at that. I'd like to be able to walk into any pub and find a drink I like rather than seeing smooth and either settling for a guinness or walking out. I'm saying I would like to try more of them but am less likely to do so if I only ever see it alongside cask.
Any thoughts? Personally I thought i had a reasonably point of view that wouldn't it be better if we got craft keg out into none cask pubs?
