There are positive signs that cask beer isn’t quite dead yet. A few breweries have recently installed a handpump or two in their tap rooms but Brookfield Drinks have taken a much bigger plunge. They are investing around £2 million in the launch of a new cask beer.
LionHeart is a 4% ABV session bitter, brewed for Brookfield by Woodfordes in Norfolk. Many cask beer drinkers will know the name. They are long-established history brewers of cask beer, with their flagship, Wherry, having won numerous CAMRA awards.
Brookfield Drinks is probably a less familiar name. It’s a UK sales and marketing company that specialises in the distribution of drinks to the on and off trades. The business was founded in 2012 by Nigel McNally, a former managing director of Charles Wells in Bedford and a long- time supporter of cask beer. At the launch of LionHeart, Nigel said, ”Cask beer has struggled due to low throughput and inconsistent quality. There also seems to be some activity to confuse the consumer such as putting pasteurised beer through handpumps. All in all, we are seeing pubs disengage with cask beer but you can only get cask beer in pubs so they ought to be focusing on it. It’s no surprise that those pubs investing in cask beer are growing.” He added, “There are changes in the market. There is a move for drinkers to seek authenticity and provenance. We are also seeing a rising demand for premium cask, driven in part by interest in the style from Gen Z beer drinkers. Our aim with LionHeart is to restore the pride in England’s signature beer style and give pubs the support they need to stock cask ale with confidence.”
The beer is designed to drink stronger than its 4.1% ABV, more akin to a premium bitter. There is however a twist. LionHeart is brewed to a 12th-century-style recipe using open fermenters. Not only is it made with classic English hops, Challenger and Goldings, but it also includes an addition flavour in sweet gale. This plant is also known as bog myrtle and was one of a number of ingredients, including mugwort and yarrow, that were used before hops were introduced into Britain. It gives bitterness and pine and herbal notes. It would have been a familiar ingredient during the reign of Richard I. This is the link that gives the beer its name. The result is a full flavoured dark amber beer with orange, apricot, toffee and a resinous character on a malty base, leading to a lingering bitter sweet, peppery finish.
Brookfield is targeting not just independent pubs and bars but also larger pub groups and national chains. They are also looking to have a presence at beer festivals and the beer’s roll-out is being backed by broadsheet, radio and television adverts. The latter, not taking itself too seriously, features a thirsty King Richard. Nigel’s goal is for LionHeart to help revitalise the English beer sector as a whole. I think we can only wish it every success in raising the profile of good cask beer.
Christine Cryne