I spotted this in the February edition of CAMRA’s newspaper, What’s Brewing and I thought that readers might be interested, if not slightly depressed, by it. Its origins are in a Morning Advertiser report. These are the nation’s top ten selling cask beers:
• Doom Bar – Sharp’s (Molson Coors) 4% ABV
• IPA – Greene King 3.6%
• London Pride – Fuller’s (Asahi) 4.1% ABV
• Abbot Ale – Greene King 5% ABV
• Landlord –- Timothy Taylor 4.3% ABV
• Wainright – Marston’s 4.1% ABV
• Pedigree – Marston’s 4.5% ABV
• Tribute – St Austell 4.2% ABV
• Deuchar’s IPA – Caledonian (Heineken) 3.8% ABV
• Ruddle’s Best – Greene King 3.7% ABV
During the period covered, the year ended 11 August 2018, these ten beers account for 813,500 hectolitres of the cask ale brewed in Britain. Doom Bar alone came in at 237,400 while the lowest was Ruddle’s at 28,500. A hectolitre is 22 gallons. These beers generated total revenue of £488 million.
We should not be surprised. These brands are all made available to the large pub chains and are supported by substantial advertising budgets. In most cases however, to be fair, some of these beers when served in good condition are perfectly acceptable.
Tony Hedger