How did pubs and brewers use Cask Ale Week in 2009?

Brakspear 2009 case study

2009 Saw the launch of femAle day at The Rising Sun, Witheridge Hill who offered a free half of Brakspear Organic Oxford Gold to all their female customers. The appealing ‘golden ale’ a lighter, sweeter option went down brilliantly with the ladies.

Jude Bishop, licensee, said: “The ladies particularly liked the fact cask ale is natural and not fattening when drunk sensibly.”

Butcombe case study 2009

Butcombe kicked off their National Ale Week in 2009 with a sausage and ale night, encouraging everyone to try out one of their cask ale’s in the meal offer.

Butcombe which has 16 quality ale houses in Bristol, Bath and Wells region are great supporters of National Cask Ale Week, “it was a great vehicle for us to promote our ales to a new audience” said managing director Guy Newell.

Daniel Thwaites Case study 2009

Last year Daniel Thwaites successfully converted smooth flow customers to cask ale. Since removing smooth flow during the 2009 Cask Ale Week, The Grey Mare, Belthorn now offers five cask ales all year round.

Licensee Stephen Prince said “Due to popular demand we are now an authentic cask ale house. We will definitely be supporting this next year’s National Cask Ale Week.”

Ember Inns Case Study 2009

Ember Inns supported National Cask Ale Week in 2009 offering a once in a lifetime competition prize; to become a brewer for the day and work with one of the UK’s top breweries to produce an ale that was sold across more than 170 Ember Inns pubs across the country.

Senior marketing manager of Ember Inns, Oliver Divine, said “We wanted to develop an initiative which would get our guests as excited about cask ale as we are and we are so pleased with the buzz it created.”

Fuller’s Case study 2009

Fuller’s medley of exclusive brews, new cask ale and complimentary pints made National Cask Ale Week a huge success with all of Fuller’s customers in 2009.

The launch of Seafarers ale, visit a brewery day, CAMRA complimentary club vouchers and the Ale trail were just a few of the exciting initiatives for beer lovers to get involved in. More details are available on the dedicated section of Fuller’s website – www.fullers.co.uk/caskaleweek

St Austell Case Study 2009

The ‘ladies only’ party at the Rashleigh Arms offered a special tasting session for the St Austell brewery at National Cask Ale Week.

The special ladies evening raised cash for local charity Penrice Hospice and special guest and opening speaker Annabel Smith guided the ladies through St Austell’s award winning ales as well as two brews specially brewed for the evening.

Wadworth Case Study 2009

Wadworth Ales with the help of Adrian & Nikki Softley of The Bridge Inn, Horton sold seven of their most popular ales at a reduced price. The Bridge Inn also played host to a pie and a pint deal throughout National Cask Ale Week.

The gamble of having so many ales in the pub paid off, with all the ale selling within date resulting in a very successful week.

Wells & Young Case Study 2009

Multi award-winning Wells & Young tenancy at the White Horse, Bedford run by Nigel and Sue Anstead were pulling in the punters as well as the pints during 2009’s Cask Ale Week.

The licensees are real ale fans that celebrate Britain’s national drink, Nigel said “We used themed nights to push our range of cask ales and encouraged anyone who didn’t order a beer a free taster.”

Wychwood Case Study 2009

The 100-foot image of Wychwood’s Hobgoblin character beamed onto Big Ben on the eve of National Cask Ale Week last year.

Themed t-shirts were available and a British Beer Needs You Facebook page was also set up to encourage more people to try out Wychwood’s variety of ales.