Beer

[marand93]

Ok, heres the thing; I have been tasked with giving a short presentation (10-12 mins) tomorrow (Wednesday) all about beer, in particular, real ales. It is going to be called, 'Getting Enthusiastic About Ale'. I am really struggling to get stuff on paper. What I would like from you guys is why you think real/cask ale is so good (thats if you have that belief!) and why/how to get the staff who serve it really keen and interested. Bit of background: I work for a small pub company (26 pubs) and I am the first to have cask ale (me and my bright ideas). Becuse it has gone down a storm, I have to impress this on my colleagues and encourage them and their team to get behind this great British drink. All suggestions are welcome and any that I use will be rewarded with an invitation to my pub to sample some truly magnificent ale! Cheers!

[New Judge]

This cannot be done in 2,000 characters or less!

�Real� or Cask Ale is one of the great products the UK has to offer, and one of the most denigrated and undersold. Despite the best efforts of organisations such as CAMRA, it is considered among many as �uncool�.

The variety of ale available is enormous and those that run it down are like those who say �I don�t like curry�. There are so many to try (and I�m still trying them!) that is impossible to say that you don�t like them all.

The reason most of the large �PubCos� do not like it is because it is (as I�m, sure you�ve found out) a bit temperamental and requires careful handling. A snippet from �Harvey�s� (a Sussex Brewer) website:

�Cask Ale is also known as cask conditioned beer or real ale. It is not pasteurised, it is very much alive; the brewer's yeast is still active - conditioning the beer from a fining bed (or lees) at the bottom of the cask. This conditioning takes the form of natural carbonation which has a much more subtle stimulation of the taste sensors than the artificially added gases used to dispense keg beers from pressurised containers.
At its best, Cask Ale is the champagne of beers and requires diligent cellar craftsmanship. This, the skill of the British publican, is one of the key elements defining the quality of the British pub. In bars the world over, no matter how good they may be, the absence of cask ale tends to be the reason they are simply not pubs.�

The �beer� the large companies provide as fodder for their not-so-discerning customers is chemical fizz which would not be drunk unless it were ice cold (have you ever tasted warm Carlsberg?).

Have a ferret round some of the older brewers� websites for more info.

[Booldawg]

Maybe hit them with the line that although pub profits are down, micro-brewery production is on the rise. The appetite for real ale is winning against beers made by 'accountant brewers' at large breweries that only care about profit.

[Fitzer]

Well done you for single handedly introducing Real Ale to a company, check the CAMRA website for ideas. A concept that you could put forward is that whilst Stella is known as wife beater the high hop content of real ale tends to lead to people nodding off when they've had too much as opposed to getting stroppy. The sheer number of independent breweries mean you can ring the changes endlessly to keep things fresh for your customers and as New Judge says there will be a beer out there that even the most doubting will like.If you can get local beers you can play the 'green', fewer beer miles card, plus jobs for local people etc.No junk ingredients or chemicals, the chances to meet the people who make the beers. Pride in new skills mastered when you serve a beer in peak condition. That's just a few off the top of my head, good luck with your presentation, real enthusiasm will always shine through.