Cask Beer Facts

Fact 1 – Beer Tunes

Old English drinkers had whistles baked in the rim of ceramic cups, which they blew to order refills; hence the phrase “wet your whistle”.

Fact 2 – Pints & Quarts

In days when ale was served in pints and quarts, a bartender would order unruly drinkers to “mind their pints and quarts” and settle down – since clipped to P’s & Q’s.

Fact 3 - Thumbs up!

Pre-thermometers brewers used a rule of thumb to test the temperature for adding yeast.

Cask Beer

The Family Brewers' membership occupies a unique space in the UK brewing industry.

It combines the depth of brewing tradition of its member family businesses with the greatest respect for the finest natural ingredients. This guarantees the quality, consistency and choice demanded by today’s discerning consumers and by the trade that serves them.

The Cask Beer Market

Today the UK cask beer market is worth an estimated £4.5 billion – 4 times as much as the cider, stout or FAB’s market. Almost 9 million brewers’ barrels are consumed annually, approximately 25% of all beer.

Today, cask ale is consumed by approximately 7.6 million adults and these customers are becoming ever more demanding in terms of taste and choice – in fact taste is the single most critical factor in brand choice, followed by a ‘liking’ for the brand. Price is important, but so too is quality and customers will pay a premium price for a genuinely premium cask ale.

The Family Brewers are uniquely positioned to offer the best range of quality and choice in the form of both well-known brands and more niche offerings, coupled with strong regional and national distribution and reliable routes to market.

What is real ale?

Read further about 'what is real ale' on the CAMRA factsheet. www.camra.org.uk/factsheets