CAMPAIGNING
WHY DO CAMRA SAY "HANDPUMP HIJACK?"
Big brewers threaten consumers’ rights with plans to hijack the iconic cask handpump
For generations, a handpump on the bar has been a mark of assurance. Where cask is well kept, consumers can be sure of a spotless cellar, well-trained bar staff and commitment to offering the best of UK brewing.
Now, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company – one of the world's largest brewery conglomerates – has resorted to misleading consumers by hijacking the handpump to serve its “Fresh Ale” product. CMBC says thi,s is “preserving the beloved hand pull ritual that delivers the traditional theatre of serve that ale is famed for”.
CAMRA’s Real Ale, Cider and Perry Campaigns Director, Gillian Hough, said: “Consumers deserve better than Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) play acting at serving cask – a product they claim to champion. Instead, CMBC have closed breweries and removed cask lines from bars.
“There’s room for all kinds of beer on the bar, but brewers should champion their whole range honestly, proudly serving their keg beers through keg fonts rather than using handpumps and misleading their customers.”
So far, CMBC has three beers in their ‘Fresh Ale’ range. They are Wainwright Gold, Wainwright Amber and Hobgoblin IPA, and will have ‘brewery conditioned beer’ displayed on the pump clip.
In the 70’s, when cask first came under threat and CAMRA was founded, the loss of a handpump was often a canary in the coalmine – not just for individual venues, but also for the beer industry as a whole.
Handpump “hijack” will confuse consumers says CAMRA
Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company risks confusing drinkers about cask conditioned beers, warns the Campaign for Real Ale, in reaction to a new beer launch which plans to hijack the iconic handpump.
CMBC has announced its plans to start serving keg beer through handpumps, which beer drinkers widely understand as usually being exclusively used for cask conditioned beer. Keg beer is not a “live” beer, in that once it leaves the brewery it contains no viable yeast, and does not undergo further conditioning, unlike cask-conditioned beers which continue to develop flavour and carbonation in the pub cellar.
While CMBC has indicated that, following feedback from CAMRA, it will label so-called “fresh ale” served through handpumps as “brewery conditioned beer”, the Campaign fears this will still confuse customers and erode their long-held understanding that only cask beer is served in this way.
The Campaign is also concerned that CMBC’s plan will reduce choice to consumers and by taking up handpump space elbows out genuine cask beers produced by smaller, independent brewers.
Beer handpumps on bars have long been the easily recognisable sign of the freshness and quality of cask beer – and CAMRA fully intends to enforce its long-standing policy that beer drinkers should not be misled at the point of dispense through the sale of non-live, non-cask beer through handpumps.
CAMRA National Director and Chair of the Real Ale, Cider and Perry Campaigns Committee, Gillian Hough said: “It’s baffling why CMBC feels the need to serve a keg beer through cask ale handpumps in the first place, when it would seem to be simpler and more honest to simply serve it through keg taps, as with all other keg products.
“It would be even better if this company, despite claiming to be incredibly proud to be a leading brewer of cask ale, actually invested in producing new cask ales and supporting its existing beers. It’s particularly ironic that instead it has spent time closing the historic breweries in their portfolio and now wants to cash in on that cask heritage with a keg product which hijacks the handpump.
“Even with additional labelling, our fear is customers – especially those who perhaps don’t understand a term like “brewery conditioned” or don’t notice the small print- will be confused. It also seems likely that over time this potentially misleading approach will erode the image of the iconic beer handpump as a clear symbol of cask conditioned beer.
“We believe that beer drinkers should be fully informed at the point of dispense and we will continue to condemn dispense practices that seek to mislead the consumer, particularly by selling non-live, non-cask beers through cask beer handpumps.
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