Cask vs keg since 1980

More numbers. This time, including sales by method of dispense. Such as cask and keg.

They kick off in 1980. When "traditional" keg outsold Lager almost two to one. And cask by more than that.

Apologies for the incompleteness of the figures. The Statistical Handbook hasn't always broken sales into the same categories. Nor included the same things in their tables. Hence the big holes.

Cask held steady in the early 1980s, went into a slow decline, before recovering in the second half of the 1990s. And its been pretty much downhill all the way since then. The 2024 figure of marginally over 5% is pretty worrying.

Though, in comparison to the fortunes of keg and nitrokeg, cask has come off pretty well. "Traditional" keg dropping from 39% in 1980 to a dismal 1.6% in 2024. Cask outselling keg beer three to one would have sounded good in the 1990s. Now, it just means treble bugger all.

Nitrokeg has fared a little better, though it's still seen a 75% drop in sales since 2000.

Stout is the only type to see growth over the period 2000 to 2024. And only by a small amount. Even draught Lager couldn't dodge the downwards trend. Though its share of the draught market increased from 53% in 2000 to 64% in 2024.  

Cask defeated keg. A sort of Pyrrhic victory, really, given the current tiny sales of both. 

UK draught beer sales by type (%)
Year	Cask condi-tioned ale / stout	Nitro-keg ale	Tradit-ional keg ale	Stout	Lager	Total
1980	16.8		39.0		23.0	78.8
1981	17
1982	17
1983	17
1984	17
1985	17
1986	16
1987	15
1988	15
1989	15
1990	14.3		24.4		32.5	71.2
1991	15
1992	16
1993	17
1994	17
1995	16
1996	14
1997	12
1998	11
1999	11
2000	9.4	10.5	5.0	4.4	33.0	62.3
2001	8.8	10.0	4.4	4.3	33.1	60.6
2002	8.3	9.4	4.0	4.2	32.8	58.6
2003	7.8	8.9	3.5	3.9	33.2	57.1
2004	7.4	8.5	3.1	3.8	33.2	56.0
2005	7.2	8.2	2.7	3.8	33.4	55.2
2006	7.0	7.7	2.3	3.7	33.0	53.7
2007	7.1	7.5	2.0	3.7	32.1	52.4
2008	7.2	7.0	1.8	3.7	30.5	50.2
2009	7.5	6.9	1.6	3.6	30.3	49.9
2010	7.3	6.4	1.4	3.5	29.6	48.2
2011	8.0	5.7	1.5	3.3	29.3	47.8
2012	8.1	5.4	1.6	3.2	29.4	47.7
2013	8.2	5.0	1.5	3.1	28.7	46.4
2014	8.2	4.7	2.0	3.1	28.5	45.8
2015	8.3	4.7	1.8	3.0	27.8	45.1
2016	8.1	4.4	1.3	3.0	27.9	44.7
2017	7.6	4.1	1.4	3.0	27.2	43.4
2018	7.0	3.8	1.5	2.9	26.7	41.9
2019	6.6	3.4	1.6	3.0	26.4	41.1
2020	3.5	1.6	0.6	1.4	13.4	20.4
2021	4.3	2.0	1.0	2.0	18.4	27.7
2022	5.6	2.9	1.3	3.2	25.0	38.0
2023	5.5	2.7	1.4	3.8	25.0	38.5
2024	5.1	2.5	1.6	4.6	24.7	38.6
Source:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025, page 13.

 

YouTubey thing

Been vaguely thinking, in my wandering around the neighbourhood wandering mode, about doing some wort of video thing on the internet.

Not sure exactly what. Me talking to other beery people, maybe. I have a couple of interviews I did for "Keg!" that might be interesting.

 Anyone interested? 

Cask vs Keg Best Bitter in 1976

Another set of cask and keg Bitters. This time, the stronger examples.

This time, there's no difference at all in the average value for money between cask and keg. Though the cask average is distorted by the spectacularly poor value of Watney Fined Bitter. A beer which was 4.5p per pint more expensive than the second dearest, Charles Wells Fargo. A beer which was considerably stronger.

Fined Bitter was a bit of a funny beer. It was the first cask beer bearing the Watney name for quite a while. As they didn't have casks, it was served from a modified keg. Based on the gravity, it looks like a cask version of Watney Special Bitter. I had it a couple of times and wasn't particularly impressed. Though that might have been down to poor cellarmanship. As Watney landlords mostly wouldn't have any experience of looking after cask beer.

A sign that keg and cask prices were levelling out is provided by Draught Bass and Worthington E. I'm pretty sure they were just cask and keg versions of the same beer. And you can see that the price of the two is identical: 25p.

That's all I can think of for now.

Cask Best Bitter in 1976
Brewer	Beer	Price	º gravity per p	OG
Charles Wells	Draught Fargo	28	1.82	1051
Robinson	Best Bitter Ale	24	1.75	1042
Courage	Director's Bitter	27	1.74	1047
Devenish (Redruth)	Cornish Best Bitter	26	1.63	1042.5
Bass	Draught Bass	25	1.60	1040
Watney	Fined Bitter	32.5	1.36	1044.2
	Average	27.1	1.65	1044.5
Source:
Sunday Mirror - Sunday 01 August 1976, page 17.

 

Keg Best Bitter in 1976
Brewer	Beer	Price	º gravity per p	OG
Tetley	Imperial	24	1.75	1042
Usher (Edinburgh)	Double Amber	26	1.65	1043
Bass	Worthington E	25	1.60	1040
Charles Wells	Noggin	25	1.60	1040
	Average	25	1.65	1041.3
Source:
Sunday Mirror - Sunday 01 August 1976, page 17.

 

Cask vs Keg Ordinary Bitter in 1976

Just a short numbery post today. One I wrote a couple of weeks ago to cover now, when I'm in Brazil. Having fun, I hope.

Lots of numbers and not much analysis. Just a quick comparison of typical cask and keg Ordinary Bitters.

What you're seeing here is keg beer move into the mainstream. The beers here aren't the first generation of specifically keg beers. Which were mostly Best Bitters. Or, at least, claiming to be. Some of the beers here, such as Tetley, are just a brewery-conditioned version of their cask Bitter.

That might explain why there's so little difference in price between the two. On average, about half a p. Not much at all, really.

Enough burbling on for today. I've important trip preparations to get on with. 

Cask Ordinary Bitter in 1976
Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (p)	º gravity per p	OG
Hardy & Hanson	Best Bitter	20	1.95	1039
Banks	Bitter	22	1.77	1039
Charles Wells	Draught IPA	23	1.57	1036
Tetley	Bitter	23	1.54	1035.5
Wem	Best Bitter	24	1.54	1037
Burtonwood	Best Bitter	23	1.52	1035
Jennings	Best Bitter	23	1.52	1035
Whitbread (Fremlins)	Trophy	25	1.46	1036.5
	Average	22.9	1.61	1036.6
Source:
Sunday Mirror - Sunday 01 August 1976, page 17.

Keg Ordinary Bitter in 1976
Brewer	Beer	Price	º gravity per p	OG
Fullers	Bitter	21	1.67	1035
Matthew Brown	Heritage	24	1.63	1039
Border	Bitter	22	1.59	1035
Courage (Reading)	Tavern	24	1.58	1038
Tetley	Drum Bitter	23	1.54	1035.5
St. Austell	Extra	24	1.54	1037
Whitbread (London)	Trophy	24	1.48	1035.5
Alloa	Diamond Heavy	25	1.45	1036.2
	Average	23.4	1.56	1036.4
Source:
Sunday Mirror - Sunday 01 August 1976, page 17.

The birth of Keg

The Brewers' Guardian is a gift that just keeps giving. I'm only halfway through 1970 and it's had articles - or even whole features - on exactly the topics I wanted either more information or references. As well as subjects I didn't know I needed to know more about. Like continuous fermentation.

Then I come across an article that references the title of my book on the 1970s: Evolution of the British keg system.

It kicks off with a bit of history. Some of it a little dodgy:

Mr Davidson continued with a brief look at the progress of the U.K. brewing industry over the past 100 years. Facts and figures given in this outline showed that from over 5,000 individual brewers in 1870, there are now seven large brewing groups and approximately 100 smaller and medium sized independent breweries. A great reduction in the number of public houses had taken place in the same period. Other changes had been alterations in the specific gravities of beers often averaging 1100º prior to 1870, these now averaged between 1030º and 1040º. There had also been a transition from naturally conditioned beer in wooden container (with fining taking place in the public house) to beer chilled and filtered in the brewery.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 68.

That 1100º is way off. Average OG in 1870 was more like half that. Then he mentions evil keg replacing proper beer. The bastard.

He continues with a justification for keg. And how this cancer started.

"With bottled beer in widespread use by the mid 1930’s, the next natural logical development,” Mr. Davidson went on, "was bright beer in cask.”

"It can be said that the first step towards the keg system as we know it today was taken by Watneys, who purchased in 1929 a Bergendorfer bulk pasteuriser, which had been exhibited that year. With this pasteuriser it was hoped to overcome problems of conservation of beer exported to the Far East. In 1930 Watneys were the first to export a filtered, pasteurised beer, known as Watney Container Bitter, in stainless steel five-gallon drums.

In the following two to three years the brewery launched this container beer throughout the U.K., using stainless steel drums with a Baines neck. You will be familiar with this neck, which became virtually standard throughout the U.K. To seal the container, a snap valve was used and dispensing was by means of a Barnes syphon tube and CO2. Watneys continued to use this system until as late as 1959.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 68.

I'm hoping this bit of history is better. Mr Davidson was sales director, Grundygroup Export Ltd., manufacturers of things like kegs. And, er Grundy tanks. Start of the 1930s. That's earlier than keg is normally supposed to have started its deadly rise. End of the decade is usually quoted. Interesting that Keg Bitter started as an export beer. That sort of makes sense.

I'm just not sure how much I should trust a salesman. I'd be more committed to it if it were coming from a brewer at Watney. Rather than the man selling them kegs. Still, it was in the Brewers' Guardian. Let's see if anyone from Watney commented on the article in a later edition.

Draught beer in the 1970s (part two)

We're going to finish our look at the different draught systems in use in the 1970s.

Tank beer
This was often bright beer, but filled into cellar tanks rather casks. It was pretty popular for a while in the 1960s and 1970s. It later fell into disuse, partly because of problems keeping the cellar tanks clean.

Many of the Grundy tanks used in UK pub cellars ended up being used as fermenters in US craft breweries.

Hull Brewery caused much division in CAMRA ranks by having most of their beer served from ceramic cellar tanks. The beer was only rough filtered, but not pasteurised and served without CO2 pressure. For a while it was considered real ale, but in the 1980 Good Beer Guide they are dismissed with a simple “all beers are filtered”.

Keg beer
Soon after WW II, brewers started to become interested in keg beer. Mostly to remove the weak link in the chain between the brewer and drinkers: the landlord.  It was designed to be a beer that publicans couldn’t bugger up, either through incompetence or avarice.

The initial crop of keg beers were almost all Bitters. Usually billed as Best Bitters, though the gravities didn’t always live up to that claim. Later keg versions of Mild followed, but it was the Keg Bitters that brewers pushed.

Why were some brewers so keen on keg beer? Because they could charge more for it. When you look at the examples later in this section, you’ll see that keg beer sold at a premium. Keg beer might have cost marginally more to produce than cask, but nothing like as much as the price differential.

Of course, larger brewers were investing large sums in advertising their Keg Bitters. Who would have drunk them if they hadn’t? And that money needed to be recouped.

There was also a fair bit of keg Mild about. And in increasing amounts. Mostly due to the decline in Mild sales. When too little was being sold for cask to be viable, some brewers stretched out the life of the style by kegging it. Though that was only a stay of execution.

Lager, of course, was almost always sold in keg form. Other than the aforementioned experiments with cask Lager.

Finally, there was Stout. Mainly in the form of Guinness. Or maybe totally. There might have been some other keg Stouts. Possibly Murphy’s. 

Let's Brew - 1969 Truman Ben Truman

As a change from recipes vainly trying to push my published books, here's a recipe from one that isn't finished yet, "Keg!". If you're reading this post in six months' time, please buy a copy.

P1 B was a Burton Pale Ale with a long pedigree, having been brewed since 1877. It was Truman’s equivalent of Bass Red Triangle and, originally, was exclusively a bottled beer. Sometime in the late 1950s and early 1960s it was introduced in keg form, playing the role of Truman’s premium Keg Bitter.

I’m not sure why they were brewing it on Brick Lane while their Burton brewery was still open. Maybe they were just preparing for closure by shifting some brands to London.

The recipe is very different from the other Pale Ales. There’s no crystal malt and no flaked barley. But, in addition to the cane sugar, there was another sugar called WSI.

There were two types of Kent hops from the 1968 harvest, plus another of English hops pf unspecified vintage. The hopping is very light at just 4 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt. That’s the same as the Mild and 1.4 lbs per quarter less than in the other Pale Ales.

I remember the shiny font for this beer, with a portrait of Ben, just like on the label. Being totally brainwashed by the Trots at CAMRA  HQ, I never foe a second considered trying it.

1969 Truman Ben Truman
pale malt	9.25 lb	86.05%
pearl barley	1.00 lb	9.30%
cane sugar	0.50 lb	4.65%
Fuggles 90 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1047
FG	1010
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	78.72%
IBU	18
SRM	4
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	64º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

You could always buy some of my older books. I guarantee they are dead good.

 

About 1970s memories

I should have said this before. The reactions that you've sent sharing your memories of the 1970s, I intend to use in my book "Keg!".

My apologies if this wasn't clearer before.  If you don't want anything you've sent to me to be included in the book, please let me know.

I really appreciate all your contributions, which I know will really add to the book. Especially as the rest is just boring, old numbers.

Keg Bitter

Just had my Sundey dinner. A doze now takes preference over writing loads of new words.

Instead, heres a section from one of my recently-published books, Austerity!.

Enjoy, while I head off to the settee to sooze along to Match of the Day.



At a time when the quality of cask beer was often questionable, but bottled beer was rather expensive for the average drinker, Keg Bitter was an attractive proposition Brewers often described it as being bulk bottled beer.

Crystal clear and sparkling, it had the visual characteristics associated with good-quality beer. And, being pasteurised, there was little chance of it turning sour before the keg ran dry.

The first Keg Bitters of the 1950s were promoted as high-class Pale Ales. And that’s where the origin of some truly lay. Double Diamond was a version of Allsopp’s IPA and Ben Truman was the descendent of a 19th-century bottled IPA. These beers were priced according to their perceived prestige. Keg Bitter was, on average, 3d per pint more expensive than an equivalent cask beer.

As brewers moved away from cask-conditioning, mostly for reasons of consistency and convenience, standard Bitters were also presented in keg form. Though still generally at a higher price than the cask version. It’s a trend that continues today: cask is generally cheaper than keg.

As keg began to spread to smaller breweries, more lower-gravity Keg Bitters were brewed. More like Ordinary Bitter than Best Bitter. For the most part, however, they still weren’t cheap.

It’s interesting to note the date when smaller, regional breweries started brewing Keg Bitter: around 1960. Also when they started brewing Lager. That’s probably not a coincidence. There’s overlap in the equipment used to make the two.

Keg Bitter in the 1957 to 1959
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1959	Simonds	Keg Bitter	22	1037.4	1007.3	3.76	80.48%	19
1959	South London Brewery	Golden Keg	18	1037.9	1005.7	4.03	84.96%	19
1959	Watney	Red Barrel	22	1038.5	1010	3.7	74.03%	24
1959	Flowers	Keg Bitter	22	1039	1010.7	3.54	72.56%	23
1959	Whitbread	Tankard Bitter	22	1039.1	1011.9	3.52	69.57%	22
1957	Watney	Keg Bitter	24	1039.4	1007.6	4.14	80.71%	23
1959	Truman	Keg Bitter	22	1040.5	1008.8	4.12	78.27%	22
1957	Courage & Barclay	Keg Bitter	22	1042.8	1006.6	4.72	84.58%	22
1959	Wm. Younger	Keg Bitter	19	1043.7	1007.8	4.68	82.15%	55
	Average		21.4	1039.8	1008.5	4.02	78.60%	25.4
	Without Younger							21.75
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

 

Keg Bitter 1960 - 1965
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (d)	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1960	Bass	Worthington "E"	18	1041.8	1006.5	4.6	84.45%
1960	Gibbs Mew	Blue Keg Bitter	18	1036	1007.6	3.55	78.89%	25
1960	Ind Coope	Double Diamond	19	1040.2	1010	3.92	75.12%	22
1960	Marston	Burton Keg	21	1036	1006.8	3.65	81.11%	20
1961	Arkells	King Keg	24	1040.5	1007.2	4.16	82.22%	20
1961	Birkenhead Brewery	Keg Gold	20	1043.1	1006.5	4.57	84.92%	23
1961	Brickwoods	Sunshine Keg Bitter	21	1035	1008.4	3.33	76.00%	28
1961	Dryborough	Keg	19	1037.6	1006.8	3.85	81.91%	10
1961	Flowers	Keg	24	1039.3	1012.5	3.35	68.19%	27
1961	Fremlin	Keg	24	1040.4	1005.8	4.33	85.64%	23
1961	Gibbs Mew	Red Keg	22	1040.4	1003.7	4.59	90.84%	21
1961	Gibbs Mew	Blue Keg	18	1034.7	1002.8	3.99	91.93%	24
1961	Home Brewery	5 Star	22	1047.5	1007.7	4.97	83.79%	18
1961	Howcrofts	Silver Keg	15	1037.3	1006.9	3.8	81.50%	20
1961	Lacon	Keg Bitter	24	1040.1	1007.1	4.12	82.29%	17
1961	Starkey, Knight & Ford	Star Keg	23	1042.3	1008	4.29	81.09%	27
1961	Tennant Bros.	Keg Bitter	21	1036.8	1005	3.97	86.41%	15
1961	Threllfalls	Keg Bitter	18	1038.5	1004.9	4.2	87.27%	17
1961	Truman	Keg Bitter	21	1039	1006.2	4.27	84.10%	16
1961	Vaux	Keg Beer	20	1034.8	1002.2	4.07	93.68%	14
1961	West Country Breweries	Star Bright Keg	16	1029.8	1004.6	3.15	84.56%	22
1961	Whitbread	Tankard Bitter	24	1038.6	1011	3.58	71.50%	18
1961	Yates's Castle Brewery	Keg	20	1037.8	1006.8	3.88	82.01%	16
1963	Watney	Red Barrel Ex. PA	31	1047.7	1012.9	4.52	72.96%	20
1964	John Smith	Golden Keg	24	1039.1	1009.4	3.71	75.96%	23
	Average		24	1039.1	1009.4	3.71	75.96%	23
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.
Which Beer Report, 1960, pages 171 - 173.