Royal Blenheim landlord Steven Lyne continues his regular column
As I’m finishing this, the sun is coming out and Oxford is breaking into the 20sC again. As people’s drinking habits change as the mercury rises, what can we look forward to enjoying what hopefully will be a bumper summer?
It’s amazing how much the drinking landscape changes in the UK across the year. With such an amazing number of breweries churning out superb beers, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to what styles are available to us. We see these breweries produce a huge range of beers all year round. You can walk into some incredible pubs and bars, and you really can try what feels like a silly choice of beers. What a lovely problem to have!
Steven (centre) and assistant manager Natasha Micallef-Kelly collect their City Pub of the Year award from CAMRA’s Steve Thompson
As we approach the summer months, we tend to see these styles lean more towards the lighter end of the spectrum. People tend to have lower ABV products and paler ales, as the sun makes every pint even more thirst quenching. So what styles are we likely to see being popular over this summer, and can we see some interesting newcomers based on new trends appearing over the past year?
The summer months present one of the most important sales periods for hospitality, with an increase in tourism and improved weather allowing people to enjoy some much-deserved drinks. This year will be even more challenging with several more factors, as venues are trying to survive the current economic climate. It will be essential for venues to ensure they are stocking the correct products, and ensure they are in tip-top shape to keep consumers happy and coming back. There will be even more opportunities for pubs and bars to take advantage of the summer season, with a spectacular amount of sport set to appear on screens across the country!
With regards to cask ale, it will be a refreshing time of year for pale ale fans. As always, the pale ale range tends to dominate the summer months thanks to the refreshing taste profiles. We’ve already seen an increase in the number of pale ales coming onto the market, and expect to see plenty of golden ales hitting the bars in the next few weeks.
Thankfully, one of the great things about pale ales is the sheer variety in flavours, ingredients and techniques that we see brewers implement into their ranges. Brewers tend to lean towards the pale and pilsner malts to make a light, golden coloured beer with a light body. You tend to get plenty of sweetness from the malt which is quite subtle at times, but always allowing the hop notes to really come through. The hops that you should keep an eye out for in these beers are mostly the fruity variety: Citra, Cascade and Galaxy tend to be on the podium spots.
There has been a recent trend in White IPAs and New Zealand pales joining the ever-varying selection of beers in the UK. NZ pales tend to give similar tasting notes as wines from that country. Expect plenty of floral, fruity and grassy flavours. White IPAs combine flavours of Belgian Wit bier with New World hops. These beers have bright citrus fruit flavours with a slightly spicy note to them. Delicious!
A tasting board at the Royal Blenheim
As for the other end of the spectrum, what can we expect from darker ales this summer? You may be surprised to hear that they might not be going anywhere. May is now associated with Mild thanks to CAMRA branches celebrating and highlighting this style, and most modern Mild ales are between 3% and 3.6% ABV. These beers, if done properly, can have all the flavour of a stout or porter without the heavier body associated with them. Therefore, this is a superb style to look out for if you’re a bit hotter than usual but still want that signature dark beer flavour.
And what about stouts? Courtesy of the Morning Advertiser Beer Report 2024, we can see that stout has seen a massive increase in both value and market share over the past year. Plenty of these changes have been thanks to several successful marketing campaigns which have seen stout skyrocket in popularity. With volume up by more than 300,000Hl over the previous year, we will see plenty of breweries still producing top quality stouts to keep up with the demand.
One thing we do see during the summer months is cask ale fans turning towards more kegged products. Thanks to the colder temperatures associated with keg we do see a swing in market share. Continental lager is shaping up to be a dominant product over the warmer period, and has been a stand-out performer over the past 12 months. Given that it now accounts up to 27% of the market, expect to see several new premium Continental lagers making their appearances over the summer.
Finally, another area to keep an eye on this summer will be the “low-and-no” alcohol options. As mentioned in some of my previous articles, consumers are ever more conscious of what they are drinking. There are a multitude of reasons for this but over the summer months drinking occasions tend to turn more towards the daytime rather than the night-time trade. The increase in family visits to pubs is a main driver towards low-and-no alcohol sales throughout the summer.
For cask ale fans, two particular styles to look out for will be the increasingly popular table beers and small beers. These modern styles adopt an approach from historical recipes when drinkers used to enjoy plenty of flavour at a lower ABV. These styles are on the rise again thanks to the modern boom in craft ales, and have emerged as premium products in the no-and-no alcohol range.
As you can see, we have plenty to look forward to over the next few months as we hope to see the pleasant weather continue. With several large sporting events on the horizon, we shall be seeing plenty of reasons to go out and enjoy some of these beautiful brews. Hopefully pints will be flowing long through the summer months.
What Are You Having?
Royal Blenheim landlord Steven Lyne continues his regular column
As I’m finishing this, the sun is coming out and Oxford is breaking into the 20sC again. As people’s drinking habits change as the mercury rises, what can we look forward to enjoying what hopefully will be a bumper summer?
It’s amazing how much the drinking landscape changes in the UK across the year. With such an amazing number of breweries churning out superb beers, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to what styles are available to us. We see these breweries produce a huge range of beers all year round. You can walk into some incredible pubs and bars, and you really can try what feels like a silly choice of beers. What a lovely problem to have!
As we approach the summer months, we tend to see these styles lean more towards the lighter end of the spectrum. People tend to have lower ABV products and paler ales, as the sun makes every pint even more thirst quenching. So what styles are we likely to see being popular over this summer, and can we see some interesting newcomers based on new trends appearing over the past year?
The summer months present one of the most important sales periods for hospitality, with an increase in tourism and improved weather allowing people to enjoy some much-deserved drinks. This year will be even more challenging with several more factors, as venues are trying to survive the current economic climate. It will be essential for venues to ensure they are stocking the correct products, and ensure they are in tip-top shape to keep consumers happy and coming back. There will be even more opportunities for pubs and bars to take advantage of the summer season, with a spectacular amount of sport set to appear on screens across the country!
With regards to cask ale, it will be a refreshing time of year for pale ale fans. As always, the pale ale range tends to dominate the summer months thanks to the refreshing taste profiles. We’ve already seen an increase in the number of pale ales coming onto the market, and expect to see plenty of golden ales hitting the bars in the next few weeks.
Thankfully, one of the great things about pale ales is the sheer variety in flavours, ingredients and techniques that we see brewers implement into their ranges. Brewers tend to lean towards the pale and pilsner malts to make a light, golden coloured beer with a light body. You tend to get plenty of sweetness from the malt which is quite subtle at times, but always allowing the hop notes to really come through. The hops that you should keep an eye out for in these beers are mostly the fruity variety: Citra, Cascade and Galaxy tend to be on the podium spots.
There has been a recent trend in White IPAs and New Zealand pales joining the ever-varying selection of beers in the UK. NZ pales tend to give similar tasting notes as wines from that country. Expect plenty of floral, fruity and grassy flavours. White IPAs combine flavours of Belgian Wit bier with New World hops. These beers have bright citrus fruit flavours with a slightly spicy note to them. Delicious!
As for the other end of the spectrum, what can we expect from darker ales this summer? You may be surprised to hear that they might not be going anywhere. May is now associated with Mild thanks to CAMRA branches celebrating and highlighting this style, and most modern Mild ales are between 3% and 3.6% ABV. These beers, if done properly, can have all the flavour of a stout or porter without the heavier body associated with them. Therefore, this is a superb style to look out for if you’re a bit hotter than usual but still want that signature dark beer flavour.
And what about stouts? Courtesy of the Morning Advertiser Beer Report 2024, we can see that stout has seen a massive increase in both value and market share over the past year. Plenty of these changes have been thanks to several successful marketing campaigns which have seen stout skyrocket in popularity. With volume up by more than 300,000Hl over the previous year, we will see plenty of breweries still producing top quality stouts to keep up with the demand.
One thing we do see during the summer months is cask ale fans turning towards more kegged products. Thanks to the colder temperatures associated with keg we do see a swing in market share. Continental lager is shaping up to be a dominant product over the warmer period, and has been a stand-out performer over the past 12 months. Given that it now accounts up to 27% of the market, expect to see several new premium Continental lagers making their appearances over the summer.
Finally, another area to keep an eye on this summer will be the “low-and-no” alcohol options. As mentioned in some of my previous articles, consumers are ever more conscious of what they are drinking. There are a multitude of reasons for this but over the summer months drinking occasions tend to turn more towards the daytime rather than the night-time trade. The increase in family visits to pubs is a main driver towards low-and-no alcohol sales throughout the summer.
For cask ale fans, two particular styles to look out for will be the increasingly popular table beers and small beers. These modern styles adopt an approach from historical recipes when drinkers used to enjoy plenty of flavour at a lower ABV. These styles are on the rise again thanks to the modern boom in craft ales, and have emerged as premium products in the no-and-no alcohol range.
As you can see, we have plenty to look forward to over the next few months as we hope to see the pleasant weather continue. With several large sporting events on the horizon, we shall be seeing plenty of reasons to go out and enjoy some of these beautiful brews. Hopefully pints will be flowing long through the summer months.
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