Thursday 24 September 2009

Enterprising or Not?


I understand that Enterprise Inns were one of the biggest beneficiaries of Cask Ale week, with sales of the real stuff increasing by 10.7% for the 20 odd percent of their pubs that joined in. Good news and one that gives you hope they will see this as something to build on. Enterprise are the biggest customer of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Direct Delivery Scheme and now wants SIBA members who take part in the scheme, to undergo accreditation for the taste categorisation system Cyclops by February 2010. The accreditation is designed to help educate both staff and customers about how a beer tastes, its colour and bitterness etc.

I can see where they are coming from and clearly if it is done to educate and promote cask ale, it is a good thing, but of course there is a cost to the brewer, though SIBA will pay for 60% of it. There is a risk too that some brewers will lose out as the vast majority aren't registered yet and you do sort of wonder if this is an attempt to restrict choice, or charitably, inadvertently result in it.

Frankly I am not sure what to make of it, other than cask beer is on the up again one way or another.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Inevitability choice in PubCo pubs is going to be more limited. I'm not sure it is deliberate to restrict choice but irrespective of weather you brew beer or make widgets for dingbats, big companies require some for of accreditation for goods they buy. It's probably not unreasonable and a necessary limitation of big business.

Is that right or wrong? Individual choice I think.

Whorst said...

This is off topic, but are you aware of the new film in which Prescotti stars?

Gazza Prescott said...

I wouldn't say I star in it, but I am in it!!!

Although I do seem to be channelling the voice of the late, great Fred Dibnah on the snippets so far...

Paul Garrard said...

Anything that helps educate has got to be good and anything that helps with choosing a beer when presented with a larger choice has got to be good also me thinks.

Tandleman said...

Sausage - Yes seen the site and the clips. Looks like a fun documentary. Or a lot of saddos, depending on your point of view.

Unknown said...

I can't seem to get Gazza's site to work, seems to be incompatible with the version of Flash I have or something and downloading a new version doesn't help....it's a shame as I want to see what the fuss is about.

Tandleman said...

No problems on Firefox Dave.

Unknown said...

Nope, Firefox doesn't work here either. Maybe it's a problem with Windows XP? Has everybody else migrated to that horrible Vista rubbish now?

Sorry, this really is off topic now....

Tandleman said...

I'm still using XP - bloody computers. I think I need a new one. This is starting to creak at the seams and apart from the expense, it would be a PITA to change.

JohnB said...

Perhaps I'm not cynical enough but can anyone see a link between this news and Miller Brands being accepted as an associate member of SIBA?

Rob Nicholson said...

The idea of tasting notes is sound but not sure about the real drive to charge £250 for it. That adds up to a nice figure if all 750+ breweries signed up.