Invasion of the nitrokeg
By Andrew Sangster
It has not been a good year for real ale. While there is growing consumer interest in authentic food and drink, beer is heading in the opposite direction.
Evidence for this comes from Stats MR, a division of market researcher AC Nielson. The company monitors sales of ale, including bitters, stouts and porters, but not top-fermenting lagers, in British on-licence premises. To distinguish between cask-conditioned ale and keg ale, it records whether it is sold through a hand pump or by a meter dispenser.
In the year to the end of March 1993, hand-pulled beers accounted for 37.2% of ale sales, and by the end of March 1996 the share of hand-pulled beers had grown to 41.4% of sales. But in the year to the end of March 1997, sales of cask beer dropped to a share of 40.6%.
The Campaign for Real Ale is clear about what is causing the change: nitrokeg beers. These are beers in which nitrogen, rather than carbon dioxide, is used as a blanket to preserve the product. Carbon dioxide dissolves into beer, giving it a fizzy, metallic feel, but nitrogen produces a much smoother effect, made famous by "widget" cans.
The biggest and most successful brand to date among nitrokegs is Caffrey's Irish Ale, produced by Bass. Although only launched in March 1994, it now has a retail value of £220m in pubs and bars. Bass says its appeal is its "exceptionally smooth delivery" coupled with its coldness (6¼C is the preferred serving temperature), giving it a "refreshing" impact.
Like other nitrokegs, the nitrogen and coldness of Caffrey's effectively neutralises most flavour characteristics. But, as with most lagers sold in the UK, drinkers are more likely to associate with the advertising and branding of the drink than its taste.
In the early 1970s there was a similar move away from cask ale, with Watneys leading the charge with its Watneys Red Barrel. The motivation for brewers introducing keg beers was to make product presentation more consistent and, although cask ale needs care and attention, keg is much less demanding.
It is no surprise to see brewers keen to push keg beer. It means they can deliver a consistent product without taking too much trouble to ensure that the retailer is looking after the product.
Nitrokegs score against ordinary carbon dioxide keg beers on the taste front. The tinny, gassy effects of carbon dioxide are no longer apparent. With carbon dioxide keg beers, drinkers had something tangible to rebel against, but with nitrokegs the only protest can be about blandness.
If you need to stock keg beers because your throughput is too low or too intermittent, try to include something more interesting in your range. This month's selection is from the home of gassy, tasteless beer, the USA. But Brooklyn Lager is part of a new breed of American beer that focuses on taste, rather than marketing. And it does so by using old fashioned carbon dioxide technology.
- Beer of the month: Brooklyn Lager, 5.2% ABV; cases of 24 x 350ml bottles, £19.80 plus VAT; contact Premier Worldwide Beers on 0181-684 7682.
