OUR SEASONAL CALENDAR CONTINUES TO CHAMPION CASK

We caught up with Gemma Woolnough-Smith, Senior Brand Manager and Alan Fulcher, Technical Brewer to chat all things seasonals calendar…

How long have we been doing the calendar?

As a company we have been doing it for a while, but we have worked on it together for the last couple of years to try and reposition the calendar.

Why do we have a seasonals calendar?

We do the seasonal ale calendar because it’s a great way to show our brewing credentials, our brilliant brewers and it also helps us to secure another stick on the bar alongside our great core cask brands. We know that cask is a declining category and the seasonals give us an opportunity to experiment with new beers to attract new drinkers so they can discover what cask tastes like.

Why was 2023 such a success for the calendar?

Alan - I think there are a few reasons behind this. First, I think it’s testament to the quality of our brilliant beers both core and ones we have developed as new products. I think it’s also down to the fact that what the consumer wants has changed so much, today’s consumer is after variety and often looks to experiment with different beers and our calendar supports this. Gemma – It was a real team effort. The business has really backed us and put significant investment in redesigning and repositioning the calendar, so we have been able to really communicate to the customer that cask is the freshest way to enjoy beer in a pub.

Our own pubs have also really got behind the calendar, so we had some great distribution and our free trade sales team have also been brilliant in getting our beers in to other venues. The brewers and production planning also made sure that great, high-quality beers got out to our customers on time. I think the collaborative effort was a main contributing factor to our 2023 volume being up 42% on 2022 which was a fantastic way to finish the year!

What are the expectations for the 2024 calendar?

We are looking to grow volume this year and to get out to more stockists so we can get our great tasting beers in front of more customers who can champion cask. We’ve got some fantastic new beers and we have experimented with new recipes so this should help us achieve an even bigger increase in volume!

What’s your favourite ale on the calendar?

Alan – my favourite is King Mango which is a fantastic IPA with a full front mango flavour. This was brewed as a trial, but the feedback was 100% positive which was brilliant!

Gemma – My favourite would have to be Watch Room which is a golden, tropical beer inspired by the history of Greene King and named after the fact we used to have our own brewery fire brigade. We wanted to bring this story to life with Watch Room which will be available in September this year.