Gen Z Is Fueling A Cask Beer Comeback In The UK

Unlike most modern draft beer, which is typically filtered, carbonated and dispensed using added gas, cask ale is a living beer. It undergoes a secondary fermentation in the cask from which it is served, developing its natural carbonation and character in the pub cellar before being pulled by handpump into the glass.

A good cask ale depends on the pub and how well it’s cared for. It needs to be properly conditioned at the right temperature and served at its best. Done right, cask ale is softer and less aggressively carbonated than conventional draft beer, with a texture and complexity that have helped make it an enduring part of British pub culture.

For generations, cask ale and the neighborhood pub have been almost inseparable. But as traditional ale sales declined and younger drinkers increasingly gravitated toward lagers, craft beers, cocktails and other beverages, there were legitimate concerns that one of Britain’s great drinking traditions was slowly fading away.

Turns out, it might not be last call for cask ale after all.

According to the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA, think the Brewers Association), but with a British accent), cask beer is enjoying renewed interest in the UK, and some of that growth is coming from a demographic that might surprise you: Gen Z, a demo that has been increasingly migrating away from beer here in the States.

SIBA data shows that 25% of 18-to-24-year-old drinkers have now tried cask ale, a 10% year-over-year increase. And while the broader beer business remains challenging, some independent brewers are reporting double-digit cask growth, with sales increases reaching as high as 18%.

So why are younger drinkers suddenly embracing a beer tradition that predates their grandparents?

Price certainly helps. With the cost of a night out increasingly painful in the UK, cask ale can still be one of the better-value pints at the pub.

There’s also something refreshingly analog about cask beer.

Cask ale requires careful conditioning and knowledgeable cellar management, making the pub itself an essential part of the experience. At a time when almost everything can be delivered to your door, there’s something appealing about a beer that asks you to actually go somewhere and enjoy it as intended.

And the beer’s authenticity may be playing a role as well, just as it has with craft beer here in the states.

Younger legal-drinking-age consumers have grown up surrounded by global brands and increasingly sophisticated marketing. Cask ale offers almost the opposite proposition. It’s traditional, relatively low in alcohol, naturally conditioned and closely tied to independent breweries and the pubs that serve it.

The extraordinary resurgence of Guinness among younger drinkers has helped make a softer, less aggressively carbonated pint fashionable again. Guinness isn’t cask ale, but its popularity may have opened the doors to a new generation more willing to venture beyond the traditional lagers that have dominated British pubs for decades.

Cask Ale Week returns to the UK from September 17 through September 27, an annual celebration designed to get more people into pubs and more traditionally conditioned beer into their glasses.

And supporters are thinking bigger than just bringing cask ale back into fashion.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), which has spent more than half a century championing traditional beer and British pubs, is backing efforts to have British pub culture and cask ale recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.

UNESCO recognition may sound like a lofty ambition for a beer.

But in Britain, cask ale has never really been just about the beer. It’s about the brewery that made it, the pub team who cared for it, the handpump that serves it and the people who gather to drink it.

And now a new generation appears to be keeping that tradition alive.