• Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Disclaimer Notice
  • Terms and Conditions
No Result
View All Result
Contact Us
  • Login
BeerExpert
  • Introduction to Beer
    an empty wallet

    Beer & Taxation-A History

    Historical beer brewing scene

    History of Beer

    A field of barley

    What Makes a Beer?

    The U.K. Union Jack flag flying against a blue sky

    Beer In The U.K. – A Changing Industry

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    Real Ale at the New Inn, Whetherby

    The Revival of Real Ale in Uk

    a glass of beer sitting on a cask

    What is Cask Conditioned Beer?

    Louis Pasteur

    How Does Non Pasteurised Beer Differ?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

  • Types of Beer
    Draught bear pouring into a glass

    Draught Beer

    Bitter Beer

    Bitter Beer

    A mug of real ale surrounded by ingredients

    What is Real Ale?

    A mug of stout sitting on a bar

    Stout

    A tin of germs lager and an empty beer mug

    The History of Lager

    Beer By Region

    A selection of beers in a pub

    Strong, Light and Heavy Beers

    Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

    Many bottles of beer on shelves

    Bottled Beer

  • Brewing Beer
    A rustic scene of home beer brewing

    How to Brew Your Own Beer

    A neon craft bear sign in a bar

    Brewers: Craft Brewers

    A glass of beer on a wooden table

    Beer Recipes

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Honey bees flying onto their hive

    How Can I Make My Own Honey Beer?

  • Drinking Beer
    Two women drinking pints of beer

    Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

    Wide view of Oktoberfest German beer festival

    Beer Festivals

    Man drinking and approving of a glass of beer

    The Beer Expert’s Top Five Beers To Savour

    A beer cocktail just prepared and about to be served

    Beer Cocktails

    A selection of beer glasses

    Beer Glasses

    A tray of beers

    Serving Beer

    A partially consumed pint of Guiness

    The Art of Guinness

    A refreshing glass of beer surrounded by seasonal berries

    Seasonal Beer

    Health Benefits of Non Alcoholic Beer

  • World Beer
    Italian flag flying in the wind against a blue sky

    Italian Beer

    Boddington's Strangeways brewery chimney

    Is it Best for Local Breweries to be Locally Owned?

    bottles of beer oin an industrial production line

    Which Are the Big Brewing Corporations?

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    cans of Budweiser lager

    How a Czech Beer Became the all American Budweiser

    Barrels of alcohol being destroyed during US Prohibition

    The Reason Mass Market US Beer is Tasteless

    a map showing India with the Indian flag laying on top

    Indian Beer

    Touring the Breweries of the Czech Republic

    Sampling the Local Beers of the German Capital

  • About Pubs
    Pub Games and Their History

    Pub Games and Their History

    Licensing Laws

    Licensing Laws

    An ice cold picture of amber beer

    How the Economy effects Beer Consumption

    A traditional English pub

    History of the Pub

    The Prospect of Whitby pub in London

    Famous Pubs

    Good Pub Essentials

    Good Pub Essentials

    Microbreweries: Saviour of British Pub Culture?

    The Decline of British Pubs

    Support Your Local Pub

  • Beer and Food
    Beer being poured from a bottle into a simmering pan of food

    Using Beer as an Ingredient

    A roast guinea fowl with a glass of beer in the background

    Recipes Using Beer

    Delicious food served with Glasses of beer

    Serving Beer With Food

    People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

    Beer for Every Occasion

BeerExpert
  • Introduction to Beer
    an empty wallet

    Beer & Taxation-A History

    Historical beer brewing scene

    History of Beer

    A field of barley

    What Makes a Beer?

    The U.K. Union Jack flag flying against a blue sky

    Beer In The U.K. – A Changing Industry

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

    Real Ale at the New Inn, Whetherby

    The Revival of Real Ale in Uk

    a glass of beer sitting on a cask

    What is Cask Conditioned Beer?

    Louis Pasteur

    How Does Non Pasteurised Beer Differ?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

    Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

  • Types of Beer
    Draught bear pouring into a glass

    Draught Beer

    Bitter Beer

    Bitter Beer

    A mug of real ale surrounded by ingredients

    What is Real Ale?

    A mug of stout sitting on a bar

    Stout

    A tin of germs lager and an empty beer mug

    The History of Lager

    Beer By Region

    A selection of beers in a pub

    Strong, Light and Heavy Beers

    Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

    Many bottles of beer on shelves

    Bottled Beer

  • Brewing Beer
    A rustic scene of home beer brewing

    How to Brew Your Own Beer

    A neon craft bear sign in a bar

    Brewers: Craft Brewers

    A glass of beer on a wooden table

    Beer Recipes

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Brewers: Family Brewers

    Honey bees flying onto their hive

    How Can I Make My Own Honey Beer?

  • Drinking Beer
    Two women drinking pints of beer

    Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

    Wide view of Oktoberfest German beer festival

    Beer Festivals

    Man drinking and approving of a glass of beer

    The Beer Expert’s Top Five Beers To Savour

    A beer cocktail just prepared and about to be served

    Beer Cocktails

    A selection of beer glasses

    Beer Glasses

    A tray of beers

    Serving Beer

    A partially consumed pint of Guiness

    The Art of Guinness

    A refreshing glass of beer surrounded by seasonal berries

    Seasonal Beer

    Health Benefits of Non Alcoholic Beer

  • World Beer
    Italian flag flying in the wind against a blue sky

    Italian Beer

    Boddington's Strangeways brewery chimney

    Is it Best for Local Breweries to be Locally Owned?

    bottles of beer oin an industrial production line

    Which Are the Big Brewing Corporations?

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    Craft Brewing Revolution in the USA

    cans of Budweiser lager

    How a Czech Beer Became the all American Budweiser

    Barrels of alcohol being destroyed during US Prohibition

    The Reason Mass Market US Beer is Tasteless

    a map showing India with the Indian flag laying on top

    Indian Beer

    Touring the Breweries of the Czech Republic

    Sampling the Local Beers of the German Capital

  • About Pubs
    Pub Games and Their History

    Pub Games and Their History

    Licensing Laws

    Licensing Laws

    An ice cold picture of amber beer

    How the Economy effects Beer Consumption

    A traditional English pub

    History of the Pub

    The Prospect of Whitby pub in London

    Famous Pubs

    Good Pub Essentials

    Good Pub Essentials

    Microbreweries: Saviour of British Pub Culture?

    The Decline of British Pubs

    Support Your Local Pub

  • Beer and Food
    Beer being poured from a bottle into a simmering pan of food

    Using Beer as an Ingredient

    A roast guinea fowl with a glass of beer in the background

    Recipes Using Beer

    Delicious food served with Glasses of beer

    Serving Beer With Food

    People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

    Beer for Every Occasion

No Result
View All Result
Plugin Install : Cart Icon need WooCommerce plugin to be installed.
BeerExpert
No Result
View All Result
Home Introduction to Beer

Beer In The U.K. – A Changing Industry

Mike Watson by Mike Watson
4 years ago
in Introduction to Beer
47
0
The U.K. Union Jack flag flying against a blue sky

Image by gpointstudio on Freepik

24
SHARES
236
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A recently published report into the beer industry conducted by Venn Research Incorporated estimated the U.K. beer market generated was worth £52.2 billion at the point of sale in 2005. Beer, despite falling in overall consumption in the year previous to this study (partly due to its high taxation) is clearly a huge business – overall profit rose by 16% between 2001 and 2005. The prevalence of beer as our national drink for hundreds of years is partly due to the industry’s ability to constantly change its production and marketing strategies in order to appeal to new and more demanding generations. This has, arguably, led to a two tier system of production, with mass produced lower quality beers supplying a huge market, whilst craft brewed beers have begun to make massive inroads in attracting customers who enjoy traditionally brewed ale.

Lager and the Big Breweries

According to the ‘Breweries and the Beer Market Report‘, 2006, lager accounts for 68% of the total beer market in the U.K. Of these lagers, the majority of them are produced by just four large breweries: Scottish and Newcastle (who produce Foster‘s and Kronenbourg); Coors (from the U.S.), Inbev (who produce Stella Artois, from Belgium) and Carlsberg of Denmark. These lagers are often produced using modern industrial brewing methods to fairly standardised recipes. The quality of mass produced lagers, though often criticised by real ale drinkers, cannot be dismissed outright and some do have a fuller flavour than others, sometimes even approximating traditional continental lagers. However, the effect of having the U.K. beer market dominated by just four large companies, three of which are not British could be seen to be negative. Apart from the use of flavour enhancers and other techniques in some beers, which do not allow for the subtle variety of tastes found in traditionally brewed beers the talent for craft brewing was – at a point – being elbowed out by the mass producers.

Lager, it could be argued, is a ‘lowest common denominator’ of a drink, appealing to a mass population, and for that reason is marketed for its ease of sale. For this reason we have had, in recent years, a situation whereby lager becomes the beer of choice purely for the fact that there is so little else to choose from! Up until recently, it was not uncommon to find most pubs on a high street either not selling ale on tap, or just selling one variety of ale (often itself a mass produced and low quality product). This marked a huge change from the beer market that had predominated up until the sixties and seventies, characterised by village and regional loyalties to certain beers. Lager prior to World War Two would have been the exception to the rule. It is still seen by older generations as a fizzy drink for teenagers, who have not yet developed their palates!

Real Ale and the Craft Breweries

The 1970’s saw a the beginning of a challenge to the big scale brewers from CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) who campaign for the promotion of well crafted traditional beers (see related article Craft Brewers). Over the last thirty years such campaigns have really captured the public imagination with the demand for traditional bitters and ales being so high that many pubs have performed a u-turn and now have a wider range of ales than lagers.

Though craft brewed ales still count for a tiny proportion of the U.K. market, it is this latest development, along with the steady growth of the big breweries, that characterises the beer industry. Over the coming years this hugely lucrative market looks set to become increasingly polarised between imported lager and home produced craft beers (many of which are based on continental recipes). The increasingly popularity of craft brewing can only either lead to the big breweries staking a total claim to the mass (mostly lager) market or to a situation whereby the big brewers react by starting to produce their own quality ales (or something closely resembling quality ale!).

It seems at this point that multi national breweries such as Coors and Carlsberg will be more than happy to continue brewing for the bigger market, leaving craft breweries to continue in their growing appeal to both older real ale connoisseurs and a young affluent crowd who want to try something a little different from run of the mill lager. In both cases, with stronger more expensive export lagers becoming increasingly popular, and craft brewed beers coming at a premium due to their expensive production costs, the price of beer is set to rise whilst its popularity is unlikely to dwindle over a period of years. Beer, although going through changes looks set to be unchangeable in one respect – its stake as the drink of choice in Britain.

Share10Tweet6
Mike Watson

Mike Watson

Related Posts

Glass beakers and tubes used for mixing chemicals

What’s Actually in My Beer?

by Haydn Mullineux
27 May 2021
0

With no legislation demanding a list of ingredients for alcoholic beverages, many UK beer drinkers are concerned about what strange...

A pint of beer on a table in an old pub

Why Brits Traditionally Enjoy Warm Beer

by Haydn Mullineux
27 May 2021
0

Like most nationalities Brits like their beer served cool, so why are they known for preferring it warm and how...

Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

Campaigns that Have Raised the Profile of Beer

by Mike Watson
27 May 2021
0

Beer has been a staple product of the British diet and social scene for well over one thousand years (the...

Next Post
Man drinking and approving of a glass of beer

The Beer Expert's Top Five Beers To Savour

Please login to join discussion
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

Is Guinness Better in the ‘Old Country’?

27 May 2021
A pint of beer on a table in an old pub

Why Brits Traditionally Enjoy Warm Beer

27 May 2021
A pint cold pint of Guinness

Is Guinness Really a ‘Meal in a Glass’?

27 May 2021
Two women drinking pints of beer

Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

27 May 2021

What You Need To Know About Belgian Beer

0

Beer from the Czech Republic

0

France

0

German Beer

0
Two women drinking pints of beer

Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

27 May 2021

Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

27 May 2021
People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

Beer for Every Occasion

27 May 2021
Delicious food served with Glasses of beer

Serving Beer With Food

27 May 2021
BeerExpert

Boasting a culture and heritage at least as rich and varied as wine or spirits, beer is no longer seen as merely a crude intoxicant knocked back on a Friday night to help blot out the everyday. It has become not only something you drink, but something you taste, appreciate, cook with, brew yourself and celebrate! In the absence of a single UK beer information resource, BeerExpert has been brewed up by a team of aficionados with the aim of aiding navigation through the heady waters of the beer world.

Categories

  • About Pubs
  • Beer and Food
  • Brewing Beer
  • Drinking Beer
  • Introduction to Beer
  • Types of Beer
  • World Beer

Recent News

Two women drinking pints of beer

Finding The Ideal Beer For The Female Palette

27 May 2021

Facts About Beer, Beer Names And Breweries

27 May 2021
People celebrating with beer during a beach picnic

Beer for Every Occasion

27 May 2021

© 2024 BeerExpert.co.uk

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
BeerExpert
No Result
View All Result
  • Introduction to Beer
  • Types of Beer
  • Brewing Beer
  • Drinking Beer
  • World Beer
  • About Pubs
  • Beer and Food

© 2024 BeerExpert.co.uk