The biggest beer-related news stories over the past few days focus on the current downward trend in lager sales and the surge in popularity for real ale.
On Sunday, The Mirror ran a story about Castlemaine XXX being withdrawn from sale in the UK. This followed an article from The Publican on Friday which told of Bedford-based brewery Wells & Young’s deciding to pull the plug on the production of Cobra. This is in stark contrast to the news we’ve been seeing since last year of the boom in real ale sales.
It’s never good to see any business collapse or downsize, but in terms of diverting attention away from mass-produced lager and towards good quality real ale, I can’t help but be somewhat pleased at this news. Am I wrong to be slightly happy?
