Special week for beer lovers in Harrogate as Cask Ale Week is launched to spotlight 'proper beer'
Harrogate bars struggling with rising costs and national insurance changes are being offered a potential lifeline during Cask Ale Week in the unlikely form of Gen Z.
Running from September 18-28, Cask Ale Week will see approximately 10,000 pubs and numerous breweries up and down the country shining a light on cask ale.
With recent figures showing that 200 pubs closed in the UK in the first half of this year, the promotion is sorely needed in challenging times for the beer trade.
Even in affluent Harrogate, pulling pints has become more precarious now that times are tighter.
In July, the owners of SO! bars in Harrogate, Knaresborough, and Ripon, and the Mucky Duck in Harrogate, admitted it was the “hardest it has ever been for the hospitality trade”.
This week saw Irish bar, The Four Leaf, announce that it will be closing its doors on John Street just 18 months after opening in Harrogate.
But fresh hope has come in the shape of a YouGov survey showing that, contrary to popular opinion, Gen Z do drink beer.
In fact, the number of Gen Z consumers in the UK aged 18-plus who have had an alcoholic drink in the past six months is up from 66% to 76%.
Commissioned by the Society of Independent Brewers, the survey also a reveals that 25% of 18-24-year-old beer drinkers, the Generation Z demographic, regularly order cask ale at the pub, up more than 50% on the previous year.
Ash Corbett-Collins, national chairman of cask ale champions CAMRA, said: “Younger drinkers, Generation Z, are already more likely to use pubs than many older Brits.
"The SIBA figures also show that 22% of female beer drinkers regularly order cask ale, compared to 43% of men.”
Cask ale, also known as real ale or cask-conditioned beer, is an unfiltered, unpasteurised beer with lower carbonation than keg beer which can only be enjoyed hand pulled in the pub.
As part of Cask Ale Week, many brewers have launched new beers while breweries and pubs are running special promotions, ale trails and beer festivals.
More information at: https://caskaleweek.co.uk/map/