Written by Clive Harris, RBBC Beer Club Ltd
Clive Harris is co-founder of Round Britain Beer Club, a company of fresh beer fans and brewers, who have developed a subscription club to promote independent brewers and offer Customers the opportunity to try craft beers they most likely would never have heard of. www.roundbritainbeerclub.co.uk
I recently conducted a survey asking where people would purchase beer to drink at home – in the supermarket, at an off-licence, or direct from the brewery.
The results showed, perhaps not surprisingly, if a tad disappointing, almost 7 out of 10 people buy their beer with their weekly shop in the supermarket. Just 11% said they would go to the off-licence with 23% saying they would try and buy their beer direct from the Brewery. However, even some of these admitted to resorting to the supermarket on occasion. This result raises several interesting points.
When I was in my twenties, if you wanted to buy alcohol you either went to a pub, or you visited the local ‘offy’, as we used to call it. If you were going to a party you would indulge in perhaps a four pack of Double Diamond (it worked wonders apparently!) or if you were feeling flush, maybe a Watneys’ Party 7! The difficulties you had opening the Party 7 when you got to the party is another story! These days though, with supermarkets being open until 10 pm, or even 24 hours, the stop on the way to the party is often to stock up there, unfortunately. Off-licences that used to be in every village and on every High Street are far fewer in numbers and generally most are part of a chain, like the supermarkets. This almost certainly reflects the low percentage using them now, as opposed to the variety or quality of the beers they sell. Although there has been a big growth in the number of ‘Bottle shops’ stocking a massive selection of quality craft beers, so maybe not.
Supermarkets have certainly taken over and even the ‘one-stop’ type, or even garage, will most likely stock several different types of beer, mainly tasteless foreign imports, but less of a concern if somebody else at a party is going to drink it.
To drink at home though, you would hope that the discerning buyer would want something they can savour and enjoy as opposed to necking it as quick as they can. Your chances of obtaining fresh beer (say, under four weeks old) is considerably diminished if you wish to choose from those available at the supermarket. Equally, many people think supermarkets have a wide range of tasty craft beers these days; maybe this is true compared to a few years back. However, when one considers there are just over 2000 breweries in the UK and probably the average number of products each produces is about 10, the 25 or so on display in supermarkets is a drop in a huge beer ocean waiting to be sampled. Yet 69% of us still buy home drinking beer with our sausages and bread. To make matters worse, the vast majority of beers sold in a supermarket are not the locally produced craft type, but more the mass-produced varieties from the Netherlands, Australia, or the USA.
That trend has changed a little in recent years but is the domain mainly of the large craft brewers. However, where craft beer is sold in supermarkets it will almost certainly have been purchased at a much lower price from the independent brewer, due to the quantity purchased, hence the profit margin is so much less for the brewer, with Mr Tesco or Sainsbury taking a hefty cut of what you pay (not to mention the chancellor!).
With that competition in mind, the 23% who say they buy direct from the Brewery, either rolling up at the brewery door, or having it delivered through an online portal is an encouraging number. Especially considering this would have been practically zero not that many years ago. There must be something driving this new wave, and not just the increase in craft brewers around the UK. There is little doubt much of the motivation to buy direct is coming from the opportunity to buy a tasty, fresh beer as well as perhaps a philanthropic desire to support their local independent brewery. One thing for sure, once you have tasted Fresh beer, you don’t want to go back to mass produced versions.
There is no doubt the pandemic greatly increased the number of people having to drink at home and it’s taking a while to get the balance back. The pandemic drove many of the craft brewers to introduce online shops. At the last count about 2/3 had already invested in direct-to-consumer portals - this is only set to grow in the coming years. In addition, several online bottle shops have sprouted up and then the popularity of beer subscription clubs is growing as well. Beware of these though, many of these boxes will include cheap foreign imports and maybe serve you from their warehouse, so you need to be wary of the freshness of what you are buying.
One recent addition to the Beer Subscription Box market is Round Britain Beer Club. This has been founded by Clive, a long-time massive craft beer fan and Dave, a craft brewer himself. Their aim is to help independent brewers get their beer to market. They only deal with UK brewers, providing a box of beer from a different UK craft brewer each month. It’s unlikely you’ll find any of these beers in your local supermarket, as most are the best kept secrets of their local communities. They offer a choice of dark or pale boxes (or a mix) and as you are getting your beer direct from the brewery of your choice, you can be sure it’s fresh.
Why not try it and hopefully you’ll start to become a fresh beer fan as well and limit your weekly supermarket shop to what it what originally intended for.