Beer is still pretty good value for a quality product

In his weekly The Bar Man column, Jeff Hoyles crunches the numbers…The Norwich branch of CAMRA led by Craig Horner, Martin Ward and Ian Stamp along with around 30 volunteers, has completed its latest snapshot of the real ale scene in the Fine City.After visiting 169 pubs in its branch area, members discovered that there were 491 pumps or barrels serving 264 different beers with 118 of the pubs having at least one on sale.

Of the rest, many were either hotel bars or bars at event venues. This is a decline since the time of Covid as in 2019 there were 308 beers available from 581 pumps and barrels.So, what are the most common beers? Top of the list is Adnams Ghostship in 25 pubs with Sharp’s Doom Bar in 17 and Greene King Abbot, Wolf Golden Jackal, Greene King IPA and Oakham Citra in ten, Lacon’s Encore in nine followed by Woodforde’s Wherry and Timothy Taylor Landlord in eight.The top five most popular beers accounted for 72 pumps on the bar. In terms of price, the average was £4.56, up from £4.30 in 2023 and £3.68 in 2019, an increase of 24% over the last five years.

In comparison, the price of Guinness averaged £5.60 and the cheapest keg lager in each venue came in at £4.75. These averages conceal a wide variation with the most expensive real ale being £6.55 and the cheapest being £1.79. Despite the reduction in strength of some beers, produced by the larger breweries either for public demand, health reasons or to save them tax, the average strength of the real ales available on the survey remained steady at 4.3%.Whew, that’s a lot of numbers. What can we take from them? Beer is still pretty good value for a quality product. Guinness has been very successful with its marketing, with a pint of the black stuff being around a pound more than real ale, yet its sales are growing. Several cities are vying for the mythical title of City of Ale, with Derby and Sheffield also well in the running, but I don’t think a visitor to Norwich would be disappointed especially if they arrive in October when there are lots of events being put on to compensate for the loss of the annual Norwich Beer Festival, cancelled due to the refurbishment of the halls.It would be interesting to undertake a similar exercise in our branch area, but we don’t have the man (and women) power to complete it.I guess that it would turn out rather similar. I don’t think the availability of real ale would be as high, and I have noticed that some of the ever-reliable pubs have been out of real beer on some occasions recently. In terms of choice, all the ones in the top ten are frequently available in and around Lynn. Interestingly, Citra seems to be taking over from JHB as Oakham’s number one ale.We also have some rather uncommon beers around. Three Blind Mice regularly have one of its beers in the Wenns while you can often discover unusual beers in Ferry Lane Social Club or The Live and Let Live.Further afield, you can check out the beer list at Ashill White Hart in real time and Andy at Larling Angel has a particular liking for beers from Orkney and may have a pallet full in the cellar when you call.In terms of price, I feel that under £5 is fair these days, though I don’t know anywhere that you will find one under £2. Thanks to Jenny for passing on their findings.bar.man@btinternet.com