The Craft Beer Channel is launching a campaign to get cask ale the protection it deserves from the UK Government — and eventually UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation).
Channel founders Jonny Garrett and Brad Evans have teamed up with lecturers at York University and nine industry sponsors to make a Youtube documentary series championing traditional British brewing and farming. It’s a follow-up to their award-winning 2021 series, Keep Cask Alive.
To celebrate the launch, Kirkstall Brewery has teamed up with the Craft Beer Channel and Timothy Taylor’s to host a free-to-attend launch party tomorrow (19th February) at the Tetley Building, which features in the first episode.
Kirkstall’s owner, Steve Holt, and brand manager, Chris Hall, feature in the episode, discussing the history of beer in Yorkshire and the regionality of Yorkshire bitter.
Beers from Kirkstall and Timothy Taylor’s will be pouring from 6pm, with a screening of the episode at 7pm in the Southbank Room. A Q&A with Jonny will follow at 7.45pm.
Over the other six 30-minute episodes, Keep Cask Alive Two sees Jonny and Brad visit countless breweries, pubs, festivals, factories, and farms to tell stories of cask beer’s history and future, while documenting their attempts to help stop its decline.
Key to their goal is the recognition of cask ale as ‘intangible heritage’. Because cask ale relies on a production process and serving format, rather than being a specific style or product, it is ineligible for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status.
However, in June 2024, the UK government ratified the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which aims to protect traditional craftsmanship, oral traditions and expressions, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge, and practices. Examples of this recognised in other countries include Belgian beer culture and the French baguette, which show that cask ale’s unique process and wide impact is more than deserving of recognition.
Brad Evans (left) and Jonny Garrett
An application to UNESCO must include academic research, industry and government support, and swathes of evidence. The Craft Beer Channel will use the films in the final submission to UNESCO and to encourage the government to back the campaign. A forthcoming petition calling for cask to be recognised as intangible heritage at a national level is the next step in the process.
The series goes live tomorrow and every Wednesday after that, running until early April, with events planned across the country. It is sponsored by CAMRA, Timothy Taylor’s, Five Points Brewery, Kirkstall Brewery, Shepherd Neame, Fuller’s Griffin Brewery, Crisp Malt, Charles Faram & Co, and Lallemand UK.
“The second series of Keep Cask Alive is the most ambitious thing we’ve ever done,” said Jonny. “It’s been incredible to visit so many parts of the UK, learning the remarkable stories of Britain’s brewing heritage and how some wonderful people are fighting to keep it not just alive but thriving. From The Tetley Building in Leeds to the Amex stadium in Brighton, cask ale is still vibrant and exciting, and we hope our stories can show that.
“Brad and I believe cask is the lifeblood of British pubs. While there are many reasons for its struggles, it’s clear that help from the top is desperately needed. We hope that recognition of its impact on British culture and the economy will give the industry more tools and justifications to protect our pubs, breweries and farms, and to push back against duty, VAT and business rate rises that are crippling UK hospitality.”
Brad added: “Cask is such a brilliant and unique thing to the UK, so wouldn’t it be wonderful for it to be the first example of Intangible Heritage to be recognised in the UK? A pint in the pub is a thing that unites us, and brings us together despite our differences.”
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