Attic is putting drinkers at the heart of its approach to cask, combining new consumer research with a 65-venue Cask Ale Trail designed to get more people discovering and talking about cask beer.
Running in tandem with Cask Ale Week, the Attic Cask Ale Trail brings together 65 pubs and bars across the Midlands and as far as Oxford, encouraging drinkers to explore independent venues and try cask along the way.
Drinkers can pick up a trail card from participating venues and collect a stamp each time they purchase an Attic cask beer. Six stamps can then be exchanged for a limited-edition pin badge, subject to availability.
But alongside getting more people to the handpull, Attic wanted to better understand what drinkers actually think about cask and what influences their choices at the bar.
The research explored attitudes towards cask, including how frequently people drink it and what style they prefer. The findings highlighted the importance of quality, flavour, freshness, and choice, while also identifying an appetite for locally brewed independent beer and a broader range of modern cask styles.
Attic is using those insights to shape its approach to the category, including the launch of Gleam, a new session IPA developed for cask. Gleam joins Attic’s established cask range of Clasp Pale Ale, Ingot Golden Ale, and Quarter Amber Ale, giving the brewery three permanent and a limited-time special style designed to offer different entry points into cask.
The research also reinforced the role pubs play in people’s experience of cask beer, something Attic wanted to put at the centre of this year’s Cask Ale Week activity.
Rather than focusing the campaign solely on its own taproom, the brewery has partnered with 65 venues to create a trail stretching from Birmingham and the wider Midlands to Oxford, supporting the pubs and bars that continue to champion cask on their handpulls.
“We didn’t want to go into Cask Ale Week simply telling people they should drink more cask,” said Jo Farn, marketing executive at Attic. “We wanted to understand what people actually think about it, what they enjoy, what puts them off and what makes them choose one beer over another.
“What came through strongly from the research was that drinkers care about quality, flavour, and freshness, but they also want choice. Cask doesn’t have to mean one particular style of beer or one particular type of drinker, and that’s something we’ve tried to reflect in our own range.
“The trail takes that research into the real world. We’re working with 65 brilliant venues that play such an important role in keeping cask visible and accessible. It’s a chance to encourage people to visit those venues, try something they might not normally order and hopefully discover a new appreciation for cask along the way.”
The activity comes at a challenging time for the wider beer and pub sector, with breweries and venues continuing to navigate changing drinking habits, rising costs and pressure on the traditional on-trade.
Oli Hurlow, co-owner of Attic, said: “Cask has always been an important part of British beer culture, but it can’t stand still. If we want more people to choose it, breweries need to listen to drinkers, keep the quality high, and make sure we’re producing beers that people are genuinely excited to order.
“We’re proud of the cask range we’ve built and of the relationships we have with the pubs serving it. Bringing these venues together for the trail shows there is still real enthusiasm for cask, and we’re excited to see where we can take it next.”
The Attic Cask Ale Trail runs until 27th September. For the full list of participating venues, head to atticbrewco.com. They are also hosting a special cask ale tasting and brewery tour on Saturday 26th September in Stirchley.
