Cask Marque, the industry watchdog for quality beer, has announced they have trained their 1000th Ale Ambassador registered on their Caskfinder Ale Trail. Helen Casey, from Salford near Manchester attended the Ale Ambassador course at Marstons Burton.
The ‘Ale Ambassadors’ are consumers who are passionate about quality of beer and actively seek out Cask Marque accredited pubs. Their prize included a day at the brewery, a brewery tour, beer styles knowledge, a tasting session, technical handling of beer, and how to identify faults and off flavours in beer.
Helen was very positive about her course “The Ale Ambassadors course was fantastic. The day was packed with learning fun beer facts, going on an informative brewery tour, and gaining useful information on the brewing and beer industry. My favourite part of the day was highlighting the potential off flavours in beer. This interested me the most as it ties in with my day job. I am currently studying for a PhD in physical chemistry. The Cask Marque ale trail has become a great hobby for me and my other half, visiting new places with great beer. We love Cask Marque!”
Consumers are encouraged to download Caskfinder, a free app, and scan the QR code on the Certificates of Excellence in Cask Marque accredited pubs. This has created the World’s Biggest Ale Trail, and when a user has scanned 100 different certificates they are invited to attend an Ale Ambassador Beer Appreciation course held at breweries nationwide.
Over 30,000 drinkers have registered on the Ale Trail so far, and the leading Ale Trailer has scanned nearly 3,000 certificates. Each week on average 3,482 scans are actioned by Ale Trailers. Great business for Cask Marque pubs.
Paul Nunny, MD of Cask Marque said “We have been astounded at the success of the Ale Trail. It was designed to drive footfall into Cask Marque accredited pubs with the added bonus of the users accumulating prizes for their loyalty towards good cask ale outlets. It is critical that accredited pubs display their Certificates in accessible areas to encourage more users to join the World’s Biggest Ale Trail”
The Caskfinder app also allows consumers to:
- Find over 9,500 pubs serving great quality cask ale
- See what beers were on sale when Cask Marque last visited
- See where else you can drink these beers
- Find Beer Festivals happening all over the UK
- Read industry leading beer blog by Pete Brown
Phase 2 of the app is in development to allow pump clip recognition. This will mean that consumers can take a photo of the pump clip of a beer and it will give them the description of the beer. This will also be useful for bar staff to learn more about the beers they have on sale.
Note for Editors
The Cask Marque Trust was founded in 1997 and is a not for profit independent company committed to checking and guaranteeing the quality of cask ale in over 9,600 outlets in the UK and Europe
Cask Marque employs 50 qualified ‘beer inspectors’ who check over 60,000 samples of beer annually. Every inspection is unannounced.
Every accredited outlet displays a Cask Marque plaque externally, a Certificate of Excellence internally, and is listed on the Caskfinder app, which has been downloaded by over 130000 users
For more information, please contact Cask Marque on 01206 752212 or
Paul Nunny on 07768 614065 or my email on Paul@nunny.fsbusiness.co.uk