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16th August 2012

Senses Working Overtime at Leading Pub Group Mitchells & Butlers trials Cyclops Beer tasting notes in 20 outlets

Leading restaurant and pub operator Mitchells & Butlers is trialling Cyclops Beer notes as part of its staff training and customer education in twenty of its Village Pub and Kitchen outlets. Cyclops Beer uses symbols to show what a beer looks, smells and tastes like and how bitter or sweet it is. This is the first time that a pub group has trialled Cyclops Beer to train staff and help its customers to understand more about cask ale, and it will be measuring its effectiveness in both areas. If successful use of Cyclops Beer will be rolled out in more Mitchells & Butlers Village Pub and Kitchen pubs later in the year.

Cyclops Beer is providing Mitchells & Butlers with point of sale material for the pilot pubs including chalk boards which will use the eye, nose and mouth symbols; these symbols are effective as they are quick and easy to understand, avoiding the overly technical or flowery language which is often used to describe beer.

Cyclops Beer is also providing training material and, together with Cask Marque, is funding the training in the Village Pub and Kitchen outlets.

From Mitchells & Butlers, Drinks Quality Manager, Rachel Evans, said:  “The tasting notes are a great tool, which will give our staff the knowledge to talk with confidence about cask ale and encourage customer interest in the product. We shall measure its impact in terms of increased cask ale sales in trial pubs as well as feedback from our Guest Satisfaction surveys”.

David Bremner, founding member of the Cyclops Beer Board, said: “It is often difficult to know what a beer will taste like from its name alone and we believe Cyclops has an important role to play in demystifying cask ale. Cyclops tasting notes work effectively in catching your attention and helping to make the large range of tastes and flavours present in cask ale easier to appreciate. We hope to see more consumers engage with cask ale and want to try different brands as a result of this initiative and it is really encouraging to see Mitchells & Butlers investing time in training their bar staff to use Cyclops particularly in matching beer to food.”

Notes to Editors:

About Cyclops Beer:

  • 217 breweries use Cyclops Beer accreditation.
  • 1369 real ales have been accredited by Cyclops Beer.
  • Cyclops Beer was established in 2006 by a number of industry bodies. It is run by the Cyclops Beer Board and is a not-for-profit company.
  • The Cyclops Board consists of Everards Brewery, Cask Marque, SIBA and CAMRA, further information available at recently relaunched www.cyclopsbeer.co.uk .
About Mitchells & Butlers:
  •  Mitchells & Butlers is the leading operator of restaurants and pubs in the UK. Its leading portfolio of brands includes Harvester, Toby Carvery, Vintage Inns, Premium Country Dining Group, Crown Carveries, Sizzling Pubs, Browns, Miller & Carter, Metro Professionals, All Bar One, Nicholson’s, O’Neill’s and Ember Inns.
  • The Company serves around 125 million meals and 425 million drinks each year and is one of the largest operators within the UK’s £70 billion eating and drinking-out market.
  • Further details are available at www.mbplc.com and photography is available to download at www.mbplc.com/imagelibrary.

For further information please contact:

Louise Ashworth, Ashworth PR & Marketing 07740 844 733 (can supply photos of the first training session)

David Bremner, Robinsons Brewery and member of the Cyclops Beer Board 0161 480 6571

Sally Ellson, Mitchells & Butlers 0121 498 4395