J D Wetherspoon – Bringing you the best UK pubs and the best ale and wine festivals

Wetherspoon – Champion of real ale

Wetherspoon is regularly acclaimed for its commitment to real ale and actively supports brewers of all sizes, across the UK, in an effort to ensure that our customers can enjoy a diverse and pleasing range of ales.

Microbrewers are the heart of Wetherspoon

All Wetherspoon pubs have a quarterly guest ale list, the envy of the pub trade. Each quarter, pubs are able to select from a range of up to 50 guest ales, representing microbrewers, regional brewers and national brewers – throughout the UK.

Ever since its first pub opened, over 25 years ago, Wetherspoon has had real ale at the heart of its ethos. That hasn’t changed now that the company has 718 free houses across the UK.

In recent years, Britain has seen an astonishing revival of microbrewers. Wetherspoon has supported this revival in many ways, including a special exhibition of microbrewers’ ales at CAMRA’s annual Great British Beer Festival.

The best way to support these brewers, though, many of which have won awards – is to sell their beers in pubs.

Wetherspoon encourages its managers to build relationships with their local brewers – something which, for one pub, has resulted in exclusive brews; in one instance, a manager was even invited to brew the beer himself, which he later had the pleasure of serving.

Campaigning for real ales

Wetherspoon’s outlets have been acclaimed for the quality of their real ale – by continuously featuring highly in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

What is CAMRA?

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971 and is an English voluntary and independent organisation whose aims are to promote real ale, the traditional British pub and consumers’ rights.

A total of 133 Wetherspoon pubs is listed in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2008, which has become renowned as the beer-lovers’ bible.

You can read more about CAMRA on its Web site.

So, if you are looking for a regional favourite or wanting to discover an unusual brew, what better place to start than Wetherspoon?

Wetherspoon and real ales

• More than 1,500 pub staff have received training at their local brewery, to pass this expertise on to fellow staff. Fuller’s (in London), Greene King (in Suffolk) and Caledonian (in Edinburgh) are just three of the brewers involved.
• More than 30 microbrewery beers are featured on Wetherspoon’s stand at the GBBF each year.
• Our pubs hold regular ‘meet the brewer’ events.
• Wetherspoon has 133 pubs in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide – more than any other pub company – and the number of entries keeps growing. You can buy the Good Beer Guide from CAMRA’s Web site.
• Over 650 Wetherspoon pubs – 90 per cent of the estate – have the Cask Marque accreditation. To get this, pubs have to pass a series of quality tests and further checks, once the award is given.

What is Cask Marque?

The Cask Marque Trust was initiated by four regional brewers – Adnams, Greene King, Marston’s and Morland – in response to a significant decline in cask ale sales in the mid 1990s.

There was much anecdotal evidence that this decline could be attributed, in part, to warm beer.

A survey commissioned in 1997 sent auditors to 1,000 pubs, 83 per cent of which served traditional cask ale. It found that the quality of the pint in the glass was so poor in 23 per cent of the outlets that inspectors stated that they would not buy the pint again.

A major cause of poor quality was failure to serve beer at the right temperature.

What the inspectors look for:

• Accredited pubs must offer a try-before-you-buy option and have a perfect-pint guarantee.
• Ale must be served within a strict temperature range.
• The cellar must be kept at 12–14°C.
• The cellar must be kept spotlessly clean.
• The beer lines must be cleaned at least once weekly.
• Staff must be trained how to serve a pint.

We’re happy to say that over 650 Wetherspoon pubs – 90 per cent of the estate – have the Cask Marque accreditation.

You can read more about Cask Marque on its Web site.

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