Fresh Cask Releases – all year round!

With over 200 years of brewing heritage and history, and a relentless desire to create fantastic beers that your customers love, Greene King is proud to be home to several of the nation’s favourite cask brands.

In 2023, Greene King will once again use its expertise and heritage to continue developing its existing range and create new and exciting cask beers for the future.

After the challenges of 2022, it’s more important than ever that, together, we continue to offer your customers experiences that cannot be enjoyed anywhere else – and there’s no doubt that cask offers an opportunity like no other to drive footfall to pubs.

The brewers at Greene King have been passionate about fresh, quality cask beer for over two centuries. They continue to challenge themselves to evolve and deliver unique hand-crafted ales – something that simply can’t be enjoyed on the sofa at home.

As part of that commitment, Greene King is also investing twice as much in marketing its brands versus pre-pandemic levels, with £12m being spent to increase its brands’ visibility in the market.

For 2023, Greene King will be launching a new series of ‘Fresh Cask Releases’: a portfolio of 18 limited edition cask beers available at specific times in the calendar.

The range features a combination of returning favourites, key calendar creations, collaborations and new and exciting ales offering Greene King customers plenty of opportunities to drive footfall, sales and profits.

So why not introduce or expand your range and encourage your guests to explore the possibilities of these unique, high quality ales?

QUALITY RANGE

The Fresh Cask Releases range includes many established favourites like Gangly Ghoul and Rocking Rudolph, some   seasonally themed specials, and even includes three brand new cask ales for 2023: Opening Session, Hopping Special and Mischief Maker.

The range has also been curated to leverage key events throughout the year which remain a vital factor in driving footfall into pubs. These will include an exclusive commemorative Coronation Beer for the anointment of King Charles III and an amber ale – Scrumdown – which will be available throughout the Six Nations.

To further support and celebrate rugby, Fresh Legs golden ale will be launching on to the bar for the Rugby World Cup in October.

QUALITY RANGE

The Fresh Cask Releases line-up would not be complete without some exciting collaborations with other breweries that share the same passion for cask ale.

Following the success last year of Top Dog, Greene King has teamed up with Nethergate Brewery again to prove that old dogs can indeed learn New Tricks – a golden ale with a twist.

Spring Break, a golden ale created by  as part of the Future Brewers national brewing apprentice programme, will be returning in March and April and Greene King apprentices will also be launching something new and exciting for October and November.

Also making a debut will be a collaboration with Big Hug Brewing and Pave the Way Pale Ale. This joint venture was born of mutual support for Only a Pavement Away, a charity that aims to connect forward-thinking employers in the hospitality industry and charities working with prison leavers, veterans and people facing or experiencing homelessness.

Jack Palmer, Head Brewer at Greene King, comments:

“Greene King’s Fresh Cask Releases is an amazing opportunity that allows us to explore and create limited edition beers for our customers and also encourage consumers to experiment. We have so many exciting flavours, tastes and styles to come, there is something for everyone. Cask ale is a drink that should be championed in our sector, as the heart of British history and an incredibly unique product.”

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2023?

Greene King has teamed up with a global award winning design agency to create a brand new visual identity providing stunning new branding for some returning favourites as well as new creations inspired by people and places in British history.

FEBRUARY & MARCH

Opening Session is a lightly hopped, pale, sessionable ale with subtle tropical fruit characters. Brewed at 3.8% ABV to increase sessionability, this cask ale was inspired by the World War I legislation that limited pubs opening to sessions for munitions workers.

MAY & JUNE

Hopping Special offers an alternative beer style to the golden ales of summer. Mango and passion fruit characters can be found in this amber ale, brewed with Galaxy hops. The hoppy delight takes its name from the train services put on for hop picking families in the UK in the 19th and 20th centuries.

AUGUST & SEPTEMBER

Mischief Maker will celebrate the harvest season and the exciting British hop project. The ale’s name takes inspiration from another experimentalist, the renowned 17th century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper – aka Mischief Maker – who brought medicine to the masses. This doubledry hopped harvest IPA uses two new hop variants, delivering heaps of hoppy, fruity character.

Fresh Legs Golden Ale

A refreshing golden ale with citrus, soft tropical fruit and fresh dry hop characters. Pale malt gives a clean, easy-drinking body.

• Style: Golden ale
• Colour: Gold
• Alc: 4% vol

Gangly Ghoul Premium Bitter

An easy-drinking beer with warming toffee character and a touch of orange peel citrus and spiciness.

• Style: Premium bitter
• Colour: Ebony
• Alc: 4.2% vol

Greene King Future Brewers National Brewing Apprenticeship Programme

Working with students studying on the National Brewing Apprenticeship Programme to create an exciting recipe for a new cask ale.

• Style: TBC
• Colour: TBC
• Alc: TBC

St Edmunds Golden Ale

A fresh golden beer with cascade hops delivering delicious pink grapefruit notes and first gold for refreshing bitterness.

• Style: Golden ale
• Colour: Gold
• Alc: 4.2% vol

Collab: Pave the Way Pale Ale

An easy drinking pale brewed in collaboration with Big Hug Brewing, who support the charity Only a Pavement Away. Caramel from the malt combines with flavours of watermelon, peach and stone fruit.

• Style: Pale ale
• Colour: Pale
• Alc: 4.6% vol

Ale Fresco Golden Ale

A smooth and easy-drinking golden ale brewed using centennial hops to deliver light citrus flavours.

• Style: Golden ale
• Colour: Gold
• Alc: 4.3% vol

Collab: New Tricks Golden Ale

Brewed in collaboration with Nethergate Brewery, this golden ale combines ginger and lemon peel to deliver delicious refreshment and fruity characters.

• Style: Golden ale
• Colour: Gold
• Alc: 4% vol

New: Mischief Maker

A super hoppy IPA brewed using new British hops to deliver a complex mix of fruit aromas and flavours. Inspired by the renowned 17thC herbalist Nicholas Culpeper who brought medicine to the masses.

• Style: IPA
• Colour: Gold
• Alc: 6% vol

Bonkers Conkers

A complex autumn beer with fruit aromas and taste set against biscuity malt which adds body and warmth, fragrant notes of blackcurrant, lemon and orange peel.

• Style: Brown ale
• Colour: Brown
• Alc: 4.1% vol

DON’T FORGET OUR PERMANENT CASK RANGE

Greene King IPA

Our IPA is true to the original recipe, delivering a deliciously easy-drinking and moreish pint.

• Style: IPA
• Colour: Amber
• Alc: 3.6% vol

Ruddles Best

An English ale with hoppy citrus undertones, soft fruit notes, balanced bitterness and light sweetness.

• Style: Classic ale
• Colour: Copper
• Alc: 3.7% vol

Hardys & Hansons Bitter

A distinctive beer with a full and satisfying flavour, well-balanced with subtle hop character.

• Style: Bitter
• Colour: Golden
• Alc: 3.8% vol

Yardbird

Full of hops and with lasting fruity flavour, this beer is inspired by bold American pale ales.

• Style: Pale ale
• Colour: Light gold
• Alc: 4.0% vol

Morland Original Bitter

A refreshing and clean tasting beer with a subtle malt and fruit character and pronounced bitter finish.

• Style: Bitter
• Colour: Auburn copper
• Alc: 4.0% vol

Old Golden Hen

Brewed with a selection of hops, including galaxy, that give subtle tropical fruit notes and a deliciously smooth finish.

• Style: Golden ale
• Colour: Light gold
• Alc: 4.1% vol

London Glory

A beer worthy of celebrating our great capital city. Notes of toffee accompany herbal and resin hop flavours.

• Style: Classic ale
• Colour: Rich amber
• Alc: 4.1% vol

Belhaven 80 Shilling

A rich, smooth Scottish ale with a classic red appearance. Notes of toffee and soft fruit flavours.

• Style: Scottish ale
• Colour: Red
• Alc: 3.9% vol

Olde Trip

A rich, toffee flavoured beer bursting with fruity characters. Perfectly balanced with a clean, bitter finish.

• Style: Classic ale
• Colour: Dark copper
• Alc: 4.3% vol

Deuchars

Solid gold in colour, strongly aromatic, with hints of fresh citrus. The distinctive light malt and fresh floral flavours combine with the zesty cirus hop for a mouth-watering finish.

• Style: IPA
• Colour: Gold
• Alc: 3.8% vol

Old Speckled Hen

A distinctive, rich, well-balanced malty ale bursting with character. Fruity aroma and deliciously smooth.

• Style: Premium ale
• Colour: Auburn copper
• Alc: 4.5% vol

Abbot

Brewed longer to a unique recipe using pale, amber and crystal malts, making it a full flavoured, smooth and mature beer.

• Style: Premium ale
• Colour: Rich amber
• Alc: 5.0% vol

For further information on upcoming cask beer releases, please call 0345 600 1799.