Another West Yorkshire Pubfest (long)

Sorry, forgot to mention: there'll be a Theakstons cooper giving demonstrations on, I believe, Saturday afternoon. This is a bit special - very few breweries employ coopers these days - and worth making the trip for.

Might call on our Day Ranger tickets tomorrow.

Given up on Hawkshead as most trains are buses between Oxenholme and Lancaster so it's more biother than its worth.

Why?

Two reasons.. It is fairer - put another way, why should a barley wine drinker subsidise a mild drinker? It helps promote lower ABV beers such as milds

I'm not sure you can categorise drinkers in such a simplistic way. Many people drink barley wine, mild, porter, bitter, lager, in a variety of combinations. In fact surely that's the point of a beer festival - to sample the variety on offer.

Most beer festivals (certainly the many I have visited) attract 'sensible' people - ie not those who go straight for the higher gravity beers with the intention of getting as drunk as possible in the shortest possible time for the least possible money. Most people will sample what they want, irrespective of price and strength.

How much more civilised it is, given that you're catering for a civilised audience, to average out prices, rather than have a +5p,

+10p, -5p, -10p or whatever, ticketing system. One ticket equals one half pint. Easy for the bar staff, easy for the customers, and a reflection of the confidence that the organisers have in those visiting the festival.

Ok the dyed-in-the-wool barley wine drinkers might lose out to the tune of a few pence a pint - ten pints might see them lose out by as much as a pound or two - but if they're really that bothered, perhaps it might inspire them to try a lower gravity beer or two. Their livers might thank them for it, and who knows, they might actually like it.

And the same is true of milds. Are people at a festival really going to switch to milds because of the minus 5p or 10p difference between them and the standard beer.

Yes, standard pricing is the easy option, but it is also the sensible option, given the sort of people who frequent beer festivals.

Thinking about it, with a one-price system surely it's the other way round - the mild drinkers are subsidising the barley winers. That somewhat alters the slant of my paragraph 4 above!

All the above is fine if you are prepared to accept that: Every one attending your festival is a sensible person You are prepared to accept the negative connotations (eg health) of serving all drinks at the same price You are not interesting in promoting lower ABV (including milds) drinks.

I think a lot of this comes down to the range of ABVs on sale. If you are offering a limited range (eg 3.8-5%) then your rather unusual pricing strategy will cause less resentment than if you are selling a wider range (ed 3.2-7%+).

Most importantly you've given no reason as to why a festival should serve all beers at the same cost.

No you've lost me

Sorry no I havent. Well it makes things easier for all concerned, particularly the bar staff. If you've ever served at a busy beerfest you'll know exactly what I mean.

Easier signage, easier ticketing, easier accounting, in fact the more one thinks about it, the more one wonders why anyone ever does anything other than having a single price.

I know of no beer festival, ever, that has put single pricing in place and regretted it.

So no benefit for the customer then?

I am not aware of more than one or two festivals (other than those selling <

10 beers of a similar ABV) that adopt your model. That should tell you something - it is bad for the customer, it is bad for health promotion reasons and it is bad for campaigning.

we have always done it and it works well

Yes but for the organiser not the customer!

Funny how the customers always come back year after year!

Well I don't know how *you* can say that!

We know our customers pretty well and this is an area where people talk to each other. I have never heard anyone - or of anyone - complain about unfair pricing. It's a small festival and we mix a lot and talk to everyone. There has never been any comment - everyone just accepts it.

Also, I have never been aware of anyone going out to drink the stronger stuff because of the pricing. In fact, it's the lighter stuff that gets finished first, eg Yates Fever Pitch, 3.9%, always sells out first night, and the heavy that gets left.