First Impressions Are Final Impressions

Here's the thing about selling to pubs: you usually get one shot. If a pub takes a punt on your beer and it's anything less than perfect — if the cask is hazy when it shouldn't be, if it's under-conditioned, if it throws a yeast ring after two pints, if the flavour is even slightly off — they won't call you to discuss it. They'll just never order from you again. You'll go from "new brewery we're trying" to "that brewery whose beer wasn't right" in a single cask, and you won't even know it's happened until you ring them up a few weeks later and get a vague brush-off.

This is particularly brutal with cask ale because there are so many variables between your brewery and the customer's glass. You can brew a perfect beer, but if it gets bounced around in the van, sits in a warm cellar, gets tapped too early, or is served through dirty lines, it won't taste like the beer you made. And the pub will blame you, not their own cellar management. It's your name on the pump clip.

So your first delivery to a new account needs to be flawless. The beer needs to be in perfect condition. The cask needs to arrive at the right temperature. You need to know it's going to drop bright, condition properly, and taste exactly as intended. If there's any doubt — if you've had a slightly inconsistent batch, if fermentation was a bit sluggish, if you're not completely confident — do not send it. One bad cask to a new customer does more damage than ten good casks can repair.