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meeson · Site Admin Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 615

GK offers IPA drinkers choice of heads

Greene King trials beer engine that pours product in 'northern' or 'southern' styles

Greene King is trialling a dispense system that allows consumers to choose whether their pint of IPA is poured with a tight, creamy head characteristic of beers in the North of England, or with the looser, fizzier consistency favoured in the South.

The system is the same one that was created for St Edmunds, the ale brand that launched along with the technology in November 2007. However, Greene King has now begun rolling out St Edmunds as a conventional cask product. St Edmunds will continue to be made available served in the format in which it was first launched, alongside the handpull format.

Greene King believes its flagship brand can achieve a faster rate of sale through the high tech beer engine than the relatively little-known and little-marketed St Edmunds.

The trial is taking place in 45 managed and tenanted pubs within Greene King’s estate.

St Edmunds in the conventional cask format has been rolled out to around 300 pubs.

Greene King Brewing Company marketing director Fiona Hope said: “St Edmunds was always a ‘let’s give it a go’ type of product, shoving lots of different insights together into one launch.

“However, the conversion rate is such that it would have been difficult to roll it out at any great pace.”