Greene King has launched an online training platform, Beer Genius, to give licensees all the tools they need to pour perfect pints and boost beer sales. Created to support the unveiling of a new look for Greene King’s flagship beer, Greene King IPA, the website will help deliver better quality pints in Britain’s pubs. Additionally pubs that serve a perfect pint of Greene King IPA will be rewarded under a new quality accreditation scheme to be launched by Greene King.

Beer Genius is available to anybody with an internet connection and offers free training, best practice videos and troubleshooting on everything from cellar management to perfect serve. Research conducted by Greene King found that 34% of customers will not order the same drink again if quality is poor and nearly 50% will walk away from a pub or other outlet.

It also found that consistently pouring a perfect, or close to perfect, pint of cask ale can be worth £1,663 to a pub per year¹ 

The Beer Genius programme provides users with three unique e-learning modules, all of which take 20-45 minutes to complete:

Bar Genius – aimed at bar professionals and covers topics from glass wash and maintenance, through to how to sell beer.

Cellar Genius – a comprehensive course for cellar professionals, covering all essential cellar operations, including cask beer, keg beer, stock control and line cleaning.

Commercial Genius –aimed at pub managers and licensees and outlines the priorities to maintaining superior quality and profit in an outlet.

These are accompanied by a series of short tutorial videos, which are accessible on a smartphone or tablet for licensees and bar staff to access anywhere, any time. Users can also find a quick solution to any cellar or beer quality problem through free troubleshooting service, Cellar Doctor, along with information on Greene King’s extensive beer range.

Greene King’s quality accreditation scheme will see unannounced pub visits made by either Quality & Dispense Services (QuADS), a senior Greene King representative or a third party quality agency.

A pub will be required to pass ten quality tests, which include the taste, aroma and temperature of their Greene King IPA through to whether it is served in the right glass and the ability of bar staff to describe it accurately.

Pubs that are judged to pour a perfect pint of Greene King IPA will be awarded with a plaque and certificate signed by Greene King’s senior brewer Craig Bennett, as well as two crowners for their Greene King IPA pump clips. Pubs that do not pass first time will be educated on the importance and benefits of looking after their cask beer range before another visit is made.

Chris Houlton, managing director, Greene King Brewing & Brands, said: “I am incredibly proud about the launch of Beer Genius, which provides a one-stop shop for licensees who are looking to grow beer sales in their pubs.

“Quality is everything when it comes to beer and it is not often appreciated how much time and effort goes into producing the perfect pint. I firmly believe that Beer Genius will help turn more good pints into great pints, delivering healthy profits for publicans in the process.”

Beer Genius can be accessed at www.beer-genius.co.uk.

¹  In a survey of 990 pubs, Greene King found that seven out of 10 pubs had an average cask yield of 90% whereas 3 out of 10 pubs were at 97% average yield. Based on 50 barrels sold per year, this means that a pub can save an average of £1663 per year on cask beer losses.