FAQs
If you are having a party, we are happy to provide you with all of your drinks requirements. We can deliver free of charge to any venue within 25 miles radius of our depot. If you live further afield, we can still provide your products, however collection by yourselves would need to be arranged, or we can send items out on a pallet or by courier. The kegs of beer or cider, and any bottles of lager, ale or cider can be chilled down in our cold store and delivered to your venue Monday to Saturday, inclusive. For larger orders of alcohol and soft drinks, we can offer a sale or return service. Any items returned however, must be full and unused and in their original packaging, including kegs, bottles, or complete cases.
Keg
We have party pumps to hire, these are very simple to use and allow you to dispense the keg beer, lager or cider without the need for gas cylinders. We provide you with a large bucket which you fill with ice to keep the keg at the right temperature. Party pumps are ideal if you are having an informal party where guests will be helping themselves to the drinks. They are not designed for use in a commercial setting where you are charging for drinks and the perfect pint is required every time.
Casks
We can order in casks of ale from our local breweries in Shropshire and Herefordshire. The cask ale will have been conditioned at the brewery and is ready to drink when you get it. We need about 1 weeks’ notice, and after that all you have to do is knock in the tap provided and drink! Casks of ale come in 9 gallon (72 pints) or 4.5 gallon (36 pints).
Polypins of local Ale
A polypin is “bag in a box” cask ale – pre-ordered from a local brewery. The cask ale is conditioned by the brewery so that it is ready to drink. The polypins come in 10 litres (18 pints) and 20 litre (36 pints) boxes – all you have to do is simply turn the tap!
Bag in a box Cider
We stock a range of cider bag in box products. The range includes cider from producers like Weston’s and Lilley's . The boxes of cider each contain 35 pints of cider and come with an integral tap for easy pouring.
Wine / Spirits / Cases of Bottles / Soft Drinks
The wines and spirits can be bought as single bottles or cases. The bottles of cider, lager and alcopops come in various different sized cases, as do the soft drinks.
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Do I need specialist equipment to dispense keg lager, bitter or cider?
For keg lager, bitter and cider, as long as you have the correct equipment to dispense the liquid, you can start pouring and drinking pints straight away.
If you are having an event and it is going to be a paid bar where guests are charged for their drinks, then we would strongly suggest contacting an outside bar company local to you, who would be able to supply the equipment and usually the staff to dispense the product on the night.
The alternative to this would be to use a 'party pump' which we could hire out to you. These require no additional equipment to use, however they do not always pull a 'bar perfect' pint and so because of this we wouldn't recommend these for weddings - they are designed for house parties/barbecues and other small non-paying events.
For a short tutorial video on how a party pump works, please see the video.
If you are not in the industry but wanted a permanent arrangement, for example if you are setting up a home bar, you will need to purchase a cooler, pipework and tap. We do not sell these ourselves but there are many suppliers who have shops or sell online depending on where you live. A local company to us in Shropshire is A1 Bar Stuff, whose details can be found at the following link - www.a1barstuff.co.uk
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What type of fitting do kegs have?
Kegs all have a coupler at the top which varies between products.
There are two main couplers – Sankey or “S” fitting and Grundy or “G” fitting. Most kegs are either one or the other apart from Stella and Boddingtons which use a Universal or “U” type fitting. The other exception is Guinness which uses a unique fitting.
We hire out party pumps with Sankey, Grundy and Universal fittings. Please give us a call to discuss if you are looking to purchase a Guinness or Krombacher keg.
The list below shows which keg has which coupler:
Sankey
- Holsten Vier
- Strongbow
- Stowford Press
- Carlsberg
- Fosters
- John Smiths
- Tetley’s
- Kronenbourg
- Peroni
- Amstel
- Estrella
- Heineken
- San Miguel
- Aspall’s
- Somersby
- Kingfisher
- Brooklyn
- Charles Wells Triple Hop
- Symonds
- Moretti
- Strongbow Dark Fruit
Grundy
- Carling
- Worthington’s
- Grolsch
- Becks Vier
- Thatchers Gold
- Olde English
- Coors Light
- Cobra
- Blue Moon
- Budweiser
- Bud Light
Universal
- Stella
- Boddingtons
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What is the cost to hire a party pump?
The hire cost of each party pump is £30 including VAT.
There is also a deposit payable of £60 incl. VAT if you are local to us (within 25 miles of our depot) or £156 incl. VAT if further afield. This deposit will be refunded to you once the party pump is received back in good working order. It seems a lot of money to pay if you are not local to us, but this enables us to replace the pump should it not be returned.
The deposit can be refunded via a cheque, cash, or a card in person or over the phone.
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Do I need to do anything to my cask before I drink it?
For cask ale, you will need to have the cask conditioned to prepare the ale for drinking.
If you purchase a cask of local ale (Hobsons, Salopian, Woods) we can get this pre-conditioned (or brighted) for you. This means that when you get the cask the ale is clear and “bright” and ready to drink.
Without conditioning the cask ale will be cloudy and not good to drink. If the cask is not pre-conditioned, you will need to know how to condition it yourself, which is something we can give information about if you are unsure.
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How do you dispense cask ale?
You can either purchase a wooden tap from us for the cost of £6 incl. VAT. You can then keep this as a ‘souvenir’ of your event. However, please note, they are sold from us as “single use only”.
Alternatively you can hire a metal and plastic tap from us for a refundable deposit of £24 incl. VAT. This would be refunded to you once we receive the tap back in good working order. In essence this means that the tap is free of charge!!
To set up the cask (please note this is for brighted beer ONLY):
Your cask will need to be set up around a half hour before you plan on serving it as it needs to be allowed to settle. The cask is ‘ready to drink’ but needs a little time to sit after its journey to you.
•Place it on the floor vertically with the keystone (the rubber bung on the top near the label) uppermost.
•Set the tap to the closed position – the tap is at 90 degrees to the main body when it is closed. If you have a metal tap, unscrew and remove the spout.
•Hold the tap cone end downwards in the keystone and using a rubber mallet, knock the tap through the keystone so that it breaks the seal. Knock it in just far enough so that it holds firmly in place.
•Place the cask where you will be serving the beer – the cask needs to be lying on its side with the shive (the small bung on the body of the cask) facing upwards. Use a stillage or two blocks to stop it rolling around. Stillages can be rented from us for a refundable deposit of £24 incl. VAT.
•Knock the little wooden peg through the centre of the shive. Don’t drive it all the way in; it just needs to break the seal so that the vacuum inside the keg is released. You may hear a hiss as the gas escapes – don’t worry this is normal.
•If you have a wooden tap, you are now ready to go, if you have a metal tap, you need to screw the spout back on.
•Last but not least – drink and enjoy!
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Do I need to keep the keg or cask cool?
The ideal temperature for a cask is about 10 degrees centigrade, and about 2-3 degrees centigrade for kegs.
If you are local to us, we keep all our cask beer in our cold store so this will come to you ready chilled.
As far as kegs are concerned, we are able to pre-chill items in our cold store for you before they are collected / delivered – simply mention this when you place your order.
For pallet/courier deliveries, you will need to arrange to chill the kegs or casks yourself.
The pre-chilled kegs and casks will hold their temperature for a few hours at least, depending on the ambient temperature and their surroundings at your event. If you are using a party pump to dispense, a keg can be stood in a large bucket or ‘trug tub’ and ice poured around the sides to keep it cool. If you have all the bar kit, there will be a cooler which will do the job for you.
Casks are trickier to keep cool, but only need to be at 10-12 degrees, so if it is warm weather a towel soaked in iced water and draped over the cask will help keep the temperature down. In particular at garden parties, keep the cask in a shady spot. If you are inside, avoid radiators and fires in winter, and other hot spots like in front of windows if the sun is out. Alternatively, you can buy cask blankets from various online suppliers.
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How long does everything last once opened?
Cask Ale:
Once opened, the ale will generally keep well for 24 – 48 hours. Beyond this, it will depend on the ale itself, the temperature and the conditions it is being kept in. For example, if the ale is for a party on a Saturday, any left on the Sunday will probably be fine, but by Monday it may have started to deteriorate. To ensure you have the best drinking experience possible, we would recommend planning to finish the cask on the day of the event!!
Kegs using a party pump:
Once a party pump has been fitted the keg will normally only last for 24 hours as air has been introduced to the system. If you are considering a keg for an event or to drink at home and you are planning to drink it over more than a day, please give us a call to discuss alternative options.
Cider Bag-in-Boxes:
Cider BIBs will last up to 6 months once opened, as long as it is within the best before date.
