Britain’s latest lockdown, due to an increase in coronavirus cases, could mean the dumping of millions and millions of pints of beer.
The United Kingdom is set to start another COVID-19 lockdown this Thursday and this time the closure includes pubs, which previously were allowed to operate under a different level of restriction, per Food and Wine.com in a piece published Tuesday. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Pubs and Brewers May Have to Dump Millions of Pints of Beer Due to Britain’s Latest COVID-19 Lockdown | Food & Wine https://t.co/OYI7nU6MDY
— Shane Kennedy (@IrishmanShaner) November 4, 2020
“It is thought that because of the length of notice, and the time of year, the wastage of the second lockdown will be in the region of 7.5 million pints, which is way lower than 70 million pints wasted in the first lockdown,” Charlotte Green with the British waste management company TradeWaste.co.uk shared with the outlet. (RELATED: Beer Brewed To ‘Celebrate’ All Things ‘Progressive’ Taken Off Shelf Over Racist Look)
The new lockdown, which is expected to last four weeks, means that 7.5 million pints, which is the equivalent to 70,000 kegs in the United States, will have to be dumped. Hit particularly hard will be the cask beer, which has a shorter shelf life than pressurized draft beer.
“Keg beer, as it’s in a compressed container, can last six weeks-plus and will last even when some has been consumed,” John Harrison, owner of the cask beer-focused pub The Beer House in Sheffield told the outlet. “Cask beer shelf life is three-to-five days when on the bar, but takes seven-to-ten days to prep, so anything under 10-to-14 days notice means beer has been tapped and will then waste if not used.”
Several hours after the news broke, the Daily Mail reported that the government had slightly reversed course and would be allowing pubs to sell take away beer.
However, this time, as unlike the last lockdown, pubs will only be able to sell beer to customers who have pre-ordered them for collection and do not go into the building. They will also permitted to sell the beer as long as it’s through deliveries.