Everards Cellar Management Course

I received cellar training at Everards from one of their trade quality managers, Terry. Terry has worked at Everards for more than 40 years and has spent much of that time delivering expert cellar training to pub staff and brewery workers, ensuring beer tastes just as good on the bar as it did leaving the brewery. The course covered the fundamentals of cellar operation, including cellar setup and safety, line cleaning, cask conditioning, and how different draught systems function. One of the most interesting parts of the training was Terry’s approach to troubleshooting. His role often resembles investigative work: identifying an issue at the bar and tracing it back through the dispense system to find the root cause. He walked us through common faults such as sour beer, excessive head retention, and flat pints, explaining how issues with conditioning, gas pressure, line hygiene, or dispense technique can affect the final product. We also moved to the bar, where he demonstrated how to pour from a hand-pull, a CO₂ keg system, and a mixed-gas draught system, each of which requires a different dispense technique. Conditioning cask beer is only one part of the process. Because cask has such a short shelf life, line cleaning, correct storage, proper venting, and serving beer within its ideal window are all crucial to maintaining quality. If beer is poorly conditioned or handled incorrectly, it can become cloudy, flat, or sour, resulting in a poor customer experience. The training reinforced how much care and expertise goes into serving cask beer properly and how important cellar practices are in doing justice to the brewery, the beer, and the customer.