How's your drinking? Text Greene King

August 16, 2007: Greene King is inviting real ale drinkers to text a special hotline to report on the condition of their pints.

	l So, how's his pint?

The textline — 07790 777 666 — is one of a number of initiatives the brewer is investing in to support and encourage licensees to make quality a priority.

The textline number will appear on branded dripmats in pubs and poses the question: "Have you had a great pint?". Drinkers can then text the name of the beer, and the name of the pub and town they are in, along with their comments about the beer. And Greene King is looking for all comments — good or bad.

All texts received will be fed into weekly quality reports and, where issues are identified, support from the trade quality team will be offered to the licensee.

Justin Adams, managing director of the Greene King Brewing Company, said: “We’re really proud of this new service, which is all about ensuring beer lovers are served the best pint possible.

"Quality is critical to the success of our customers and our own business, and that’s why our job goes beyond the beer leaving the brewery gates.

"We rely on the TLC licensees provide in the cellar to the deliver the perfect pint to customers. With feedback and support from one of our finest assets — the people who drink our beers — we will be able offer support to licensees where drinkers comment on a poor quality pint.

"Bad beer can lose customers from a pub, but a reputation for quality will encourage them to visit time and time again, giving licensees an opportunity to sell more beer."

l Greene King has also signed up to the Cyclops tasting notes initiative launched by CAMRA at the Great British Beer Festival in 2006. Cyclops is an easy to understand tasting scheme offering information on what a beer should look, smell and taste like. Cyclops tasting notes will appear on all Greene King drip mats and pump clips, and provide licensees and bar staff with information on each beer that they can share with existing beer drinkers or use to encourage new drinkers to try it.