If you want a guaranteed quality pint, look for the Cask Mark says Phil Mellows.

Funny things go on in pubs, and if you spot someone at the end of the bar dipping a thermometer in their beer, you might not take much notice. But the chances are they’re an official beer inspector. And if you’re anywhere between Stratford and Shoeburyness, his name will be Nigel Sadler.

Nigel is the Cask Marque assessor covering Newham and all the way out to the Essex coast. His job is to ensure the 145 pubs in his patch displaying the quality accreditation scheme’s blue handpump plaque really do serve a good pint of cask beer.

After he’s taken its temperature – which should be between 11 and 13 degrees centigrade – he’ll hold it up to the light to check for clarity, then sniff and taste the beer to pick up any off-flavours. Once a year he’ll also make a full cellar inspection.

“It’s my second career,” he says. “I worked in the City for 30 years until the credit crunch, and in 2009 I re-invented myself.

“I’d always loved beer, so I learned how to brew and set up my own training company. Then the vacancy came up at Cask Marque.”

Only two pubs in Newham are members of the scheme, the Black Lion in Plaistow and Wetherspoon’s Miller’s Well in East Ham. Nigel believes there should be more and worries “there are a lot of misconceptions about Cask Marque”.

“Some think inspectors go in looking for bad pints but I’m there to help, to educate. If something’s wrong I can advise on how to put it right, and if the equipment is the problem, I can test that too.

“There’s a lack of training out there, and a lot of the new generation don’t drink so there are hurdles to overcome. But it’s not a matter of doing anything that a good licensee should not already be doing.”

One hurdle is the price of membership at a time when pubs, like the rest of us, are struggling with rising costs. It’s £180 to sign up with Cask Marque – though brewers and pub companies will often pay half of that.

“It comes down to convincing people it’s worth doing, that it will put on more business for the pub,” says Nigel.

“I look at it as being part of a giant ale trail with 9,000 pubs around the country. Cask drinkers know the standards are the same in each one of those pubs, and they’ll come to you. It makes your pub more desirable.”

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