The Big Six saw no future in real ale. They wanted a few mega-brands of easily kept, easily advertised keg ales for service in increasingly identikit pubs. (Sound familiar?) CAMRA successfully turned this tide of fizzy, taste-free product and even the Big Six themselves became major producers of real ale as they were forced to respond to changes in customer taste.

So, where are the Big Six now? Well, they've sort of still around but have transmogrified into the Big Four, responsible for brewing 8 out of 10 pints sold in this country. A major change is that these brewers own hardly any pubs of their own; only Scottish Courage has its own estate and is in the process of getting shot of that. What the big boys do have are cosy deals with giant pub companies (Enterprise, Punch, M & B etc.) who now own most of our pubs and who take heavily-discounted beers from the four giants.

Who are these monoliths? First up we have InBev (formerly Interbrew) which laughingly calls itself "the world's local brewer." InBev, based in Belgium, is a global company with a ruthless record of closing breweries and cutting back brands. Its flagship is Stella Artois lager, a very average brew which has been brilliantly marketed as a premium product attracting premium prices. In 2000, InBev bought both Whitbread's and Bass's brewing operations, though it was forced to sell on some of the latter to Coors.

InBev have no interest in real ale because no real ale could ever become the sort of global mega-brand on which they want to concentrate. They've just closed their only cask beer brewery, Boddington in Manchester. Production of cask Boddingtons Bitter will be contracted out to the independent Hydes Brewery (where, hopefully, quality of this once fine ale will improve). InBev also owns the renowned Draught Bass brand, which again they have contracted out, this time to Wolverhampton and Dudley. This leaves Flowers Original and IPA, both brewed for them by Hall and Woodhouse and both seemingly in terminal decline.

Scottish Courage, as their name suggests, combine the former brewing operations of Scottish and Newcastle and of Courage Imperial. They too have been busy shutting breweries, with their plants in Newcastle and Edinburgh closing. From a real ale standpoint that leaves just the John Smith brewery in Tadcaster, where the cask versions of John Smith Bitter, Courage Best and Directors are churned out. Their other remaining real ale brands - John Smith Magnet (a delicious but rare dark beer), Websters Green Label and Bitter and McEwans 80 shilling have all been contracted out, no doubt to enjoy a slow death in the process.

Coors, an American-based giant, took on the bits of the Bass empire which InBev had to sell. Their remaining brewery in Burton now brews hardly any real ale. Most of their brands (and a miserable lot they are) are brewed under licence by regionals e.g. Stones by Everards, Hancocks and M & B Brew XI by Brains. Their attempt at a "national" real ale, Worthington 1744, foundered on the fact that it was rubbish and has been quietly dropped.

That leaves Carslberg Tetley (except they've just dropped the Tetley bit). Their remaining real ale brewery is Tetleys in Leeds and, lo, it continues to produce decent beer. When served in good nick, Tetley Bitter and Mild are both very acceptable (if unexciting) session ales. Burton Ale, though rarely seen in these parts, is a superb beer whilst Ansells Mild is also a good drop.

Over the next few years, we can expect the Big Four to continue their withdrawal from the cask beer market. Arguably this is not a bad thing as their beers are likely to be replaced on the nation's handpumps by those from brewers of more interesting ales. The danger is that the pubcos, who like the fact that Big Four beer is cheap (never mind the quality) will cut back on real ale as a result - but, hopefully, customer demand will ensure that they can't, thus bringing us neatly back to the start of this tale.

Paul Ainsworth