Ale was only available in cask-conditioned form until the 1950s then along came the keg. This offered the publican a filtered, polished and pasteurised beer with a longer shelf-life than the previous cask ale.

This style of beer rapidly took off and cask beer sales declined to very low levels over the following 30 years.

In the early 80s, however, a combination of customer demand for choice and the guest beer laws led to an upsurge in sales and availability of this traditional style of ale. Micro Breweries opened up all over the U.K. including several in Scotland. Today, cask beer adds to the portfolio of excellent beers in Scotland's pubs and is well worth seeking out for its unique qualities.