Ahead of St Patrick’s Day — perhaps this year that should be St Patrick’s weekend — Wadworth has created a mysterious character to spread the word about its 30-litre kegged stout, Corvus.

Slightly sinister, bearded and robed, St Out of Devizes appears, in an illustration, dressed in flowing monk-like garments, and is accompanied by his ‘familiar’, the Raven (Corvus in Latin). His words of wisdom are being Tweeted to followers of @CorvusStOut daily.

“St Out might look like a caped crusader, but his sayings are a mixture of fun and comment,” said Paul Sullivan, Wadworth’s sales and marketing director. “This is not designed as a hard sell campaign for Corvus, but as a little light relief to make the receiver think and smile.”

Corvus was introduced last year and offers publicans an alternative to the heavyweight stout brands. As well as providing optimum taste, says Wadworth, it offers price benefits for the publican which can be passed on to the customer, while also increasing profit margins. On average, pubs can sell a pint of Corvus 30p cheaper and still maintain a higher cash margin per pint than Guinness, says the Wiltshire brewer.

Corvus is already available in more than 100 pubs across the south west, and to the trade via Tolchards, Inn Express and Wadworth. The 30-litre format has been very popular, allowing pubs with a low stout turnover to ensure that they are always providing a good quality, fresh product.

Independent research showed that 65% of drinkers chose Corvus over Guinness. The survey was carried out by the Oxford School of Hospitality Management. Drinkers were asked to try both stouts, which were unlabelled.

This blog post is not by Wobbly Wallet but originally appeared on Beer Today: http://beertoday.co.uk/?p=12766