These larger, traditional breweries puff their chests out and wax lyrical about heritage and British beer.

But rather than adapt to a changing landscape through innovation or creative thinking, they indulge in short-sighted protectionism that puts British beer at greater risk.

It's the worst kind of short-termism. They see declining cask sales but, rather than working with the wider industry on solutions, they seek to ring-fence their own chunk of a shrinking market by reducing the competition.

The issue is, this will only serve them for 5/10 years because their core problems still remain, whether through an inability or unwillingness to evolve and adapt to societal changes.

By taking these steps now, they're inadvertently contributing to the further decline of British beer, which will only hurt them in the long term and play into the hands of the multinationals who would have us all eliminated or subsumed.

It brings to mind the fund managers who invest in fossil fuels because they provide the greatest returns, with no regard for the impact on their children or grandchildren.

They do the things they do out of habit and investment in long-established systems of power and convention.

The heritage that adds such value to their beer may also be their downfall.