- Location
- Nottingham, UK
Hi all - I spotted that Huddersfield's Magic Rock was about to go into administration and was faintly surprised that one of the more visible UK "craft" brewers would be in trouble, but with the amount of competition, I imagine no-one is safe.
I'm putting "craft" in quotation marks as I'm not sure I know what it is, or at least that there's any consensus about what it means.
I thought about a couple of threads to discuss various aspects of this, but let's see how this develops.
I’m conflicted about “craft”. I don’t drink much of it, but it was the catalyst for me to get back into beer in around 2014, as microbreweries and “bottle shops” sprang up everywhere, and chains like Wetherspoons started to capitalise on it with wider ranges and regular beer festivals. As with wine, though, I wanted to understand Bordeaux before I delved into Bulgarian Cabs, so looked at classic/established styles first, more likely trying to find a typical ancestral-home beer brewed by the same firm since 1077 rather than a copy knocked up in a shed in Dagenham but with nice artwork
. I found some nice "native" US styles, enjoying eg Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale, Goose Island’s IPA and Brooklyn’s Lager, though did wonder why the world was ignoring the original incarnations of the latter two.
I’m certainly grateful to the rising craft tide which has lifted all ships, but generally cold to the beers. The UK scene seemed initially a raft of identikit US Pale Ales/IPAs, few of them as good as the Sierra Nevada and Goose Island (which are probably nowhere near premium themselves). I’ve seen new trends in “Session IPAs” (can’t see the point), “Pastry Stouts” (alcopops?), "Hazy Pales" (look interesting) and now "Sours" (alcopops again?, though so are many of the original Belgians). I’ve bought some of all of these over Christmas to reacquaint myself and hopefully find some nice surprises.
In summary, here’s what I think I’ve gained from “craft”. It's made a wider variety of beers available, both established/traditional styles/brewers and newer. It's expanded the market for beer, meaning that pubs/ supermarkets stock a wider selection of beers compared to other drinks. I suspect the new competition presented to established brewers has pushed their quality up (and for cask beer, more punters has meant fewer casks going sour in pub cellars). I guess I’m interested in American Pale Ale as a style (but only alongside 50 others), I'm certainly interested in anything brewed with Kveik, and I suspect “Hazy Pale” might suit too, though could be about 40 different styles for all I know. I'm aware that Kveik probably predates "craft" beer by centuries, but it's extremely unlikely I'd have heard of it without the "craft" revolution.
Also in summary, I suppose the way I’ve done my beer larnin’ means that for “craft” beer to impress, it’d have to produce better examples of already traditional styles (which I haven’t seen, though I confess having tasted one or two Bulgarians, the pull back to Claret has been strong) or give me new styles (of which only APA and Kveik have impressed really, though I await with mixed feelings my Rhubarb and Custard Sour and of course my Rocky Road Marshmallow Stout)
Welcome thoughts. I’ve actually met Ned Ludd, you know: he was the caretaker at our school
I'm putting "craft" in quotation marks as I'm not sure I know what it is, or at least that there's any consensus about what it means.
I thought about a couple of threads to discuss various aspects of this, but let's see how this develops.
I’m conflicted about “craft”. I don’t drink much of it, but it was the catalyst for me to get back into beer in around 2014, as microbreweries and “bottle shops” sprang up everywhere, and chains like Wetherspoons started to capitalise on it with wider ranges and regular beer festivals. As with wine, though, I wanted to understand Bordeaux before I delved into Bulgarian Cabs, so looked at classic/established styles first, more likely trying to find a typical ancestral-home beer brewed by the same firm since 1077 rather than a copy knocked up in a shed in Dagenham but with nice artwork
. I found some nice "native" US styles, enjoying eg Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale, Goose Island’s IPA and Brooklyn’s Lager, though did wonder why the world was ignoring the original incarnations of the latter two.I’m certainly grateful to the rising craft tide which has lifted all ships, but generally cold to the beers. The UK scene seemed initially a raft of identikit US Pale Ales/IPAs, few of them as good as the Sierra Nevada and Goose Island (which are probably nowhere near premium themselves). I’ve seen new trends in “Session IPAs” (can’t see the point), “Pastry Stouts” (alcopops?), "Hazy Pales" (look interesting) and now "Sours" (alcopops again?, though so are many of the original Belgians). I’ve bought some of all of these over Christmas to reacquaint myself and hopefully find some nice surprises.
In summary, here’s what I think I’ve gained from “craft”. It's made a wider variety of beers available, both established/traditional styles/brewers and newer. It's expanded the market for beer, meaning that pubs/ supermarkets stock a wider selection of beers compared to other drinks. I suspect the new competition presented to established brewers has pushed their quality up (and for cask beer, more punters has meant fewer casks going sour in pub cellars). I guess I’m interested in American Pale Ale as a style (but only alongside 50 others), I'm certainly interested in anything brewed with Kveik, and I suspect “Hazy Pale” might suit too, though could be about 40 different styles for all I know. I'm aware that Kveik probably predates "craft" beer by centuries, but it's extremely unlikely I'd have heard of it without the "craft" revolution.
Also in summary, I suppose the way I’ve done my beer larnin’ means that for “craft” beer to impress, it’d have to produce better examples of already traditional styles (which I haven’t seen, though I confess having tasted one or two Bulgarians, the pull back to Claret has been strong) or give me new styles (of which only APA and Kveik have impressed really, though I await with mixed feelings my Rhubarb and Custard Sour and of course my Rocky Road Marshmallow Stout)
Welcome thoughts. I’ve actually met Ned Ludd, you know: he was the caretaker at our school
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Think I've tried a MacChouffe at some point come to think. Reminds me that there's a big craft scene in Italy - I was after some Italian grape beer (which I'm told is a trad style). Nowhere to be seen in Bologna (natch) but was instead given a sample of a "British Pale" which couldn't have tasted more Belgian...