Friday, 10 July 2009

Cooking Lager

Yesterday I "tucked" something up in the fermenter that I think might beat anything I've ever made before. Either that or it will be a complete waste of 90kg of malt and 3kg of hops due to the complex flavours not working - which, of course, is possible. It's a beer that does venture a little into the "extreme" world at an O.G. of 1054. I am, for now, avoiding using anything too unorthodox when maturing the beer, possibly just a little dry hopping. I'll leave the Feta matured beer to somebody else for now.

All this thought about niche beers is interesting. It's what I like; But for it to be niche there has to be a much larger body of "normal" beer drinking. The masses are not going to like extreme beers, or artisan drinks or for that matter anything that is out of the ordinary. If they did it would become mainstream.

I got a comment the other day on a previous post of mine, the one about lager. I followed the commenter's link through to his own blog, Cooking Lager. The authors views are largely in opposition to my own thoughts, but it's an interesting 180o view on the beer world. I suspect that there might be a large proportion of the population would share Cooking Lager's views

Although the majority of his blog I found amusing, I was mildly irritated in one post about his assertion that it's good to steal branded glassware from pubs. I'm afraid in my view pubs are small businesses run by individuals and although the glasses might well be provided by large multinational conglomerates, the pubs depend on this glassware as part of their image. Stealing glasses from pubs is no different to shop lifting. It is criminal activity.

12 comments:

The Beer Nut said...

I'm mildly irritated by your sudden drop into a squeenchy font size. Is all text the same size too much for a reader to ask?

The Beer Nut said...

Agree on the glass-nicking, btw: don't do it kids.

Curmudgeon said...

Very stimulating blog - love what he says about CAMRA ;-)

Unknown said...

Beer Nut, thanks for the amusing feedback. I've changed it a little, is the compromise OK?

The Beer Nut said...

Better. Ta.

Sat In A Pub said...

Eh? What's wrong with shoplifting:)

Alistair Reece said...

I generally ask a pub if I can buy the branded glass from them, and most of the time they have been happy for me to have it. My glassware was one of the most carefully wrapped things to be shipped to the US, looking forward to drinking out of proper glasses again.

Alistair Reece said...

I will admit though to having walked off with a glass or two in my time.

Whorst said...

Watch out men! We're multiplying! There needs to be a good dose of humor in this medium. You guys take yourself way too serious.

Cooking Lager said...

I have no defence for my actions, I steal glasses from pubs. Only nice ones. Anything unusual or a brand that happens to correspond to some cheap lout I picked up in Tesco. Its nicer to drink out of. I don’t know why. I never nick a tatty or scratched one. We live in an age of moral relativism rather than moral absolutism, I think is one answer. The fault, I also think, is societies and no blame can be put on an individual. We are products of our environment. I also download music for free, and when Woolworths was going would eat a strawberry cream from the pick and mix. Love the blog, I can respect the artisan and be pleased the in the continuing industrial and post industrial age many prosper. If visiting your gaff for a pint of pongy, please don’t make me pay a deposit on the glass. I won’t nick one of yours.

Paul Garrard said...

Collecting beer glasses is a bit anal in my opinion, and stealing them should be a hanging offence. Glass thieves are no better than sheep rustlers!

I suspect Cooking Lager is not the person he portrays.

Unknown said...

Paul, no, I take Cooking Lager to be complete satire. Even the stealing glasses bit is a poke at the futile efforts to stop the reduction of the number of pubs.

Inevitablilty is, well, inevitable.