Azimuth - as drunk by The Prime Minister

That's him, The Prime Minister, drinking Azimuth

Of course, everyone in the beer industry is somewhat irate at our Government right now. The beer duty escalator is a way of the beer duty being unreasonably increased without having to announce it in the budget. A stealth tax. The two most important charters in this piece are Jamie Reed, who is Labour, and  David Cameron, who is the Tory Prime Minister, in case you didn't know. To be honest, if it comes to politics, I sometimes want to bang heads together. They're all as bad as each other with their political party nonsense.

Still, when Mr Reed, bless him, invited us to attend The Palace of Westminster, I was reservedly pleased. Reservedly, as in I was unsure what the commercial advantage was of spending a few hundred pounds on yet another trip to London. It's PR I told myself, probably get me in the paper, again.

So, on Tuesday night we found ourselves on Whitehall saying hello to the plebs nice policemen with semi-automatic Maglight holders¹ at the end of Downing Street. We hadn't deliberately gone to see Mr Cameron early, but we had a long day travelling to London, doing deliveries and picking up empties on the way, dropping the van off at a friends pub before hopping on the underground into town. We got there very late, checking into the hotel, ran off to Chinatown to scoff late night stir fry. By the time we had eaten, the tube had stopped, so as the hotel was on the Thames the route took us down Whitehall right through the heart of our UK democratic power. To be honest, I'm surprised the police on Westminster's gates didn't arrest us for peaking through to try and see where we had to go the next day.

David Cameron meets Hardknott

Due to the early morning walk and subsequent late start in the morning we were one of the last to pitch up to our half table in the all too small Jubilee room. It wasn't easy to get ourselves organised and so irritations were starting. Discovering that the whole case of Rhetoric II had been put into the goodie bags for MPs added to the frustration. This underpinned a feeling that perhaps the trip might be a bit wasted, after all, what commercial benefit was there to giving away beer to politicians? Beer we would still have to pay duty on. paying members of the Government to drink our beer.

Anyway, soon things got going. Rallying speeches from the likes of Eric Robson and Doug Scott about how wonderful Cumbria is, helped buck me up. Soon the MPs of Cumbria were walking around, chatting and we got into full flow talking about beer and hops and all the wonderful flavours in good craft beer.

I did get several digs in at various people about beer duty. Pubs were discussed. All the MPs and their researchers, assistants and whatever hangers-on there were, seemed to be understanding and assured us that it should change. It does make me wonder why it doesn't when so many MPs are sure it should.

Soon there was a hubbub. Stand by your tables the Prime Minister is on the way.²

I poured a glass of Azimuth as he approached and he happily took a good taste.

"What have we got here?"

"Azimuth, it's an Indian Pale Ale"

"What makes it so sharp?"

If you look, you can see the Azimuth bottle on the left hand side.

I do wish people would stop saying that when they taste hoppy beer. Having had a flustered start to the day I didn't manage to have the presence to explain all the flavour descriptors of peach, apricot and honeysuckle that I find in the beer. I just blurted something about New World hops I expect.

After that I continued to serve and explain about beer to other hangers-on while Mr Cameron continued to walk the room. I did feel slightly shaky, although I noted later, far less excited about the whole experience than I have felt about far less important events in my life. I mean, it isn't every day you get to serve a beer to the Prime Minister that has been made in the brewery you own. OK, I know he's a Tory³, but we all have our faults.

Anyway, the ensuing press coverage has certainly pleased me. Our friends at the North West Evening Mail, in particular the Business Correspondent Will Metcalfe, got us good coverage in the paper out today. Also a good bit on the local ITV news where The Main Man is seen drinking aforementioned beer.

Not a bad day out I'd say.

ITV coverage for as long as the link stays valid.

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¹Why anyone would want to call a man holding an assault rifle a pleb is anyone's guess. Oh, and I'm no expert on guns, so don't flame me for using the wrong terminology here.

²I found it interesting that the Tory MP Rory Stewart had to be the one in PMQT that asked if David would visit the Cumbria Day. I expect it would not be seen as the right thing for him to agree if an opposition MP had asked the same thing.

³I've always wanted snobs to drink my beer. You can't get a bigger snob than a Tory<sup>4

4</sup>Yup, your right, Labour deserve just as much of a slagging, after all, they brought in the duty escalator in the first place, and besides, Jamie is my MP, and he's OK, despite being Labour.

The Veggie/Vegan issue

I’m a confirmed meat eater. Before I go on I’d like to apologise to all my vegetarian and vegan friends and readers. Bacon and sausage would be my weakness. I could probably live on cheese alone for my protein were it not for these essential food groups. Fillet steak is nice once in a while, but to be honest, it’s a bit overpriced for what it is. Still, I respect, if remain baffled, by the altruistic stance on not eating things that walk, swim, fly or otherwise move autonomously.

Cask beer almost always contains isinglass. This is a processed fish product. It is very, very good indeed at removing certain particles from beer that might make it cloudy. In particular it helps promote yeast flocculation.

Cask beer, true cask conditioned beer, needs yeast in it for secondary fermentation. At around 250,000 cells per ml the beer will be slightly hazy and most drinkers would find this aesthetically objectionable. The fact that it won’t actually do you any harm, and in some people’s view might actually make the beer taste better, is probably irrelevant. It is a tough job to sell cloudy beer.

It is possible to get beer acceptable bright from cask without isinglass, and there are brewers do it. However, it’s not likely to be something that is universally accepted in the short term within the UK, much as I’d like it to be.

What this effectively means is that, by the strict rules, our cask beers are not suitable for vegetarians or vegans. It’s OK for pescetarian and veggies who ignore the fish product issue, because beer is more important. But principled vegans and vegetarians shouldn’t really be drinking cask beer and I know a few who won’t.

Bottles and keg are a different matter. Despite the fact that we use minimum filtering and in many cases bottle condition it is much easier to get bright beer in these formats without the use of isinglass. For keg we settle bright in tank before we rack. Because the keg is hermetically sealed and positively pressurised there is no need to have live yeast in the keg, although in our case there is very likely to still be a few thousand per ml.

For bottle conditioning the cell count may well be similar to that for cask. If the bottle is not settled a faint haze will be visible. However, the volume is small, and therefore the distance the yeast has to travel to get to the bottom is much less than cask. A very thin and compact layer is the result after 24 hours in the fridge even without isinglass.

Our kegs and bottles are all very suitable for vegans. We can guarantee that there are no traces of animal DNA anywhere in these products. If it used to have eyes, or teeth, or legs, or fins, we ensure that none of its body parts have been processed and slung in our beer for the reasons of scrubbing s beer just a little bit brighter.

I’d love to hear from veggies about their thoughts on this matter. Do you care? Or is beer more important than principles? Or are you actually disgusted that the issue of fish products in beer isn’t more widely broached?

Duality

Light can be considered to be both a wave and a particle¹. It can be a difficult thing to understand unless you have a massive brain, which is why I struggle to understand it. But, I am assured by physicists that this is a truth. It's not that light is sometimes a wave and sometimes a particle. No, they are both things at the same time. Actually, this applies to all types of electromagnetic radiation. You see, the only difference between visible light, infra red, ultra-violet, gamma radiation, radio signals, x-rays, microwaves and the stuff that carries your tweets to your mobile phone, is the energy in the particles, or the wave length, or the frequency of the signal. The relationship of the frequency, wavelength and individual quantum energy is accurately and firmly linked by equations that I suspect some bloke called Albert made up.

So, what has this to do with beer?

Beer is beer. There are different types of beer, but they are all beer.

Some people like to group beer into two types; Real Ale and chemical fizzy lager.

Lots of people like chemical fizzy lager, market data confirms this.

Some brewers like to make stuff they call Real Lager, put it into casks and proclaim they are clever for doing so.

Other brewers make mild, yellow beers, put them into casks and give them a name that invariably has "Gold"² or "Blond"in the name, which are designed to be popular by being something pale, balanced, competently brewed but unchallenging in the flavour department. They appeal to a broad audience and it is a shrewd business move to do so.

Many chemical fizzy lagers are brewed in big breweries where it is important to achieve a short production time. The result has mass appeal, but is barely honest to give the name lager. I have no idea how these beers are actually made, but I have heard tails of relatively warm fermentations and next to no lagering time whatsoever. The main thing is that they are manufactured for mass appeal. Who actually cares if they are genuine lagers? Does it matter?

Then there are stouts, barley wines, dark milds, red ales, IPA's of various colours, various speciality beers and not to leave out the good old faithful hoppy bitter. These are all, at the end of the day, beer, mostly made from a juice we call wort made from hops and barley fermented into a beverage.

We generally, up to now, made beers that have higher hopping, increased coloured malts and otherwise different to what everyone else has done. We like it that way but is hardly a way to gain widespread acceptance.

So, we decided to brew a beer that is slightly less challenging, but doesn't leave behind our core values. We hope that on cask it is enough like a blonde, gold or other "Real lager" type beer to be acceptable to the drinker who likes that sort of thing. We also hope that on keg it will be enough like a "lager" to appeal to those who like a cold fizzy thing.

It's pale, made with lager malt and noble hops. Oh, and it's dry hopped with some special stuff, just to add that little bit of Hardknotty magic.

What is it?

It's Duality.

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¹I personally, don't like doing things by halves, I always prefer a full tickle.

 ²Apologies to all my brewing friends who do just that, I'm not having a dig, your beer is lovely and sells very well.

Not Chemical Fizz

I've been playing around with keg. I'm a CAMRA member and a micro-brewer, what on earth would I want to do that for?

British style "traditional"¹ beer is often best represented in cask. It is as simple as that. I don't think I know a single beer enthusiast who would have an argument with that. Not even my very good friend Jeff Pickthall, who is a confirmed and uninhibited CAMRA basher. I share some of his concerns, but to use the phrase often used, it would be a shame to throw out the baby with the bath-water. CAMRA is not all bad and cask beer is good.

Much contemporary beer is great from cask. There are plenty of modern beers that are fantastic served through hand-pull and I hope that some of mine classify in this group. There are also in my view, a number of beers that are generally better in keg. They are generally the stronger "craft" beers that have, up until recently, been responsible for some beer enthusiasts to drink more at home than in pubs or bars. The progressive craft keg market might well be small, it might well never overtake cask in volume, but it is growing and I'm interested in that as a brewer and a drinker.

The irony is that beer served from cask often contains more processed material than beer that is mass produced. Chemicals, you see, cost money. The main addition that is used in cask beer is Isinglass, which is made from processed fish guts and also contains chemicals like sulphur dioxide and citric acid.

Most brand keg beer by contrast is chill filtered and although I cannot guarantee these substances are not used at all, I know for a fact they are used in significantly lower quantities. Filtering, or separation of solids by centrifuge uses less chemicals and therefore costs less money to make. They are, therefore, not chemical beers at all.

I have been interested in kegging for some time. I've tried some trial kegs and found mixed success. I like the idea of completely unfiltered beer and beer that does not use isinglass. This seems just about impossible to do unless you can afford to leave it in a conditioning tank chilled to -1°C for six weeks.

I've recently racked some Infra Red into 20l kegs and there is a second trial keg of Queboid which is loaded right now into the van for delivery to the Rake Bar. The Infra Red has light filtering and the Queboid just chill conditioning. Both are likely to have haze to some degree, but I hope to acceptable levels.

I am a supporter of the idea of kegging beer over 6%. There is no reason for keg beer to be overly fizzy and indeed, I expect some keg enthusiasts will proclaim my interpretation to be under-carbonated, as the carbonation is likely to be very similar to cask. Of course I have no control over the take up of carbon dioxide in the pub and as most keg set-ups will quickly introduce extra carbonation I expect this might be a problem. In any case, for beers at this strength the sale time makes cask impractical except for high turnover pubs and beer festivals.

With luck we will be rolling out our kegs over the next few weeks. We would love you to try them and let us know what you think, good or bad.

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¹OK Jeff, just shoot me now.

What is craft beer?

I don't know. I know even less now I've read some of the posts surrounding this issue. I think it is very difficult to define what it is exactly.

A week gone Friday there was The Session hosted by Reluctant Scooper which asks about the various methods of beer dispense. I'm sorry that I've not had time to even read most of what has been written on the subject, let alone write something about it.

There has been further critiques of CAMRA recently. SWBrewery published a letter that stirred the blogosphere a little. Pete Brown also pointed out that one of the founder members of CAMRA regrets recruiting certain people to the organisation. Nicely balanced by Cooking Lager who points out in the comments that CAMRA are entitled to campaign for whatever they like¹.

I am very happy to put a little bit of money into an organisation that champions cask beer. What I am not happy to do is carry on thinking that cask beer is simply the best way to serve every beer in every situation. It may well be the best for many beers. It may well be best for many pubs. It is certainly the case that there are a significant minority of the population who drink it routinely. I'm very happy for CAMRA to continue to defend this. Although we should remember that it is a form of snobbery all of its own.

I'm getting somewhat frustrated by the conviction that beer cannot and should not be snobby or elitist. That very facet of the beer world is starting to make me feel that there really is a political agenda still simmering away under the surface.

Being snobby and elitist does not mean you wish to eradicate what you feel is beneath you. Indeed, in my case I'd argue it simply means I appreciate a broad spectrum of many good things. I'm snobby about food for instance. I have enjoyed, as special treats, many good restaurant meals. I have also plumped on occasions for the consistency, convenience and all-round calorific good value of McDonalds⁴.

Why is there a fear of a beer world which is striving for something more exciting than the array of indistinguishable session ales that now adorn many pub bars? Many of them which might as well, if we were honest, have been brewed on some big industrial plant anyway.

I like many types of beer. I like cask beer a lot. I drink and brew a lot of cask beer. The remainder of the beer I brew, for the time being, gets bottle conditioned. I have only ever had a small amount of my beer chill filtered and re-carbonated. I'm not convinced the results were as good as my own bottle conditioned beer. But watch this space, "never say never" is what I'd say, chill filtering can be done right.

I do drink a little bit of beer that is not "CAMRA calls this beer Real Ale". Because I try to choose wisely I enjoy pretty much all of it. I've even tried cask up against keg and for some beers there is no doubt that keg beats cask. The other day, when the local pub had been let down by their normal supplier² of cask beer I was forced to drink Guinness and enjoyed it quite a lot.

We all know cask beer. We understand it can be great. We also understand that it needs care and attention and not all circumstances are best for it. We also know that there are some pretty dull cask beers out there. Some are so dull that to be honest I'd rather have a Guinness, or perhaps a Carling.

So, this thing about Craft Beer? Well, whatever you want to say, there is a void, a vacuum, an esoteria that is trying to find some substance. To me it is irrelevant if it is burgeoning or not. This proudly snobbish, geeky and elitist void is currently fighting to form solid mass. This visionary cloud exists both here in the virtual world and in an increasing number of beer bars and progressive breweries.

Is Craft Beer the right term to help us fill the void? I think it could be. Although there are some very, very good arguments why we should approach the concept with some trepidation. Specifically, it would seem that in USA, craft beer is defined as made in a brewery that produces less than 6 million barrels of beer a year. Very few UK breweries produce more than this I'd hazard. Molson Coors? AB-InBev? Diagio? anymore? Besides, for what it's worth, I believe Molson Coors do brew some craft beer in the shape of White Shield and P2 as well as others.

I could go on and disassemble concepts such as "Traditional methods"³ "adjuncts to add rather than detract from flavour"⁵ etc.

The point is that there is an increasing cry for something, especially as we've just had the first SIBA Craft Keg festival. This cry sometimes blames CAMRA for standing in the way. I think there is some validity to that as I hear all to often that keg can't be as good or that we're being too elitist. So, let CAMRA get on with its good work at defending cask, why not? It's a good cause. Perhaps, in return, CAMRA activists could stop criticising, people using American hops or elitism that is trying to bring a refreshing new look to the beer world or even people asking a price that might make their brewery or pub a sustainable venture.

For me there has probably never been a better time to be involved in the British beer scene. We have a great array of fantastic beers out there. Some micro-brewed cask, some imported bottles, some craft keg, even stuff in cans that to be honest I'm dubious about, but we'll wait and see. Then there is the macro-brewed keg. We have to realise that this is what keeps many pubs trading. Yes, we'd all like every pub to have cask beer on the bar, that in itself is an elitist utopia. But it's not going to happen anymore than craft keg will usurp cask anytime soon.

Diversity is good and I'm happy to try and embrace it all.

Here in Cumbria a few merry folk are banding together to try and help fill the void in our part of the world. We've got no specialist beer bars in Cumbria you see. Craft Beer may not mean much to some folk, but to others it is a void that simply has to be filled.

Watch this space, there is more to come one this.

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¹"we" I should say. I'm a CAMRA member. Contrary to rumours, I have absolutely no intention of giving up my membership either.

²Their normal supplier is, of course, us. They can only take pins at the moment and we'd run out. Besides, they have a good flow of Guinness, best pint of the stuff I'd had for sometime as it happens.

³Where does a mash tun become a mash filter? Is it still craft if hop pellets are used? How far is it acceptable to process the hops?

⁴Yes, it's true. I've even been known to put ketchup on the chips although I'm more likely to if forced to the even lower depravity of Burger King, whose food is truly dreadful.

⁵I know of one very small microbrewery that uses sugar to increase fermentables. The only good reason I can see is that it is cheaper than malt. I'd probably be tempted to include them in the Craft Beer subset, although their beer isn't brilliant.

A bright future for cask

Today sees the publication of The Cask Report – Britain’s National Drink, 2010-2011. First published in 2007, todays edition is the fourth in a line of good beer news written by the award winning writer Pete Brown.

"Despite declining total beer sales and continuing pub closures, cask ale last year outperformed the beer market, increased its share of on-trade beer for the third successive year and grew its drinker base by 1.4%"

There, that's the headline news; Despite a deep recession our national drink is bucking against the economic backdrop. In more detail the report shows that micro-brewed beer has seen a growth in volume by around 5% in the year compared to 1% for the regionals and "super-micros" and in contrast the volume for multinational cask ale dropped by a staggering 11% resulting in only 16% of cask beer being brewed by multinationals.

The report gives great detail as to why all this might be the case. It explains that although we are more careful with how much money we spend, it also means that we spend the little we have more wisely. Indeed, a shock perhaps to some who think cask beer can only ever be priced low, the report cites research that shows most cask drinkers are in fact prepared to pay more for well kept quality cask beer. In summary, cask is enjoying a steady trend towards premiumisation.

The Cask report goes into detail of how people generally are becoming ever more conscious of the environment, and furthermore, cask drinkers in particular tend to be more discerning

and adventurous and have more disposable income. Couple this with the fact that the pub industry is fairing well in the eating out market compared to restaurants, and the natural association of cask with good pub food all helps to mark out a strong performance.

I could continue to digest and regurgitate more salient points from the report, like the starkling North-South divide, but you should read it at the official web site really. I could also nit pick out the things I disagree with, like the point that beer is somehow unfairly taxed; it isn't, beer attracts less duty per unit of alcohol than wine and spirits. I may well return to various issues highlighted in the report, but for now I want to make one extension to what I think is a very interesting point.

The report points out that cask drinkers are more likely to be adventurous and that cask drinkers are getting younger. Pete has been commissioned by the cask beer industry to write this report and as such the focus is clearly on the cask market and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, although I do not have access to the industry statistics that Pete has, there is some anecdotal evidence to show that beer drinkers in general are becoming more adventurous and adventurous beer drinkers are getting younger. The report does not cover what appears to me to be a fast growing alternative to cask beer; bottle and craft keg. Indeed, I'm marginally irritated by the glossary at the end where keg is deemed as being filtered and/or pasteurised when we know that this clearly does not have to be the case.

Many supermarket shelves now contain a good selection of bottles of microbrewed beer. Much of this incidentally is not bottle conditioned. A well known importer/wholesaler of foreign craft beer is constantly reporting good growing sales of their products often breaking records on volume alone, never mind the real value growth. I think this is an indication of a very strong, vibrant and exciting time for growth in craft beer that goes well beyond cask beer. Cask beer is a majority part of that scene but I suspect the growth of imported and microbrewed bottles and keg beer, were it to be measured, along with a growth of specialist beer bars, would surpass the already great news that is contained in the cask report.

There is, quite rightly, a section indicating how important blogging, facebook, twitter and other forms of on-line communications are to emerging craft beer consumers and brewers alike. This I think reflects the fact that the adventurous beer drinker is getting younger and more trendy. Beer is gaining a trendy image amongst a technologically aware audience and that audience is highly social not only on-line but also, it turns out, in real life too.

The UK beer scene is, in my view, extremely exciting. There is everything here and it's becoming more accessible. Our national treasure of cask is going from strength to strength in an otherwise declining market, but it would seem that further premiumisation is sought by the adventurous beer drinker as we now have great availability of continental, American and even our own home-grown facsimiles to round off perhaps the best beer country in the world.

What is important about beer brands?

I was recently talking to a guy who used to be a sales and marketing chap in a fairly well known regional brewery. We got on to discussing one of the brands he used to sell, you would know it if I mentioned it; it's almost national by now. The beer has had several head brewers who have shaped it to it's current form. I already knew that the beer's recipe has been changed over the years, different brewers have used different hopping regimes, including the introduction of dry hopping in the cask. The peak of it's beery excellence, according to my source, was when a brewer was recruited from a very major and well revered northern brewery which has since seen something of a fall from grace.

We have to remember that my informant has worked in the brewing industry for many years. He not only knows what good beer is he also knows some inside information from major breweries as to how the actual recipe has changed over the years. Indeed, most brewers would agree that to make consistent beer you don't simply use x amount of this malt and y amount of that hop; the yealds vary from season to season and also the time elapsed since the ingredient was cropped has to be taken into account. Furthermore, sometimes a particular hop just can't be sourced in certain years due to poor crops or simply due to the inablilty of the hop farmers to accurately judge future variety demand.

The job of the brewer is to choose his ingredients and make a beer that is as close to the brand ideal as he can and within cost constraints determined by his paymasters. How well the final beer matches the desired flavour profile might be tightly controlled by tasting panels, or simply by the head brewers palate.

As brands develop, are sold, reach maturity and then are milked for all they have, the owning businesses often change the dependence on flavour profile as a trade off against cost of production. The two brands that remain anonymous in my opening paragraph are examples, I am assured by my industry insider confidant, of such treatment of beer brands.

There is of course nothing we can do about this. Indeed, why should we worry? Buying the brand name only permits the company to sell something that is called by that name. It might also give it the rights to previous production records and possibly the plant and equipment that made it. However, the recipes and plant are not what make the brand; after all, quite a lot of the Fosters made in this country is brewed by those nice people at Molson Coors in Burton-upon-Trent. I'd hazard a guess that the flavour profile and cost implications of brewing Fosters is far more important to the brand owner than the detail of the exact ingredients. Coors, as the contract brewer, will probably be permitted certain scope for variation of the recipe to ensure the final product meets the specification.

When I hear complaints about beer brands being ruined by the owners I become a little bemused. I understand why lovers of the brands are upset, and indeed a true beer aficionado should be able to tell that a particular beer is not as good, or perhaps has improved, over what he remembers. But if a brand fails to satisfy then why not just move on? there are plenty more beers out there.

This post was partly inspired by Cooking Lager's suggestion that some old lager brands should be resurrected, just so he could taste what lout used to be like. It makes me wonder how we can truly resurrect any old brand that has fallen by the wayside. Malting techniques have changed, hop varieties will have undoubtedly undergone genetic drift and I seriously doubt yeast strains can be kept stable for decades at a time.

My palate has changed in the 30ish years I've been drinking beer. I think I remember what I thought of various brands all that time ago, but I can't be sure. If I think it's not as good, is it me, or is it the beer? I suspect in many cases it is something of both.

I know there are many breweries that cherish the quality of their beers. Some breweries even work at improving their products rather than sticking to some recipe that works. What it results in, and not necessarily in a bad way, is the flavours of beer changing over the years. So, it remains for me to ask, what is important about a beer brand?

I'm still here

It is just possible that there are people out there that have noticed a lack of activity from me. I even have this concept in my head that a subset of this group of people might even have missed me, but I'm not willing to put that hypothesis to any sort of rigourous test just in case the conclusion is disappointing. However, if you are reading this pointless post with a sense of relief that I'm not actually dead, or perhaps just lost interest, then rest assured that more will appear soon.

I'm currently sat on a train using my tethered BlackBerry as a modem for my MacBook whilst on-route to London. You see at home I have yet to get a broadband connection after moving out of the pub, and in the brewery's new location I'm just too busy getting my act together. This is the first time in over a week I've had the combined time, inclination and connectivity to write anything.

My reason for travelling to London? Partly for a break; It's nice to be able to go away without worrying about the pub - that is now somebody else's problem. But of course beer is involved. Tonight I am promised a great lager experience at the White Horse. I know I need to stop treating lager with suspicion and if Pete Brown is right the Budvar I will taste might well create a defining moment. It should create a blog post at the very least.

Market research and brainstorming

This is an odd post, I'm not going to give you any opinion at all. It is possible you know, occasionally I like to listen to what other people have to say.

Imagine you have just inherited a large amount of money, enough to set up a brewery to your own exacting specifications, enough so that for the first few years you don't need to make a profit. Imagine you have the ability and financial resources to make any beer you want, any style, any quantity and using whatever dispense method you like.

What would be the beers you would make? What would you call them and how would you package them? What style of label design would you have, closures and bottle shapes and sizes?

Would you try to recreate something somebody has done before but has ceased production? Would you try and develop new styles? Strong beers, weak beers or standard session beers? What would you do?

You can say anything you like, providing it doesn't mention the war. Golly, you can even suggest making beers with drinkability if you really want.

A New Year

We've had a few days relaxation since the New Year came in, it's been nice. We opened the bar for a couple of days for New Year itself, I'm still wondering if it was financially useful but we had nice people in for drinks and New Year's Eve was busy during the day with walkers coming off the fells thirsty for ale. Sadly, it seems the icy roads put people off paying us a visit in the evenings and the snow was not sufficient to get anybody snowed in here. Once we closed again at the end of a very quiet New Year's Day we scurried off for a little break taking advantage of post holiday hotel cheapness. Now we're back into it, like I suspect everyone else is, and I need to think about the year ahead in many ways. In a month's time we'll be opening up again at weekends and the winter sojourn will be over. I started on my jobs today by plumbing in a new WC - it's only been sitting in the shed for about a year, I must be improving at getting jobs done.

Turning towards this blog I should think about subject matter. Tandleman has made me feel slightly guilty with his recent post; there are a few interesting points made about beer bloggers not getting out much and concentrating on beer drinking at home. I realise that the last year has seen my beer horizons shift from pub orientated cask beer to a more eclectic outlook on this blog and consequently I have had little to say about cask beer and pubs recently. I decided that the only course of action was to take myself to one side and have a quiet but firm word. I now believe we both understand me and as the subject of beer has to be inclusive I'm going to make an attempt to ensure I don't leave cask or pubs behind. I did agree with myself however, that forays into the world of interesting beer could be permitted, but warned myself to avoid overdoing it. 

Mark has also written a thought provoking piece about the year to come, which in someways provides a parallel counterpoise for my thought process above. To me Mark is an example of a growing number of young beer enthusiasts that will shape the beer world in the next decade and probably beyond. Forward thinking, receptive and enthusiastic about all types of beer and keen to write about it for no other reason than a love of beer and writing.

Tandleman particularly noted a need for CAMRA to have a long look at itself. I don't know if it will be all that easy as there are many opinions as to what the organisation should do. However, as Tandleman says, the fact that it'll never please everyone is not a reason to avoid an overdue review of its purpose. My fear would be that without engaging with a young, forward thinking, receptive and enthusiastic future we may see a decline in CAMRA in a few years time, which would be a shame.

I think the beer future will be multifaceted and I hope that the various factions will get along just fine. I think pubs in particular are evolving beasts but sometimes I wonder if they evolve fast enough. I hope that the traditional will be maintained in a way that also allows progress where it is appropriate and furthermore can permit a broad and inclusive beer culture.

A Stone's throw away?

I got a couple of emails yesterday morning highlighting the potential failure of BrewDog's Equity for Punks. It seems that they are only about 2/3rds of the way towards their minimum share uptake. If they don't hit the target of raising £500,000 then they have to give all the money back, including the £230 that I gave them.

Now some would think I should be grateful if that happens. I'd have had a close shave from the humility of BrewDog running off with my money and Martin and James making themselves rich. It's a poor investment after all, as the company can't possibly be worth £23 million. The really bizarre thing is I can't bring myself to think that way. It is possible that I've been brainwashed by BrewDog's viral marketing. Perhaps I'm completely barking mad. If that's the case then I blame Bracken, that particular BrewDog has a charm all of it's₁ own.

So, why do I not want my money back? Well firstly because they are remaining right on track with financial performance. Turnover this year is expected to exceed £1.85 million and next year's turnover, with new contracts that have been won, will hopefully be in excess of £3.6 million.

They have stormed the world with Tactical Nuclear Penguin. They have installed a new brew-house. James gives more reasons in his Call to Arms as to why you should invest. In James' words in an email to me:

"A lot has happened since we launched EFP and it has all been overwhelmingly positive for the company"

BrewDog have been granted the planning permission for their new brewery. This apparently adds £3.5 million to the balance sheet. I think it is fairly difficult to value the company now; it's a fast moving target. One thing is for sure the value of the company is growing at an astonishing rate. OK, my investment might not be worth £230 yet, but it's getting closer and you never know, I might one day have the last laugh over the sceptics.

But - It's about more than money. BrewDog are giving an injection of vitalisation into the UK beer market. OK, not everybody welcomes their brash and alternative slant on brewing and marketing beer. They are challenging some of the entrenched views on beer but at the same time keeping an eye on the traditional market by putting out fantastic cask beers. I know, I was bowled over by Trashy Blond recently. For these reasons I'd like to see them grow.

One area of critique of the Equity for Punks initiative is questioning the reasons for growth. Why do they need a bigger brewery? In my view this is fairly simple. They are currently working night shifts to meet demand. The products regularly go out of stock on the web site and the demand for products will outstrip their ability to brew without this expansion. One criticism is the lack of cask beer availability. They can't get more cask beer out if they haven't got the brewery capacity.

Stone Brewing are thinking of opening a brewery in Europe. They claim there is demand for their beer. Perhaps there is but to me BrewDog have the ability to produce products as good, if not better than Stone. There is a market for these types of beers and for me I'd prefer BrewDog to take more share of the market rather than see Stone do that, not that I wish them any harm and it'd be even better if there ends up being room for both.

If you don't like BrewDog then don't invest in them. If you haven't got the money to risk then like any investment, don't risk it. If you don't do investments then fine, don't break a habit of a lifetime just cause I say so. Think of it just as a BrewDog fan club for sad impressionable beer geeks if that makes you feel happier.

You can invest on-line, it's dead easy. You will be able to do it on Christmas day if you like, spend that cheque that came from relatives on something for the future rather than putting it in the bank account and it being swallowed by the humdrum of utility bills. Perhaps you are looking for a Christmas present for somebody you really care about, who likes beer and BrewDog. There is no Christmas post to worry about. The notification all comes through by email and you can do the shopping at 23:59 on 24th December if you like₂.

But, if you do like BrewDog and you have got the money then why not invest? Sure, it's a risk and the wise money is still unsure about the value. It isn't about the money though, it's about there being more exciting beer to be had, about having a say in what happens at the brewery and about 20% lifetime discount off their beer. It's about a BrewDog fan club for sad beer geeks like me₃.

So, if you were wavering about the deal, thought you might but were unsure, then it's a punt. If it works out then those of us who have invested will have the last laugh. If it fails then I'll look a big fool, even more than usual. Nobody can be sure but an adventure into the unknown is much more exciting than standing on the sidelines criticising those of us that are prepared to take the risk.

You have until 8th January 2010 to make up your mind.

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₁I have been unable to positively ascertain the gender of Bracken, and I'm not going to risk upsetting the canine toothed charmer, in case I get it wrong and offence results in strategic height teeth being used against things that are precious to me.

₂You have to remember that an email address and details of the person you wish the share(s) to be registered with will need to be entered rather than your own. I'm assuming there is no legal reason why this can't be done.

₃And I know of several people for whom I have high regard will be tut, tutting at me over this post. Well sorry guys, something has captured me on this one so take the piss out of me if you like, saves you the job of thinking about it.

Big(ish) brewery that thinks craft.

Right, I need to get back to some proper writing. It's all very well being pleased about recent event's, but that's done now. I have to get to what this blog is about; beer, pubs, perhaps food and anything else to do with the crazy industry I seem to be part of.

In my remote place tucked away in a distant and occasionally wet part of the British Isles I can become detached from the reality that most people experience. I'm glad of that detachment most of the time and today, with the weather fine it was nice to continue my outdoor maintenance on the roof. Nevertheless, I have more reporting to do on the trip to London last week. I very much enjoy these trips to the big city. I couldn't live there - too many people all crammed into too little space - but I enjoy the cultural things we don't have here. You know, things like street lamps and buses, cinemas, theatres and best of all beer that is different to the beer I get at home. Sometimes I even find beer that is better than at home.

I had an invite from John Keeling of Fullers Brewery to visit him in his big "industrial₁" plant. I had previously met him at the barley wine seminar and had been more than just a little bit impressed by his enthusiasm. I did wonder what brewers of big breweries actually do. I guessed they didn't dig out the mash tun very often or clean the copper for that matter. I'll apologise now for any inaccuracies here. I didn't use my note book as I felt I needed to just soak up the feelings and attitudes in the brewery; to see if I could get what the core differences, and more importantly, similarities between the really little breweries like mine and these regional breweries. I think peoples attitude to beer is far more important than brewery capacity. Facts and figures don't a good beer make, good brewers are what make good beer. Fine and enthusiastic ones, I normally find.

Although I was keen to see the brewery it was more getting to understand the ethos behind the place that interested me. So when John had invited me to visit I made it a key part of my trip to London. I heard various comments about Fullers; Some think they produce ubiquitous beers like London Pride, it gets everywhere in London for goodness sake. Other people think they produce fantastically interesting beers like London Pride, and it's great that you can get it all over London and it's one of the things that makes it worth going there for. When you get differences of view like this it makes life interesting. I seem to think the views on other very young breweries follow similar themes.

In the eyes of some it cannot be possible to make good beer in a large brewery. Furthermore, there is some debate about what makes a good beer. For some the ability to drink a gallon is important. For others maximum flavour is the key. Some would say that there are beers out there which have been made without any consideration to their drinkability. Other people would say that the vast majority of beer in this country is boring and only the stuff brewed with masses of American hops is worth drinking at all. I'll confess to being one of the latter types of people and upon mentioning this to John he threatened me, that next time I'm in London, he would take me out and show me just how drinkable London Pride is. It would be churlish to refuse I feel. My principles will only stretch so far you know.

We arrived at the brewery on a wet December day, luckily whilst walking down Chiswick Lane from the tube the rain actually stopped. Signed in and badged up at reception we waited for John to meet us. The lovely smell of brewing hung in the air like an enticement of a good perfume. In his office we had a chat about the relative sizes of his brewery compared to Coors₂. We looked at some old brewing logs that Ron Pattinson had been nosing at earlier and John refreshed my memory about how the Fullers parti-gyle system worked. I'll come onto that shortly. As I suspected, it turns out that John doesn't actually brew, the name on the door says "Brewing Director". There is a real brewer who looks after the day to day brewing, but just to confuse me, apparently he doesn't dig out the mash tun either.

John had to go and have a meeting with more important people than himself. It's difficult to imagine who might be more important than the Brewing Director in a brewery. I suspect it's those bean counting type people who have far more control than they deserve. Thankfully, John seems to have them under control, but even so he felt that much as he'd prefer to stay with us and talk about beer and his brewery, he really must go and kowtow. Derek Prentice, who is now the real head brewer has not been with the brewery long, was to take us around the brewery. That was fine seeing as Derek is just as nice a chap as John and equally as enthusiastic and knowledgeable about beer. It's a good job really seeing as he has an awful lot of beer to look after.

We were taken to see the Victorian part of the brewery. Now unused since 1984 its a marvel of engineering from that time. One of the two original mash tuns is retained in the building. The remaining copper really is made out of an orangy brown metal and is encased in a thick layer of brick. It looks great to the romantic traditionalist, and apparently it was even quite energy efficient. The bricks act as a combined insulator and heat store, which must have made it a right bugger to clean as it would have remained hot for hours in there. The wort for the next brew is held in a tank above and so kept hot by the heat from the boiling of the previous brew. Back when it was build in 1823 it was fired by coal. In the 20th century a steam calandria₃ was installed in the copper. That must have made it even more of a bugger to clean. To this sentimental brewer it is a piece of engineering beauty, but by modern standards completely wrong for making beer; As well as being troublesome to clean it has now been found that in most cases brewing beer in copper vessels causes WHO limits on copper in food stuff to be exceeded.

We then moved on to look at the new brewery. This was installed as part of a major refurbishment in 1984, which was when the old copper was last used. The main brewhouse is surprisingly compact and modern looking and as it is only 25 years or so since it was built I guess it should be. Considering the old brew house was in use for 161 years this one has a way to go yet. When we were there they were just in the middle of a boil and the mash tun was being cleaned out. It turns out that nobody gets into the mash tun to dig it out. It's all done by a mash rake and CIP₄ equipment. The coppers now use external colandrias which also make cleaning easier. In fact CIP is used in nearly every vessel in the brewery. I think that's cheating. Still, at least it means everybody can walk around looking smart rather than my usual brew day look.

Parti-gyling, I said I'd get to it. The brewery has two mash tuns and two coppers. There are two streams of wort, often the same grist mix in both mash tuns, although I'm assuming they could be different. The first runnings at perhaps an OG as high as 1090 from the sparge is run into one copper with one hop recipe. The second, much weaker runnings at perhaps 1020 is run into the second copper with a different hop loading. After the boil the two streams are blended to make different beers. The resultant wort is at production OG. This is not high gravity brewing, which is a different thing altogether. The great thing about party gyling is that Fullers get to make the occasional barley wine like Fullers Vintage and at the same time make a low ABV beer resulting in very efficient use of barley.

I love fermenter rooms. The smell of the yeast getting going on the malt sugars and some of the hop aromas wafting around reminds me of the fact that there are billions of little microorganisms working hard in the name of beer. I wonder how often they get thanked for the brilliant job they do. I know that the yeast is incredibly important to Fullers. They have about 10 people in their lab looking after it. Isolating and nurturing the correct strain has been a key part of quality control for them for a long time. Every crop of yeast from a previous fermentation is carefully checked for viability before being pitched on. If any problems develop a new batch is cultured up from yeast that has been carefully preserved on agar slopes.

Some discussion was had with Derek regarding the behaviour of my dried yeast. Most pitched on yeasts form a crust on top of the beer at the end of fermentation. In all my experience and that of several other brewers who use dry yeast, it tends to drop out very easily leaving nearly no crust. Derek's concern is that the lack of a crust might allow in bacteria. Good point perhaps, although thinking about it I don't use open fermenters anyway. An advantage of 90 gallon Grundy tanks is that I can stick a lid on any time I like.

Fullers now use cylindrical fermentation vessels for all their beer. Back in the 80's some were installed with a view to making lager. Their lager brewing didn't last long and so they started to make their standard beers in the newer vessels. It made better beer and they won more CAMRA awards with it. So, to cut a long story short all the square fermenters were replaced with cylindrical ones. Cylindrical stainless steel fermenters are much easier to clean than square copper lined ones. Even so, Derek still reminisces about old square slate fermenters in a previous brewery he worked in. You can't take the romanticism out of a good brewer.

On route we spied some old oak casks lying around looking like they had been abandoned. I didn't find out why they were not in the nice old undercroft where casks used to be stored. I'm guessing there is a duty reason for that. Breweries do not have to pay any duty on beer until it is shipped out but some HMRC officers can be touchy about beer in duty suspense being stored in the same place as beer is consumed. Anyway, it turns out these casks contain brewers reserve. As this is being typed John tweeted that he's going to organise a tasting sometime of all his experimental beers. It's been noted John. I learnt some interesting stuff about whisky cask aging and from John. Subject of another post probably.

Finally we look at the expansive casking and kegging hall. An automated keg facility packages some of the Fullers beers for export. Anybody who reads this blog will understand that I wonder about the possibility of putting quality beer into keg for markets in this country. I'm unlikely to ever sell London Pride here but if I could get a 30 litre keg of Golden Pride, well, that might be a different matter. It would be fun for the beer festival. The kegging line is almost fully automated including a very intelligent robot that handles kegs to and from pallets. The robot is called Les, apparently after the chief engineer. Not, it would seem, because the chief engineer is also intelligent - although I'm sure he must be as you don't get to make a place like this work if you are not - but it's because Les stands in the middle of the room waving his arms around.

Interestingly, the kegging line is justified on the throughput of beers from larger breweries. Fullers can keg tanker supplied beers for less than the difference between the cost of tanker supplied and keg supplied beer. Nice way to increase the revenue for the brewery and I guess it must help transport problems in and around London. Bulk supplied beer can be brought into the area in less vehicles.

Casking takes a little more manpower. It is not easy to automate putting beer into cask. There was obvious signs of people doing real hard graft. Somebody hitting the keystones into the casks and somebody else manually controlling the cask filling. That's nice to know that not everybody in the brewery swans about in suits all day.

Before leaving we retired to the aforementioned undercroft. A traditional vaulted cellar where up until sometime in the second half of the last century beer was conditioned in casks. It is now a nice tasting room come function hall. We tried some beers, well you have to when you're in the brewery, don't you? I tried London Pride and yes John, you are right, it is drinkable. But don't let that honesty from me prevent us testing the limits of that theory at some later date. I particularly like Chiswick Bitter as a session beer. I think I remember it having Northdown and Challenger hops in it. Anyway, I like that one. As we moved up in strength my beer geek side kicked in and I started to get nice esters and stuff, I love the fruity notes you get in these beers, but you wouldn't want to drink a gallon. Vintage and Gales Old Ale were also tried. I'm starting to wonder why I buy Belgian beer when there are some equally as good beers this side of the Channel.

Gales Old Ale used to be made in wooden lined fermenters. It gives the beer it's distinctive sour edge that some people find difficulty liking. Gales was bought out by Fullers and the beer production moved to Chiswick. There are no wooden fermenters at the Griffin brewery so how is it still made? John explained that they brought the last batch to be made at Gales and put it into a conditioning tank. Each time some is bottled an amount is left in the tank and a new batch of fresh beer added. The micro-fauna in the tank grow and flavour the beer to create something very authentic. Whatever, I like this beer too.

Before leaving we visited the shop. That was dangerous. We'd taken a large suitcase and a rucksack so as to maximize beer carrying capability. We had the rucksack with us at the brewery and filled that with several different years of Vintage, plus some Gales Old Ale. Pleased with that we headed off. Later, when we packed up during a move of hotels my suitcase lost a wheel on a curb. Beer is heavy when it's added to your luggage. I so wish Sapient Pear Wood was real. Anyway, the London hotel/luggage/tube disasters needs a whole new post. Fullers came to the rescue in part - look out for the sad story of a country bumpkin adrift in London.

So, my main thoughts behind visiting the brewery was to get into the ethos of the place. There is no doubt that London Pride and the other session beers are the core business of the place. Although they have a tied estate it's not big compared to some and a large proportion of the volume is sold to the free trade. You can't argue with that. Moreover the estate concentrates on quality premium establishments, which my luggage story shall confirm. I like Fullers and that's not just because they were very hospitable to us during our visit. I like the enthusiasm of John and Derek. It's not just about barrelage and money, although without making a profit no brewery can exist, but it's also about making good beer, and that they do too.

That was a long post. Amazingly, I could write more, perhaps it's a good job I didn't use a notebook. I can't really imagine anybody will read it all, except perhaps John Keeling himself. I do hope he's got a sense of humor. I did feel that perhaps I was digging a big hole for myself and insulting this great brewer with my little jokes. I hope not, it's all in fun. It's also interesting treading the line as a beer writer who wants to be honest about what he sees but also not upsetting companies that extend hospitality to amateur beer writers like myself. I hope I managed to get the balance right. My conclusion, as expressed in the title of this piece, is that so long as John and Derek are in charge of brewing, there will always be a firm foot in the craft beer market at Fullers.

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₁Hey, I'm kidding, but if you read all this post carefully you'll know that. "Industrial" is a matter of perspective.

₂Fullers make about 150,00 brewery barrels of London Pride a year. Coors make about 6 million barrels of Carling per year. 40 times as much and irrespective of anything else I might say I know which I'd prefer to drink and that ain't the Carling. John likes to think his brewery is closer to the size of mine. I'd disagree as I only make about 50 barrels of beer a year total. John and his team sell 300 times as much London Pride as I sell of my own beer total. Perhaps I need to start making drinkable beer.

₃A calandria is a set of cylindrical tubes used to heat one fluid by passing another fluid through. A heat exchanger effectively.

₄CIP = Cleaning In Position. It's dead good. Yes, even I use it for my fermentation vessels.

Beer Enthusiasts, That's All

There has been quite a lot of talk lately about the relevance of beer that is not real ale. Starting of course with CAMRA sticking to it's principles over extraneous gas. Real Ale Reviews talk about an as yet fictional beer festival that embraces all types of quality beer. I think that would be fun.

Mark at Pencil and Spoon talks about a Campaign for Great British Beer. There seems to be a growing enthusiasm for something, but what? Of course, perhaps we don't need anything. We have a great on-line community already enthusing about beer.

There is a lot of infighting in the industry. Pete Brown complained about it a little while ago. I talked about the same subjects recently, which brought out suggestions for forming some type of society that might take care of beer, just beer, in every form it took. Is this possible? What would be the aims of such an organisation? Do we really need one? What would be it's name?

I like the idea and would be keen to be involved, but if the promotion of good beer is the objective then what beer do we cite as unworthy? What I think is rubbish might well be another man's nectar. Equally, I know for a fact that there are beers out there that I like and others think are "style over substance".

The only real advantage of an all encompassing organisation, apart from providing a unified front against the demonising of beer, might be to organise eclectic, all embracing beer festivals. Beer festivals for Beer Enthusiasts, That's All. B.E.T.A. beer festivals if you like.

Diversity and turmoil

It started with Pete Brown's excellent rant. How could I not be effected by that? It's troubling me quite a lot and I'm trying to understand it. I agree with Pete's sentiments about the fighting within the industry being counter productive to the overall benefits of the beer industry. However, I also care quite a lot about the issues that are being fought over. Be it the ability of the regular publican to make an honest living, the survival and perhaps growth of cask beer, the right of a brewery to make the strongest beer in Britain and not be criticised for it being so strong despite it being only the same strength as port. It also concerns me that the one consumer beer group confines itself to only one possible dispense method, and yes I know the clue is in it's name, let's not have that one again. I like good beer and like to see it prosper. I like pubs and likewise I am concerned with the difficulties the industry is having.

There is something in particular that Pete wrote which has gnawed at my subconscious since I read his post.

"So what do we do in 2009? Form a cross-industry lobbying group? Take pre-emptive action against tighter licensing restrictions and more duty rises? Fight back against the misinformation about binge drinking with a concerted, positive campaign about the benefits of moderate drinking and the truth of our wholesome pub culture?" - [No we don't]¹

I realise that there isn't anybody to really represent me. CAMRA help me in their support for real ale, which continues to be the strongest part of my wet sales². I'm a member of the BII, which seems to still be the best for me, but are a quiet ineffectual organisation as far as I can see. The BBPA of course represents the PubCos and regional brewers. The All Party Parliamentary Beer Group does a good job of lobbying but I can't afford to join them directly. I could join SIBA and there might well be some benefits there and I do keep thinking about it.

Then I look wider at my business. As with most pubs these days, the majority of my revenue is not in fact from cask at all³. I also sell keg beers, bottled beers, wine, whisky, food and accommodation. It is true that the cask beer is an expectation most of my customers have, but then they also have an expectation of clean sheets and toilet rolls.

I can see why Fair Pint are using underhand and possibly illegal tactics against the BBPA. Being run by the powerful major beer tie reliant companies the BBPA are a giant that Fair Pint are struggling against. Equally, the BBPA are there to defend their members, so the fight is inevitable. I can't help feeling that the BII and Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association are piggy in the middle and not really sure what to do. I don't really know the answer to this one, but it does look a little messy and it would have been better not getting to this stage.

Meanwhile, I look on a little bemused at the discussions that have developed over some lager being banned from a CAMRA festival. Oliver Thring has written an article on the Guardian website which has generated a lot of interest. Tandleman takes up the case for CAMRA in response;

".....the mistaken assumption that CAMRA is an umbrella organisation for beer. It quite simply isn't. CAMRA's role, as defined by its constitution, is to promote and defend the interests of cask conditioned ale."

You can't argue with that.

At this point I want to explore the position from the pub perspective. It is almost impossible, although I'll admit not entirely, to run a pub with no lager whatsoever. It is possible, although with difficulties, to run a pub with options of more diverse lagers. I know, because that's what I do. In fact it is more likely that if a pub majors in cask it is also likely to experiment with more unusual keg products too. I would argue this strengthens the position of the pub from a real ale point of view all the more.

I understand the opposition to any beers at a CAMRA festival that use bottled CO₂, but perhaps there are some softer issues here. If at a festival a craft brewed lager is presented then it might have some effects that are beneficial to cask beer. Firstly, there is something there for the potential converts to try, those that do like something cold, fizzy and less challenging. Secondly, the beer fans will recognise and perhaps even try the product so next time they are going to that weird pub that doesn't serve any recognisable big brands with their reluctant mates they can reassure them that there really is a decent lager to try. And really, it will be cold and fizzy, not warm and flat. It's an easier move out of a comfort zone of the macro brewed fizz to craft lager than a straight jump to cask.

To return to the assertion that CAMRA is not an umbrella beer organisation I'd like to make observations. I think there is a need for this non-existent umbrella beer organisation and it's need is not going away, nor is it likely to. Meanwhile, CAMRA is the next best thing and I think will remain the focus for the void. Beer and pubs are intertwined and most pubs sell less cask than keg. CAMRA support pubs and so are even more likely to continue to come under scrutiny for their inherent and inevitable disdain of keg beer.

If I now try and look at this overall picture of the organisations on all sides of the beer world I see a very diverse mêlée of potentially confrontational perspectives. Is it perhaps an inevitable result of the great diversity in our beer and pub culture that there will be clashes of opinion. It is because we have an interesting and complex situation, which makes for an exciting world, that we will inevitably have diversity of opinion as well.

I didn't start writing this as another CAMRA blasting article. I'm more hoping to illuminate why there is so much of it about. And we don't need more of the "it's in the name" replies to this, we know that one and presumably as CAMRA is a democratic organisation 120,000 people can't be wrong. Pete Brown says he's "sitting very closely outside the industry looking in" I feel I'm only just in the industry and the closest I've got to a useful organisation is CAMRA and that's not quite what I need. In fact, much of the time I feel I'm further from the centre of the industry than Pete is and I've also got one foot firmly outside.

In conclusion I feel I've asked more questions here than I've answered. I wrote this yesterday and parked it for proof reading this morning. It seems this blogs twin⁴ Pencil and Spoon might also be looking at the same issues. I need to stop writing and start reading.

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¹ Your right, Pete doesn't write "No we don't" at this point. He writes something far more colourful and rightly gives his true thoughts on the matter. But as I'll ask Ann to proof read this before I post it, I'm limiting it to these words.

²55% of my total alcohol sales plus another 5% "cask" cider.

³Cask only makes up 16% of my total revenue.

⁴Mark Dredge started Pencil and Spoon exactly the same day as I started this one.

Don't Like Lager

Having been shooting from the hip on such subjects as extreme beers and the tie when commenting on other blogs, I feel I should just calm down a bit and stop upsetting people. Perhaps somethings just won't change. Certainly glib and ill thought out commenting is likely only to entrench opinion. Both of these subjects are of great interest to me but need careful thought before writing further.

Last night we managed to get out for a couple of hours. Prior to leaving I had caught sight of Jeff's post about lager. Readers might have noticed that it's been really warm of late. Ideal weather for lager drinking one would think. Go on then I thought, Jeff is always going on about how much lager is demonized in some quarters, I can't proclaim to be a broad minded beer drinker if I don't give it a go. I think Ann just about fell off her bar stool when I ordered it.

What I do think is important when serving a drink is appropriate glassware. Some might ask what difference it makes. Well I think it's an insult to Budvar to put it in a Carling glass. OK, the nucleating glass did give attractive swelling bubbles rising in the glass and maintained the head for the whole time I drank the beer, but putting the wrong beer in the wrong glass gives the impression of couldn't care less from the bar staff.

But, glassware aside, did I enjoy the beer? Well, yes, maybe a little. As with all beer drinking, it was at least enjoyable because of the good company around the bar. Budvar has got better flavour than the beer that the glass belonged to. But it still doesn't quite do it for me. After that I had a pint of a Brakspear cask beer. Now that was really nice.

So, what's wrong with me? Many of the beer connoisseurs I know are arguing that there are some very fine lagers. To be truly broad minded about beer, and I want to be, I should accept good lager as a quality drink.

I have come to the conclusion that it's conditioning. No, I don't mean carbonation levels but the deep instilled opinions that become rooted in ones subconscious. From a very early time in my drinking career lager drinking was synonymous with getting into trouble. I drank bitter or stout or wine or single malts. Perhaps I might try sherry or port or rum. I did so because I believed that's what nice people did. Part of my upbringing I guess.

It makes me think, perhaps our views on the tie, or the strength of or the correct dispense volume of beer and many other manner of opinion are rooted deep in our subconscious.

Diversification

We've all heard about the drop in beer sales and the even bigger drop of beer sales in on-licence premises. I include here the latest chart made using data from the BBPA site. If I've done everything right you should be able to click on the image to get a full sized view of the chart.

Let me know if it didn't work.

Really, this is old news. The red line, showing sales in pubs and other places licensed to sell beer for consumption on the premises is getting close to the green line which is off licence sales. The total amount, the blue line, is falling more slowly.

The UK has a population of 58 million. We drink between us about 30 million barrels of beer a year. That's just a tad less than 1/2 a barrel a year each. or 144 pints a year or less than 3 pints each a week. I'm more than doing my share then. The average person consumes not much more than a pint of beer in a pub a week.

What of course is alarming is that the drop of beer sales for pubs is around 1/3. This represents a drop of revenue, for which there is little I suspect we can do. The most common recommended course of action for the licensee is to look into diversification. This does have certain merits for some establishments.

What I really want to explore though, is the misguided concept that it's as simple as that. Diversification also represents increased complexity. Simple and complex are diametrically opposing concepts.

We have a diversified business. We have accommodation, we do food, we brew beer and we sell maps and books. This level of diversification results in a complexity of business that is difficult to sustain. I think I shall just bullet point the main problems with this.

• A business that is operational 7am - 1am, with potential problems 24 hours per day.
• Residents check in at the times the bar and kitchen are busy.
• Bookings enquiries for rooms normally occur in the evening, when we are busy with customers.
• The kitchen is in use all day, making maintenance difficult.
• The number of products we buy make the accounts tiresome for the turnover value.
• I have to do my beer duty, which is normally late, and I don't get around to invoicing for CAMRA festivals.
• I have to beat off beer label collectors with a big stick.
• A small pub is a very tying business for the owners. A more diverse one is even harder to leave in the hands of staff.

Diversification is not a simple as it seems.

There are other things I end up doing as a result of our brewing diversification. Showing people the brewery and talking about how it is made, for example. The fact of the matter is I enjoy this aspect, so I shan't complain.

Bottled Up

Some days I wonder why I blog. Surely I could do something better with my time? Well loads actually. But more and more these days I bump into somebody who has read this blog. I like that.

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Mike, a local guy who had been to my pub before. I didn't remember him, but he seemed to know I had a keen interest in beer. He had amassed a large collection of beer bottles and he had decided that it had just grown far too big for his house. Not wanting to throw them away he turned to us as first choice as a place that might display his bottles. He brought them here today.

 

It turns out he reads this blog, which might explain why he chose me as custodian of his prize collection. We think there might be around 500 bottles here, each one different and from all over the world. Now all we have to do is find a place to display them.

 

Thanks Mike, the only problem is it shows up my poor attempt at trying different beers.

I believe they care

So what did we go to Brussels for again? We went to take Cumbrian cask conditioned ale to some MEPs and show just what is special about the British pub. Maybe I just wanted to prove I could take cask ale all that way, rack and tap it and be able to serve it at the right temperature. Paul Nunny of Cask Marque checked the beer. 11.8 centigrade I believe was the temperature. More importantly Mike Benner, chief exec of CAMRA (right) said "You've set a new standard for cask ale in Brussels". Wow, can't get better than that eh? If they had looked very closely they might have seen some beer was just not quite as bright as I'd like. It had travelled 550 miles by road and a cross channel boat ride to get there. I'm guessing it was a little shook up.

Many MEPs appreciated that effort. Godfrey Bloom (UKIP) has to be the best. We only took 2 pint glasses. Godfrey, bless him, snatched one and held onto it all night. "Can't drink out of them 1/4 litre things, people will think I'm a Lib Dem or something." mmmm...

Irrespective of party, the assembled MEPs seemed genuinely concerned about our pub and brewing industry. If only I could remember who they all were.

Anyway, Mike made a great speech which then got backed up and gaps filled in by, oh, now I forget, was it the SIBA guy or the BBPA fella? Well, a great amateur journalist I am. Tosh, whoever it was, good points were well made.
On the Saturday before we sailed I sent out a press release about our endeavour. Well you didn't think I was going to go to all that trouble and not raise at least a little bit of publicity did you?

Within an hour I had the local BBC on the telephone. Radio Cumbria I believed. They wanted an interview for the news bulletins and I agreed they could telephone me before I crossed the channel the following morning. I told them we were crossing around lunchtime. Wrong!

Finally I got the call as we were waiting to board the ferry at about 10am. Just as we were reaching the end of the interview the queue started to move. Starting the engine cuts out the bluetooth hands free - the interviewer said, once I picked up the phone, that he had everything he needed. I still get that feeling something was left unsaid....

Most of the setting up was done on Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning we returned to finish a few tasks and then off around Brussels for some sightseeing. No sooner had we found the Christmas market than the mobile rang. It was ITV wanting to film our bar, today in fact, soon. Not only that they wanted to film somebody drinking the beer.

OK, rush back across town to the hotel and get changed into something respectable. Back to the Brewers of Europe. Damn, the lines haven't been cleaned yet! Will the beer be clear? A quick, but significantly insufficient line cleaning procedure was undertaken. My beer was like pea soup still, Keswick's was not quite there. David from CLA cheats and uses conditioning tanks, a fair bet. Yup, his Wicked Jimmy was ready to roll.

Over the course of 4 days I think we did 6 media interviews. Our main theme of course was the number of pubs closing. 36 a week. 1 in 8 before 2012. What can the MEPs in Brussels do? Not much in reality except perhaps loosen the EU rules on VAT and duty so that draft beers can have a favourable rate over packaged drinks. But still, I met some interesting people and my pub got mentioned on local radio and TV.

The next morning we had to get back to the venue early to pack up. InBev had an event there that evening. I had got there early enough to park right outside the door. The InBev event organiser then complained because his lorry had nowhere to park. So I had to park across the road because their many people could not possibly carry everything that few extra yards, sorry, meters. Great I thought. Massive global brewer muscles tiny micro out of the way.

But before we left we saw a couple of interesting things. First the dispense technique for Stella Artoir. In the picture the text reads

"The Removal

Your bartender then closes the tap...........and moves the glass away from the font to prevent any drops from falling into the glass. These drops come into contact with the air, and oxidise, making them unworthy of your glass of Stella Artois."

Now firstly, any oxidisation will add flavour to the beverage, which in this case can be no bad thing. Secondly, do we really think that any Stella Artois drinker is going to give a hoot about oxidisation, or know it if it hit him in the face?

Still, it's nice to know that beer production is such an ancient art form. We also found in the same building a stone tablet depicting Egyptian beer making.

The best bit about the trip was the return cargo of beer. I'm currently drinking Bush Amber 12%, before that I had an Orval 6.2%

Tomorrow I think I'll post about Belgian bars, beer and food and smoking.