The BeerCast

Recently I was listening to an episode of the excellent Craft Beer Radio, where hosts Jeff and Greg were discussing a list that had been published on blogcritics.org regarding the top seven trends in craft brewing for 2010. They make interesting reading, particularly with our interpretation on how those trends are currently being reflected in the UK real ale industry. The article states that in the US, craft beer made up 7.2% of industry output and 4.3% of sales in 2009. Over here, the real ale share of the market was 13.5% in 2009, according to a CAMRA study authored by Pete Brown.

It’s always interesting to compare and contrast the brewing scenes on both sides of the Atlantic, and also the demands of the drinking public on respective sides of the pond. The higher percentage figure of ‘craft ale’ sales over here could well be down to this last point, as the historical importance of the pub would (and hopefully always will) boost the stats as a readily-found source of cask ale. In the US, although probably the 7.2% of the American beer industry would dwarf the UK scene, they are vastly outnumbered by the major brewing conglomerates, even if the Molson-Coors, AB-Inbev’s of the world are suddenly struggling.

1. Nano- and Micro-Breweries

The first trend for 2010 on the list relates to the shrinking in scale of producers, from local and regional brewers to those occupying a smaller space, or even producing only for their neighbourhoods. This has to be a result of several factors – the increasing availability of brewing equipment, the promotion of local producers in the food industry, and the increasing popularity of decent beer prompting more people to ‘have a go’. The aforementioned industry domination by a few behemoth names can only add to this trend.

These examples hold on either side of the Atlantic – over here, more and more individual bespoke breweries are appearing. In Scotland we have small-scale producers brewing for specific pubs (Plockton, Moulin, Ayr Brewing Co) who have started to creep outwards from their base, not to mention dedicated enthusiasts who rent time and space at established breweries to put out their products (Luckie Ales, Knops Beer Company). However, the unfortunate demise of Windie Goat in Failford shows how much of a knife-edge these tiny start-ups inhabit.

2. Sour Beers

This is one that the US currently seems to be going alone – the Belgian-ification of craft brewing. The list highlights a number of American producers who are embracing the sour flavours – The Bruery (San Diego), Russian River (San Francisco), Avery (Denver), New Belgium (Denver), and Cascade (Portland). It’s not difficult to imagine the appeal of sour styles to brewers – the chance to try something different and to pay homage to one of the great underused brewing styles of the world. The problem is that they just don’t appeal to enough beer drinkers to merit more than a seasonal or one-off approach.

This is a shame (and I speak as someone who really tried to like Cantillon Gueuze when in Brussels). The UK doesn’t seem to be willing to embrace the sour revolution first begun in Belgium and now catching on in America. This could be because by and large the US scene already comes up with unusual styles and flavours, whereas the British pub goer appreciates a more subtly balanced session beer. Likewise (but with a few notable exceptions) British brewers aren’t rushing to take risks with their product lines. Also the domination of the pub here means the growing trend there of pairing beer with food gives the American brewers a multitude of outlets for more interesting flavour combinations.

3. Locally Produced Beer in Restaurants

Carrying on with that theme, the US National Restaurant Association found that 79% of restaurants viewed local wine and beer as a hot trend in 2010, and 62% of these surveyed viewed micro-brewed and craft beer as a hot trend. I really can’t imagine what the corresponding figures would be over here – probably more than I would expect, but still nowhere near that level of experimentation. The most common foodstuff consumed with British real ale would be a packet of crisps – restaurants here still don’t get it, there’s just less of a mentality in the UK for pairing beer with food.

Of course there are exceptions, such as the excellent Eat17 restaurant in Walthamstow, which features its own signature beer brewed for them by Brodies of Leyton. Multi-award winning Meantime in Greenwich also pair plenty of food with their beers at the Old Brewery restaurant by the Thames (although of course they own both the restaurant and the brewery). In terms of pubs, CAMRA created the LocAle scheme in 2007 to encourage public houses to rely more on locally-produced cask ale, and this has been a great success, promoting smaller-scale brewers over national suppliers wherever possible.

4. Creative Labelling

The trends list mentions wine producers seeking labels that stand out and that are also easy to remember – and that this is increasingly also true of the craft beer industry in America. It makes good marketing sense to create a niche for your products (provided there’s room to manoeuvre), particularly if there are others trying to share that space. In the UK, it’s more of an issue with wine as anyone who’s wandered around Sainsbury’s trying to pick a bottle can attest to – but beer certainly can follow in the same footsteps.

The traditional saucy cartoon-style pumpclip or label isn’t to everyone’s taste however. The older trend in the UK of wacky beer names really only appeals to the stereotypical bearded real ale drinker CAMRA are trying to move away from. But you could argue that these cheesy examples played their part in making cask ale stand out – even if the price paid was prospective drinkers having to squint at a small oval of cardboard to try and work out whether they really wanted a pint of Owd Jockstrap after all.

British beer labelling today is full of creative efforts that really stand out – the insert photos on this post are details from some of the best current examples. (From top to bottom they are…Humpty Dumpty Reedcutter, York Brewery Yorkshire Terrier, Meantime Chocolate Stout, BrewDog Atlantic IPA, Hopdaemon Skrimshander IPA, Williams Bros Fraoch, Tirril Brewery Academy Ale)

5. Extreme Beer

Surely this is one of the trends that the UK is currently blazing a trail with – and all down to the L’enfant terrible of British beer, BrewDog. The article mentions them straight off, highlighting their 32% and 41% beers (Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck! respectively). Of course since then The End of History (55%) has been released, firmly pushing the Fraserburgh duo up into first place in the extreme beer wars. Over the pond, Sam Adams Utopia tops out at 27% - and there are plenty of people who think the record stops with them, as Utopia isn’t freeze ‘distilled’ like BrewDog’s or Schorschbräu’s (whenceforth the argument usually descends into semantics and brewing tech-speak).

The overall trend is that American beer drinkers prefer stronger beers to their UK counterparts. This, again, is down to the role of the pub and the desire for a night’s drinking rather than a bang-for-your-buck mentality. That’s not to say American drinkers are alcohol-primed loners eschewing company over their 12% imperial IPA’s. It’s just that due to the history of relatively weaker beers over here, you could argue that the British ale drinker has a higher appreciation for the subtleties of beer, whereas his or her American counterpart revels in unusual, palate-challenging combinations (which by the competitive nature of craft breweries will contain unusual ingredients).

6. Hybrid Styles

That inherent (if admittedly stereotypical) difference between the wants of an American and UK ale drinker reflects in the sixth trend on the list of seven – the rise of hybrid styles. It gives some fantastic examples of experimental added ingredients utilised by US craft brewers – peanut butter, chillies, spices, tea leaves – most of which I can’t imagine taking off over here. Of course, we do have some examples – Bruce and Scott Williams started off brewing the heather ale Fraoch in 1988, and now have a core range of traditional beers alongside their Williams Bros beers. East Anglia’s Fox Brewery put out Nelson’s Blood, a bitter mixed with spiced rum – and of course BrewDog use plenty of fantastic ingredients in their stronger brews.

Americans generally aren’t interested in 4% session beers, and the rise of ranking websites such as RateBeer (on which you can now find me – BeerCast_Rich) mean that the desire to pigeonhole ales into specific categories inevitably means the addition of a few extra adjuncts will make classification more difficult. The growth areas of the innovative American craft brewers – wood aged beers, souring agents, combining unexpected ingredients – are slowly making their way over here (aged beers being the frontrunner at the moment) – but surely there are plenty of British real ale brewers who have the desire to experiment, and the skill to pull it off.

7. Collaboration Beers

Publicity drives any business, and the rewards for teaming up with another producer can be very tempting. Creating a collectable, limited-edition brand – not to mention the pooling of ideas, experience and equipment are all good reasons to tempt brewers along this path – irrespective of their location. Currently the trend for collaboration beers is strongest in the US, and the list gives such examples as DogFish Head and Sierra Nevada’s Life & Limb series – but over here too there are examples. BrewDog are fairly popular bedfellows, with their excellent Devine Rebel in collaboration with Danish producer Mikkeller, and their Stone brew Bashah also winning praise.

So what conclusions can we draw from this list? It seems at the moment that most of these US craft brewing trends for 2010 can be applied to the UK real ale brewing industry, albeit with several provisos revolving around the differences between their target audiences. As British drinkers learn to experiment more, and American craft breweries run out of ideas, the two will overlap to a greater extent – but are either of those things really likely? Time will tell, but in the meantime all of us are going to be able to choose between an increasingly interesting beer scene (wherever we live), which is surely good news for everybody.

This Year’s Top 7 Craft Beer Trends (Blogcritics)

The famed Whitstable Oyster Festival is taking place at the moment, in the agreeable seaside town on the north Kent coast known throughout the country for it’s slippery bivalves. However, an outbreak of shellfish herpes virus has decimated the cultivated molluscs in the area, further punishing a beleaguered industry already suffering from reduced harvests. In a rather unfortunate piece of irony, the disease won’t directly affect the festival as most sold during the week-long celebration are imported from the Channel Islands – the oyster beds around the town just aren’t sustainable enough anymore. Recently the organisers were having to turn to the Pacific rock oyster beds sited on other parts of the Kent Coast – but these are the ones now dying from the virus. However the contingency plans to import them from further afield have been called into action to supply enough of the salty critters for people to slurp.

Running alongside the main bivalve-related spectacular are other festivals – including one dedicated to beer. A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the town (in 30ºC heat, no less) and managed to pick up a six-pack of Whitstable Brewery ales. Owned by the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company the brewery is not actually based in the town, but 20-odd miles away near the small (but wonderfully named) village of Grafty Green. As the WOFC owns the hotel and bar on the seafront, they have a great outlet for their range of bottled and cask ales. I was particularly keen to try their 4.1% East India Pale Ale, but unfortunately neither the pub nor the restaurant had it on at the time, and I couldn’t get hold of the bottled version. But I did find a multipack of their other staples to take home…

Whitstable Pilsner (4.9%)
Pilsners seem to be a hot topic at the moment, and are prefect for the hot days of summer that seem to affect Kent far more than Scotland. Whitstable’s version of the style delivers very nicely, pouring a perfectly golden colour with mild carbonation and a brilliant clarity. There’s a slight aroma of hops but thankfully a much more interesting taste as the Saaz push their way to the fore. The bitterness is joined by a pleasing earthiness and a soft finish. As Bohemians go, it’s a pretty accomplished example.

Whitstable Wheat ( 5.2%)
The next style that came out of the box was their wheat beer, made in the Bavarian style. Right from the off it’s a classic, down the lines wheat beer - massively carbonated, with a furiously dispersing head. I counted down two inches of frothing to nothing in twenty seconds, which is quite something. A hazy orange, golden pale colour, the staple wheat beer aromas of banana, citrus and coriander are evident. The taste is bitter at first, with a sweet wheaty aftertaste and a touch of alcohol – almost spoiled by the burstingly fizzy mouthfeel, reminiscent of a sparkling wine. But it’s pretty good Weiss all considered.

Raspberry Wheat (5.2%)
Fruit comes next as the third beer in the box is Raspberry Wheat (there are one of each of the wheats, two each of the others). Pouring a deep cloudy red colour, it smells jam-like, with some sweetness. There are raspberry flavours but it’s pretty subtle stuff, the gentle fruit flavours never really come to the fore like you hope they will. After a slight burst at the beginning, they fade into a dry finish that peters out into little else.

Whitstable Oyster Stout (4.5%)
There’s no way any self-respecting brewery from Whitstable could get away with not putting out an oyster stout, considering the town’s (and drink’s) long association with the bivalves. Oysters have long been served as humble tavern food, and so were often paired with the original darker styles of beer in the UK. After WWII some brewers began adding the molluscs to the brewing process, when the craze for stouts as a health drink (‘Guinness is good for you’ etc) hit it’s peak. Whitstable’s version doesn’t contain the shellfish, they just recommend the pairing.

As you’d expect, it’s very black, totally opaque, and with the attractive tan-coloured head a stout should sport. There’s a dark roasty aroma which follows into the taste, which then moves through into an almost tangy aftertaste, which is very dry. There are hints of coffee, and something almost like salt – making me wonder if there are actually some of the little fellas in there. Without much sweetness to offset these dark, dry flavours it almost becomes a bit much after a while – but it’s worth persevering with, and would certainly complement a plate of oysters very well (if I ate them, that is – having previously studied commercial shellfish parasitology I lost my love for bivalves…)

Whitstable Brewery website
Whitstable Oyster Festival 2010

There’s definitely a reason why BrewDog elicit more conversation and comment than any other Scottish brewer – arguably any other British brewer. Just when you think their last wacky stunt is the peak of ingenuity/madness, within a couple of months there’s another press release, another bizarre and totally pointless beer that enters the market. Anybody who has come across the work of the Fraserburgh twosome will be familiar with the marketing angle they have taken (and well and truly cornered – in the UK at least). The ‘us against them’ mentality (usually the ‘them’ being the Portman Group or the rightwing press, or both), the uncompromising and often nonsensical language on their products.

But underneath all this is the foundation – some very good beers. We’ve been writing about and featuring BrewDog’s output ever since we started (the BeerCast and BrewDog both began life in April 2007). To be honest, they make it very easy to write about them – the attention-grabbing releases, packaging and branding. And they are at it again. Announced today is the zenith of their ‘abv war’ with all and sundry – most notably the German producer Schorschbräu – over who can (or would want to) brew the “beer” with the highest alcohol content. Following in the footsteps of Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32%) and Sink the Bismarck! (41%) is their newest offering The End of History (55%). Oh, and it comes in rather unusual packaging – roadkill.

Yes, for £500 you can acquire a bottle of The End of History inside a real, dead stoat. Splash out another two hundred and get a £700 grey squirrel jacket. I’m guessing the animals are somehow attached to the bottle, and you can’t transfer the stoat to your next 330ml bottle – it would make a talking point at barbecues, after all. The actual beverage inside is Belgian-style blonde infused with juniper and nettles. There’s no mention on the website of how they come about the 55% abv – which is a shame given all the discussion on what constitutes a beer once you get beyond around 25%. But as the whole ethos of BrewDog revolves around fucking the trend, once again their specific brewing methods will get people talking.

Surely there’s no way back from this – where the hell do they go next? Quintuple hopping IPA’s? Making leather-effect bottle labels out of skin flakes from Tom Jones? The trouble with an astonishing stunt like The End of History – which is surely what it can only be – is how you top it. As the name of the beer refers to Francis Fukuyama’s theory of the pinnacle (and therefore end) of evolution, maybe it signals the end of BrewDog’s crazy phase once and for all, not just the end of their abv one-upmanship race with Schorschbräu.

It would be great if they could henceforth stick to what they do best – things like the outstanding Hardcore IPA, Trashy Blonde, 77 lager, Atlantic IPA - now more than ever would be the time to switch to a Stone/Dogfish Head-esque mentality of strong (i.e. 7-12%), flavourful craft beers. Of course, this is pretty much what they do already – it’s just that their fantastic core beers are overshadowed by the stunts. It’s time for BrewDog to flood the market – not with outlandish press releases, but with their everyday beers – to show those people intrigued by the publicity that behind all the self-indulgent controversy there are actually two highly talented brewers.

**UPDATE** All bottles sold out on the first day of release **UPDATE**

The End of History release, BrewDog blog

We never thought that we’d make it all the way to fifty podcasts – and if you’ve listened to our first few then probably you didn’t either – but here we are. Three years and 181 beers later and we’re having a mini celebration in honour of our half century. We thought long and hard about what to do for a 50th show, eventually deciding on the popular ‘bring a beer’ theme, only with a more explosive feel to it. Podcast regulars Richard, MrB, Shovels and Grooben were tasked with sourcing an unusual, rare or liver-trembling beer to put to the panel, and the results were pretty spectacular.

We ended up with (literally) some real corkers, as we begin with Grooben’s offering – Neuzeller Anti-Aging Bier (4.8%) from Germany, containing specific ingredients to actually make you younger. Apparently. Next up was Richard’s choice – the limited edition BrewDog Abstrakt AB:01 (10.2%), a vanilla bean-infused Belgian-style quad from Fraserburgh’s finest. Third on the podcast was Sierra Nevada Estate 2009 (6.7%). Provided by Shovels, this wet-hopped ale is pretty rare this side of the Atlantic. Finally MrB rounds things off in enormous fashion, unveiling Brasserie d’Achouffe’s Big Chouffe Anno 2010 (8.0%), a magnum of their famed La Chouffe blond ale. Thanks to all for providing, and special thanks to everybody who has downloaded, listened to, or commented on one of our podcasts over the years. Here’s to fifty more!

1. Neuzeller Anti-Aging Bier (4.8%abv)
Klosterbrauerei Neuzelle GmbH, Neuzelle, Brandenburg, Germany. 500ml glass bottle

There are well-established health benefits of drinking good beer – the high levels of Vitamin B6 can protect against heart disease, for example – but the claims on a bottle of Neuzeller Anti-Aging Bier (4.8%) take things even further. Several bizarre-sounding adjuncts have been added, resulting in an elixir of youth – this beer actually claims to make you younger (although this may be as a result of the beer acting on the antioxidant Vitamin E in the body). Flavonoids are naturally found in hops, but by adding more in their beer Klosterbrauerei are really pushing the anti-carcinogen properties of the nation’s favourite drink. But just when you’re sold on the idea, discovering the beer has algae added as well sounds very strange, and when a quick check of their website reveals Klosterbrauerei also make a Badebier – ‘bath beer’ – ”for outside application as bath salts and for internal application as a beverage”, then the mind really boggles.

What They Say -
“We have now formulated an “anti-aging” beer. Having consulted with several universities and health institutes, our beer contains: Water from hotsprings, rich in minerals, flavonoids, beer (malt, water, hop, yeast), and spirulina (Algae).” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels - I quite like that, it reminds me of Erdinger Dunkel 8
Grooben - I wanted to find something completely different! 7
Richard - Smells a bit portery but with that extra vegetable hint that must be the algae 6½
MrB - Presumably all other beer is pro-aging? 6

2. BrewDog Abstrakt AB:01 (10.2%abv)
BrewDog Ltd, Fraserburgh, Scotland. 750ml glass bottle

BrewDog are without doubt the most talked-about brewery in Scotland, with their charismatic press releases and wacky ideas. Not afraid to experiment, at times they produce some fantastic beers – and at others some pretty duff ones. But there’s no denying they always elicit strong opinions. What is often overlooked amidst all the hoo-hah over 41% beers and Portman Group-baiting is that they have only been going for just over three years. The first BrewDog brew rolled off the Kessock plant lines in April 2007 – which by a rather neat co-incidence was the exact month the BeerCast began as well. So with that in mind, and given the numerous BrewDog beers featured over the years on these pages and podcasts, it would be remiss of us not top try their newest (at time of press) offering – the limited edition Abstrakt AB:01, the first of a new concept brand from the Aberdeenshire duo.

What They Say -
“Abstrakt will only ever brew and release a beer once. BrewDog’s Abstrakt is about exciting, progressive and conceptual beers, beers which not only push the boundaries but smash them up completely.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB - The first taste was lovely, it’s like a Belgian tripel 8½
Richard - Sweet full mouthfeel but the alcohol balances it out 8½
Shovels - Subtle for BrewDog, not much aftertaste apart from alcohol 8½
Grooben - It’s got sweetness but I wouldn’t have guessed vanilla 7

3. Sierra Nevada Estate (2009) (6.7%abv)
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, Chico, California, USA.
710ml glass bottle (24oz US)

Sierra Nevada are one of the cornerstones of American craft brewing, and as a result have almost unrivalled access to types and strains of hops. Hailing from California, their mighty reach spreads all the way to the hopgrounds of Washington State, where they conduct research into new strains and varieties. They also like to experiment, and a few years ago came up with the idea of brewing a seasonal ale using only freshly-picked hops, rather than waiting for dried or using a combination of dried and fresh. This ‘wet hop’ ale is produced every Autumn, and as you’d expect has a pretty hefty hop whack about it. We sampled the 2009 Estate vintage, purchased from the excellent UtoBeer stall in London’s Borough Market, which only contains ingredients sourced from the Sierra Nevada estate in Chico.

What They Say -
“This Estate Ale is rich with the flavors of the valley—featuring hops with earthy, grapefruit-like flavors and layered spicy aromas and barley with mild sweetness and smooth, toasted flavors. Together, these crops grow alongside the brewery to make a truly unique brew.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard - It’s wonderful, there’s a little bit of a spicy edge to it 9
Shovels - More IPA than double IPA, really hoppy but not overpowering 9
MrB - Has extra bitterness compared to sweeter Torpedo IPA 9
Grooben - There’s no way I’m not going to like this 9

4. La Chouffe Big Chouffe (8.0%abv)
Brasserie d’Achouffe, Achouffe, Houffalize, Wallonia, Belgium.
1500ml glass bottle (magnum)

Grape lovers will possibly know the fact that a magnum is 2 standard bottles of wine, or 1½ litres for the metric types amongst us. In Belgium – as pretty much every grain lover knows – they do things just a little bit bigger and better, so why not have a magnum of beer? Brasserie d’Achouffe’s bending gnome (‘Chouffe’ in Walloon dialect) grins out from beer fridges and bottle-shop shelves throughout the beery world. Their flagship 8% blond ale La Chouffe is released every year in a hefty magnum, which is branded Big Chouffe, and has a customised alternate label drawn by a famous comic artist. The 2010 vintage collected by MrB (from the Brasserie itself, in person, no less) was illustrated by Johan de Moor, son of legendary Belgian cartoonist Bob de Moor.

What They Say -
“La Chouffe is an unfiltered blonde beer, which is refermented in the bottle as well as the keg. It is pleasantly fruity, spiced with coriander, and with a light hop taste.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB - Had it on draught and liked it, it’s just as good in the bottle 8
Richard - I can taste the coriander and cloves in there 7½
Grooben - Doesn’t taste 8%, I give it an extra point for the bottle 7
Shovels - I usually have a problem with Belgian beers because of the alcohol strength, but it’s drinkable for a wheat beer 7

Panellists - (clockwise from top left) Grooben, MrB, Shovels, Richard

BeerCast panel verdict
Sierra Nevada Estate 2009 (36/40)
BrewDog Abstrakt AB:01 (32½/40)
Brasserie d’Achouffe Big Chouffe (29½/40)
Neuzeller Anti-Aging Bier (27½/40)

Stay tuned for our next podcast, as we get back into the more regular swing of things with BeerCast #51, an episode revolving around some of the other things MrB brought back from his trip to Alsace and Belgium ….

As we’ve said before, we’re big fans of Orkney here on the BeerCast (not least panellist Grooben who grew up there), and the ales that come from that part of the world, courtesy of Sinclair Orkney and Highland. Rob Hill started off at the first, and then left to found the second. It’s been a tremendous few weeks for the Swannay brewery, recently winning the Champion Beer of Scotland with Orkney Blast. Of course, Dark Munro won in 2007 and Scapa Special in 2008 [Sinclair got their own back in 2009 when Raven Ale got the gong], the islands are dominating the beer festivals. Bottled beers have become more and more important for Highland, having released their first batch in 2004. I’ve managed to track down most of them, until finding Orkney IPA (4.8%) in one of our local Edinburgh-area bottle shops (probably having been hand-delivered by Rob’s son Lewis).

The label isn’t short of superlatives, advertising “A world-class IPA”, and “A stunningly hopped modern IPA”. It’s extremely pale and golden, with a bustling initial fizz that totally disperses within thirty seconds. The aroma is really eye-opening - massive tropical fruit, with only some hops, and a touch of citrus. The taste is sweet hops, with a slightly building dry finish that pushes into a long hop aftertaste. This is the best part of the flavour - the incredibly fruity mango start is pretty sweet for an IPA, which is probably also due to the sub 5%abv not supplying an alcohol kick. But the back end saves it, and that refreshing aftertaste makes it a very good session beer indeed.