Craft beer, it not Glam Rock!

For a while now I've struggled in seeing what makes some of the craft beers seem so popular. Palate wise some of them are not always so great, they can be inconsistent, some have off flavours and with many being hop driven, one IPA merges into the next to form a multi-coloured ground hog day wallpaper of similarity. Coming from a background of building strong beer brands where consistency and quality are the cornerstone of the offer, craft beers can exude exactly the opposite.

Beer brands are of course being built in the craft market, just look at Punk IPA from Brewdog, its now the UK's largest IPA in the take home market, bigger than Greene King IPA or St Austell Proper Job, the latter of which is a fine beer, whilst the former is a fine brand, whatever you think of the beer.

So perhaps the attraction craft comes from elsewhere and its not just about the flavour of the beer? Locally brewed beers fit in the craft sector and this is an attraction in itself but not necessarily an asset that will grow a brand outside of its core area, there has to be more to it. So what else?

One of the major factors has to be the design of the can, label or clip. Can designs in particular can be really quite outlandish with colour ways that defy the norm and do just about everything you should not do to get a design noticed but there is no doubt, they work. There seems almost a backlash against what used to conform a good design that reflected tradition, heritage and quality. It now seems right to be different away from accepted normality.

An analogy would be a throw back to the 1970's when the first garish outfits of glam rock hit the TV screens of Top of the Pops which seemed so attractive to young people at the time. Here the garish can designs are now hitting the shelves attracting the young people of today. Glam rock was a fashion in music and clothes which came and went within a few years. Some established brewers would doubtless have felt the craft beer movement would do similar and go as quickly as it came just like Glam rock, but no, that's not the case, craft is here to stay.

1970's Glam rockers, The Sweet

I think the key measure is at what level craft stays. If anyone can predict the answer there are many brewers out there all eager to know. Business decisions made now by both established brewers and craft brewers alike will dictate where some of today's strongest players sit in 5 to 10 years time. All are trying to predict the future and there will be some big winners and even bigger losers. Its true, there are examples of fashions within the drinks market that come and go, for example the smooth flow beers of the late 1990's, although it seems unlikely craft will go the same way as smooth.

Craft will hit a ceiling for certain, just like smooth flow but its no Glam Rock its here to stay. It has shaken up the established market and attracted younger people away from the dreaded standard lager brands. People now appreciate not just the taste, but the design and provenance play an equally big part.

Reflections on the 2017 Alltech Craft Beer & Food Fest, Dublin

 

A weekend spent in Dublin is always enjoyable but combined with the Alltech Craft Beer & Food Festival and a Six Nations rugby weekend to boot, then it always was going to be a winner.

The Craft Beer Festival was run by Alltech, a wonderful multinational business who are very successful in the world of animal feed, meat, distilling and brewing. As part of their business they run and sponsor this particular event that takes place at the impressive Dublin Convention Centre.

The festival lasts for three days and there are over 8,000 visitors with 38 breweries represented serving almost 9,000 litres of craft ale. Most of the breweries are from Ireland but there was a smattering from other counties including St Austell Brewery and Marston's from the UK and Schneider Weisse from Germany. There was also live music from a handful of great bands and live rugby was shown featuring both international games on the Saturday.

What made this event so special was the age group it attracted. At last here was a beer festival offering an informative, professionally run event that was full of younger people. What a contrast to some UK beer festivals! Undoubtedly the tasty craft beers were the main attraction but much care had been taken in providing suitable entertainment, both musical and sporting. Education was also a key part of this event and this included a cooperage demonstration and there were other factorial displays on how beer was brewed and distilling worked. It was also the case that the brewers present were there not just to showcase their beers, but also offer advise and information to an age group that was thirsty not just for beer, but for understanding beer knowledge as well.

The stands were professional and consistent, nothing looked out of place or outshone a neighbour. Alltech had clearly taken great care to ensure this and it paid dividends as the smallest brewers compared well to much larger competitors. The beers were also in good condition and served at a refreshing temperature. Again that's not something you can always say about a UK festival where commercial constraints can dictate that cask beer is sometimes offered too warm and insipid as no cooling is applied. Of course keg beers are the norm in Ireland which are run through a cooler so they had an advantage, but it worked, a refreshing cooler temperature is what younger people preferred.

As you would expect with craft beers there was a numerous selection of beer styles on show although the wild and whacky brews/flavours were perhaps less evident than some other crafty events. There were however some fine beers on show. It seems unfair to select any as being better as I certainly tried only a small number, but I did enjoy beers from the Independent Brewing Co from Co Galway, about as far west as it gets. Also Black Donkey Sheep Stealer, a traditional farmhouse Saison style beer was excellent, whilst the Wicklow Wolf Lobo, a new IPA was reasonably restrained and as a result highly drinkable. There were many good beers to try, brewed by brewers eager to communicate their quality, caring and love for the product.

So would I return? yes of course! I would certainly recommend a visit to this festival next year to anyone interested in the Irish brewing or distilling scene, or even if you just fancy a weekend in Dublin to take the in festival and enjoy the party atmosphere. Well done Alltech, a great event and cant wait for 2018!

Pub Astrays, reminders of the past

Palette Ashtray

As a result of working for many years in brewery and beer marketing ordering Point of Sale (POS),  I've developed a little interest in breweriana, which to those who don't know relates to any article containing a brewery or beer brand name, usually in connection to collecting them as a hobby. I'm a non-smoker but my particular passion is the humble pub ashtray. Rarely seen in-situ now as a result of the smoking law changes, these were once common place and every pub table would feature one.

I've purchased many over the years for my jobs working for Morland Brewery and St Austell Brewery. The cheaper ones were made of glass or melamine but the classic ashtrays were usually formed in ceramic. One of my all time favourites was the palette ashtray from Morland and I confess to acquiring a few of this classic piece from various online auctions.

Old Speckled Hen Ashtray

This ashtray was not one of my designs, but ordering such items did give me the scope to design a piece in conjunction with the supplier. Normally this was not very innovative and it was common to follow the shape of the pump clip and create an ashtray with the clip design in the centre. Seems bizarre now to think we'd encourage people to stub their cigarettes out on our brand names, but that was what we did!

However, as geeky as this interest might be now, saving these items does mean we get to remember the beers and breweries from yesteryear. Plus, we can also see how a brands design and advertising approach may have changed over time as the supporting POS reflects this. I think its really important and interesting to keep these things alive but does lead one to reflect on the very lack of such items of the current beers. For example, just how will we remember the craft beers and modern brands of today if brewers rarely produce POS to support them?

As people drink more at home and less in pubs the need for POS becomes less. Its also true that pub brands are more common now and they tend to use less POS from supplier brands as the messages within the pub needs to be more consistent with their overall offer. The growth of digital marketing has had a huge negative impact on the need to for POS. It certainly makes brands more accessible and reputations are now built online as opposed to more traditional marketing methods, but there is little need for POS to support this media.

So in my view, the once humble and somewhat maligned pub ashtray still has a significant role to play in remembering the beers from the past. If you own such and item, don't throw it away, it will likely never be worth much but they are part of brewing history and of interest to someone. As for todays brands, hopefully someone will come up with the modern day equivalent of the pub ashtray to help us remember all the current exciting and innovative brands. It would be a great shame if in ten years time we have no physical reminders of the beers we love and currently enjoy.

Craft beers - Look, Learn, 330ml IPAs & Flavour

An enjoyable visit to the local craft beer shop has helped me, an over 50's premium ale drinker put some perspective on these beers and their market and also see why young people find them so attractive.

Firstly, the designs of the labels are so different, edgy, unconventional, the contents of the beer is almost secondary. They scream....I'm out of the ordinary! I'm not what your Dad drinks! If you drink me you'll be cool in the eyes of your peers. That's all a bit concerning for the label designs of the established brewers whose brands communicate different values.

Secondly, its about discovery and knowledge. In the shop were two other people, both young men and both interested in learning a little about the brewer of the beers they had chosen as well as how the beer tastes. All very commendable that its not just about the abv, they have a thirst for beer knowledge as well as the beer itself. They were also keen to try new beers, its about discovery as well as having some favourites. Finally, they want their newly discovered brewers to do well and be popular but at the same time its great that a beer is not always available, making it a bit special when found. As a marketer, its like craft is the brand, rather than any of the beers in the category.

Beers that do grow and become well known are still welcome and drinkers want to see successful beers. However, the commercial realities of up scaling heavily hopped beers using expensive third world hops may fall on inexperienced ears.

Thirdly, its about 330ml IPA. In terms of packaging, although there were more 330ml cans on the shelf, there were significantly more 330ml bottles on show and very few 500ml bottles with the exception of some of the German beers. The IPA word acts like a magnet and is still the buzzword and call to action for purchase. Easy communication of beer styles needs to form part of any design and the IPA term seems to transcend all designs, whereas other beer style names are less imposing. Many of the established brewers have still not grasped the importance of beer styles and their key in the decision to buy so here's a chance for the craft brewers to take the lead and get this right. The problem is that the very nature of the powerful and sometimes aggressive label designs leads to confusion on the shelf as each label tries to shout louder than its neighbour to get noticed. Hence the one consistent piece of branding that gets noticed is the beer style i.e. IPA

Finally and somewhat belatedly I think its about quality. This seems less important and drinkers are more accepting of beers that are of less than perfect condition, funkiness as in off flavours is perceived as good in some cases. Other beer styles are slowly coming to the fore, but at the moment its the hop flavour that's desired most and so long as a beer sings spicy citrus and bitter hops all day long, it can overcome its imperfections.

So what of the beers I purchased. I tried a Black Flag White Cross IPA and Beavertown Lupuloid IPA in cans. Both good beers but I preferred the Beavertown beer, it had more depth of flavour, more condition and felt like the brewer had tried to create a blend of hops flavours rather than just add as many hops as possible. I finished with a Saison Dupont, a classic beer and the standard bearer for Saisons. I enjoyed them all, BUT, they certainly left a dent in my pocket and compared to the 500ml Premium Packaged ales I normally buy, I was choosing "discovery and cool" over value for money.

So if this is the future, what of the present? Fear not 500ml bottle drinkers there is plenty to enjoy yet but that's for another blog.





 

Beer & Cheese Together

I've always said at beer tastings that beer and cheese is one of the best beer and food matches you can enjoy and often use cheese as part of my beer talks to demonstrate how flavours work together. I was therefore thrilled to be invited to meet Ian Wellens and his team at the Cheeseshed in Bovey Tracey, Devon to take this a stage further with some refined matches.

The Cheeseshed is an online business specialising in artisan cheeses sourced from the West Country. You won't find the well known brands available here that you can get from any retailer, no its a lot better than that! It is the equivalent of the craft beer shop, bringing to life some fabulous specialist and deliciously characterful cheeses you have never heard of.

Being a Beer Sommelier the one thing I can do reasonably well is to describe the flavour and make up of a beer, but I've never really tried to describe the flavours of cheese and actually, its really quite hard. To me cheese tastes like cheese, I can describe the texture but attributing flavour characteristics in terms of flavours I can recognise, well that's hard. This made the whole task of beer and cheese matching a whole lot more tougher.

So on with the matching. First of all let me say the beers were all St Austell Brewery beers and excellent beers they are too, but they were the easy bit. Here are the suggested matches we came up with.

Tribute & Smarts Single Gloucester. St Austell's flagship Pale ale, Tribute a hop driven beer leading to delicate citrus flavours and very easy to drink. It does not want to be over-powered by the food flavour so this lightly textured cheese with an equally mild mannered flavour was a good partner. Its like for like and they seemed to respect each others strengths.

Mena Dhu Stout & Devon Smoake. A big flavoursome toasted chocolate stout with hints of liquorice and smokiness complemented the Devon Smoake cheese superbly. This match was quite a hit, they went together like carrots and peas. Both have an element of smoke and both have a sweetness, but the rich chocolate of the beer was balanced by the earthy creaminess of the cheese. I've always matched smoked cheeses to Weiss beers in the past for which they work equally well, but certainly a traditional stout is another option.

Proper Job IPA & Cornish Blue. I've always found the citrusy IPA's difficult to match with cheese but the blue cheeses seem to work best. Proper Job is a big resinous pineapple IPA with a solid bitter backbone. Cornish Blue is not the strongest of blue cheeses but that's the trick, it had enough firm creamy texture to balance the natural hop bitterness of the beer and the flavour did not overtake the fruity hops of the beer, both stood out without reaching a tipping point against each other. Cornish Blue is a favourite cheese of mine so I was delighted to include it within the tasting.

HSD & Cornish Yarg. A legendary beer with a likewise cheese. HSD is St Austell's oldest recipe beer and something of a hidden gem. Its a strong malty beer but well balanced with plenty of fruity pear drop esters. Cornish Yarg has a crumbly and creamy texture, quite rich and a hint of lemon. The flavour is more delicate so although a contrast to the beer, they did match really well.

Bad Habit & Francis wash rind cheese from James Cheese makers in Dorset. Bad Habit is a Belgium style tripel, rather like Leffe, its spicy, lemony, blonde and heartily strong. The cheese is pungent with a firm interior and a touch a citrus on the palate. A contrast of flavours, the beer is delicious and will always be the hero but this unusual cheese with a depth of flavour holds up well against it.

Cardinal Syn & Quickes Vintage Cheddar. The biggest beer of all requires one of the biggest cheeses of all. Cardinal Syn is dark, Christmas cake type dark fruits with treacle and esters flavours, full and rich on the palate -  a powerful beast of a beer.  The Vintage Cheddar is matured for two years and has a crumbly texture with a intense rich flavour with hints of caramel - its a very fine and complex cheese indeed. Both are wonderful taste experiences and together they would make the perfect end to the most regal of dinners.

I really enjoyed meeting Ian and his team and hopefully we'll be able to pull together a evening of beer and cheese tasting at some stage. The Cheese Shed offers some wonderful cheeses, its just the same as discovering some wonderful new beers so if you like the sound of them, do visit his website www.thecheeseshed.com Thank you Ian for one of my best mornings work of 2016!

Reflections on Oktoberfest

Enjoying a Stein

I was lucky enough to attend the Oktoberfest in Munich this year, not my first visit to the city, but my first visit to the festival and what a wonderful festival it is.

 If you have experienced UK Beer Festivals then this is nothing like that at all. The main purpose seems to be to drink lots and have a great time, its not about trying lots of different beers, its about drinking a lot of one beer and socialising. That's not to say its just about getting drunk, as the festival offers so much more than just drinking.

If you are part of one of the major brewers tents there is the chance to drink steins of beer and enjoy the merriment on show. Live music, a mix of traditional German oompah and covers of classic rock and pop music, it makes for an entertaining eclectic mix. Our tent was the Hofbrau-Festzelt, one of the largest tents taking almost 6,900 festival goers, it takes three months alone to erect!  However outside of the tents there is a huge funfair and playground aimed at adults and just about every type of fast food offering available.

 

Being in Munich then traditional dress is almost obligatory, men in lederhosen and ladies in Bavarian costume are everywhere, I'd say at least 60% of the people attending were dressed this way. Plus around the city you will see people dressed likewise. Its not something you would feel comfortable wearing in Plymouth city centre, but when in Rome as they say, I rather wish we'd known in advance so we too could have become part of the fabric of the festival by wearing the traditional dress.

It was also true that the Germans are far more accepting of fun, people were stood on benches, stools and tables dancing, singing and swaying to the music, can you imagine that happening at a UK festival!

The beer in Munich was great, strong yes, but easy to drink. An evening around the bars show cased a number of beers including Weiss beers. Lovely drinks, lots of yeast which has an adverse effect on the British constitution.

So would I recommend a visit to Munich and Oktoberfest? Yes if you are into beer its one of the bucket list things to do and its a great experience. Its different from a UK beer festival, but go with an open mind and be prepared to be part of the fun. As for Munich then great city, well worth a visit, Oktoberfest or not. PROST

Sparklers - Friend or Foe?

I recently visited a wonderful Badger Ales pub in Salisbury called the New Inn, a traditional atmosphere and serving Badger Ales at their best. Its a long time since I had a pint of Tanglefoot on draught, but I've always enjoyed this beer so a chance not to miss. When it arrived my wife promptly said it looked flat, insipid and unappetising. She had a point, it had virtually no head, just a little froth. However on tasting then wow! The flavours literally torpedoed my taste buds as it was full of CO2 and condition.

Tanglefoot is a fine beer indeed and often overlooked. However it was served in the traditional manner, no swan neck and above all else, NO sparkler. The latter is what I have a growing dislike for. Designed to add a head to the beer and mainly originating from northern England, the sparkler became all the rage as the fashion for smooth-flow beers grew in the 1990's and people drank with their eyes. The most famous head of which was probably the "Cream of Manchester", Boddingtons Bitter.

Now its certainly true that people do drink with their eyes, we use all our senses when we enjoy beer and a pint with a creamy head can look great to some. However, the sparkler has a huge impact on flavour as well as its impact on looks and can dramatically alter the taste.

The sparkler works by forcing the beer through tiny holes in the sparkler as the beer is poured. The effect is the carbonation in the beer is forced into the head of the beer and not within the body of the beer. The result on flavour is that CO2 enhances bitterness so the if the beer has less, it can taste soapy, soft and a little flat. Less CO2 also means all those lovely fruity hop flavours the brewers have worked so hard to install in the beer are not as evident as they should be, so the sparkler has changed the character of the beer.

Depending on your viewpoint the sparkler has a negative or positive financial effect. The large head it generates can lead to a pint that has less than the 95% of beer in a brim full 20oz glass. Very bad news for the customer, but great news for the licensee and the pub owner as yields and profits go up. No wonder some pub groups have a policy that sparklers must be used!

The Sparkler

The large head can also have an impact on glass design and choice. Long slim glassware with narrow heads can make the effect of the sparkler worse, meaning more head and less beer. Some licensees find these styles of glasses generate more wastage as they try to compensate for the large head by over-pouring. The net effect is the long slender elegant glass is not liked for this reason so beer drinkers are stuck with a choice of conical style glasses.

Finally, with the fashion to load beers with masses of hops, they are naturally heavily conditioned so they generate a head in their own right when being poured through a swan neck dispense. Hence there is no need for a sparkler.

I'm sure by now you have guessed I am very much against the sparkler, I believe it ruins the true taste of the beer and can make if flat. It compromises glass choice and often means I don't get the full pint I've paid for so its unfair. I don't always agree with CAMRA and their policies but on this one they've got it spot on.