Craft Beer Rising?

Craft Beer Rising?

It most certainly is. I attended the Craft Beer Rising Beer Festival in Shorditch, London recently. A great little beer festival with live music, it was very different to the usual CAMRA run event.

First of all there was no mass row upon row of cask beers or huge beer list with silly names for that matter. Brewers were invited to attend and each given the same size stand, so no matter if you were a super regional such as Greene King, or a small up and coming micro brewer such as Rebel Brewing Co, brewers were pitched equally alongside each other.

The next most noticable thing was the age group of the general public. I've attended my share of CAMRA events in the past and they tend to attract people like me.....older, experienced ale drinkers and mostly males. CBR was totally different, fresh younger faces were there of both genders, all eager to try the new craft beers and some of the old favourites on offer.

For attracting younger people CBR should be applauded. Yes, the organisation could be improved and I'm sure a few things will change next year, but for me the most important thing was that for once, new drinkers were being attracted to the category.

So what was the catalyst for this? As good as the beer festival was with the music it played, I believe it's the "C" word that attracts younger people - Craft beer is cutting edge, its fashionable for younger people, just as the term "Real Ale" was fashionable when I was younger. The definition of craft beer is not yet clearly defined and perhaps one day the brewing industry will set about this, but for the moment, if craft beer means beer for younger people then I'm all for it.