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.

Reflections on the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) 2016

St Austell Brewery bar at GBBF 2016 

So now its over for another the year, the mammoth effort and event that comprises the Great British Beer Festival 2016. A success - probably yes. As good as last year, probably no.....

This year numbers attending were significantly down, not quite 44,000 people enjoyed the raft of wonderful beers and ciders available. CAMRA would normally hope for circa 50,000. Beer sales were also not as high as hoped, perhaps as a result of the lower numbers through the door, or perhaps for other reasons. It as also true that there were fewer brewery bars with some big hitters such as Greene King and Shepherd Neame no longer involved. The brewers bars help to fund the event so losing the likes of these brewers is not a good sign.

Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty to enjoy at the UK's showcase beer event and the effort that the CAMRA volunteers in particular put in is not to be underestimated or devalued in any way, its remarkable that the organisation of GBBF from top to bottom is really quite a well oiled machine with everyone knowing what's expected of them. However something is not quite right any longer, indeed something is wrong I think with GBBF.

So what's wrong, why are numbers falling, why is less beer being drunk? Without doubt there are a number of reasons and there were countless superficial suggestions ranging from the train strike on Southern Railways to too much seating in the hall which drove less visits to the bar. However I think something more fundamental is going on.

GBBF was once the show case for the very best in cask ales in the UK. It still is, but the market has moved on. Cask ales are still enjoyed by many but the rise of craft and in particular keg craft and lager has not been embraced by CAMRA. Sadly that's exactly the opposite to what many younger drinkers have done, who are enthralled by the new beer styles and tastes now available and are being attracted to the new market. Many pubs and some other beer festivals have recognised this and have a craft keg and lager offering.

I believe the role of GBBF should be to showcase all styles of beer. It seems very odd that CAMRA will have European lagers on sale at this event but refuse to allow a lager from a UK brewer. They should be showcasing not just the wonderful cask beers available, but also the craft keg and craft lagers now available from UK brewers. These beers are stealing some of the cask market but by refusing to allow them at the festival they are also deterring some younger people who if they came to the event, could also try some of the great cask beers on sale.

The craft beer argument for CAMRA is much bigger than just GBBF, it targets its very roots and reason for being. CAMRA really need to address this sooner rather than later. Cask and craft can exist side by side and the CAMRA have an opportunity to be the champion for all. Its something they need to do soon. Sadly it was quite noticeable that the average age of CAMRA members at GBBF seems quite high, there is some new blood but they need more. It's not too late to change and attract new younger members and people to the event, but in five years time it might well be and the horse will have bolted to pastures and festivals new.

 

Time for change on supermarket shelves

Not a supermarket shelf but demonstrates the problem

A visit to your local supermarket and browsing the bottled beer shelves can actually be quiet fun and interesting if you are minded as such. However its not that easy for the general public to understand why a beer is on a particular shelf and position, so perhaps a change is called for in how this is done.

Supermarkets tend to order beers by brewer and traditionally that's how we have looked at the beer market. You may have a favourite brewer and buy their beers or perhaps you have a favourite brand and that encourages you to buy other beers from the same brewer. Its also true that retailers will ensure the beers that earn the most profit will be in the consumers eye-line as will the faster moving beers for the convenience of the customer. However, with the massive presence of social media and keen interest in craft beers, the term beer style as become more relevant.

Annoyingly brewers don't always make the beer style easy to understand. One brewer will call a beer a pale ale, another will call a similar beer a golden beer whilst another might use the IPA term. Brewers also don't make the style of the beer that obvious on the labelling, indeed in some cases its missing altogether or hidden on the back label which confuses both consumers and retailers alike.

Perhaps its time for the retailers to follow the way they display their wines and order the beers by style/variety. All the IPA's would sit together; all the pale ales would be one and the growing band of porters would sit alongside each other etc. What a difference this could make to how consumers buy their beer. The lucky dip element of choosing a beer to try would be gone as consumers buy from within a favourite style, or perhaps choose a new style to try. Brands will of course always be important and consumers may choose those above beers they don't know so their is still room for the brand builders amongst brewers.

A change in the way beers are displayed with retailers would also put pressure on brewers to sharpen up their game with labelling and descriptions on bottles. The latter has become a very confusing area and there is certainly room for improvement.

Some specialist beer shops do already sell by style and if you check out the online beer shops its very common for beers to be listed by beer style, so come on supermarkets and brewers, time for change on the shelves please.