Jump to content

Recommended Posts

OK so I don't know what craft beer is. And I have discussed this and read up on the subject.


If I go to Belgium I can have wonderful Trappist beer, K?lsch in Cologne, Weisse beer in Munchen, blonde beer in the Alsace. And Czech Pilsner. All very enjoyable. And I love my English ales too. Not all of them, but many of them. English brewers helped set-up many of the continental breweries, so it is not a simple bottom-up, bottom down, fermenation divide.


What I have detested for 30 years is the derrivative mass market rubbish that the majority of us drink. But hey that is what capitalism is about. Selling a product. And so onto my original post, if they can persuade the masses that there is a high quality product/brand, which they can charge more for, so much the better for the share holders.


So back to craft ale. I think people are referring to a strong American style IPA that is sold by the bottle or as a fizzy keg. Certainly not what I define as ale, but probably OK on the odd occasion. I was drinking Meantime donkey's years ago before 'craft ale' was invented. And some of the small regional brewers may say 'yep I'll have produce some of that product and have a share in the profits'.


But from the discussion you are also using craft ale to describe the real live cask ale that some of the small brewers produce. And certainly if it comes out of the barrel it will be as such.


Well at no one isn't championing pear raspberry Swedish zyder.


PS Sainsbury's are doing reduced bottled beer at the moment including the lovely St Peters.

Yuo're right, I think their is a conflation with craft ale (which was the movement started in the US in the 70s) and real ale (or at leaast micro breweries of any ilk), but that's in part due to the influence of the experimental approach to many of the traditional brewers (see analogy above).


Even St Peter's (lovely stuff) who go to great pains to dissosciate themselves from craftiness, admit they like to mess about with smoked hops, whiskey and sucjlike from time to time.


"What I have detested for 30 years is the derrivative mass market rubbish that the majority of us drink. But hey that is what capitalism is about." The McDonalds effect or Sturgeon's Law!!!

So I thought I'd seriously explore the real ale/craft beer situation by going back to the Rake last Friday, and, as it turned out, drinking far too much. It was all great. Hopstar Lancashire, Brooklyn IPA, some Belgian stuff, and chili plum porter. And various others, and some pork pies. And loads of blokes with beards (ironic and non-ironic) getting on famously, and even some women who didn't look as if they were desperate to escape. Perfect, although I was a little tired and pensive for much of Saturday.
  • 7 months later...

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Old barley wine was very strong and pretty rank



Not if you drank it with blackcurrant (I was in my teens) - it just erased parts of your evening and gave you a vomitous hangover that put you off ribena for life.

Anyone been to the Brick Brewery in Peckham yet? Open on Friday and nights and Saturday from lunchtime. They're own bottled beers, and usually a decent selection of house and guest beers on tap. Had a wonderful porter on last Friday. Right under Peckham Rye station, worth a visit. It's a small local brewer, not sure if this qualifies under the catch-all title of 'craft' though.

copleston_charlie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> not sure if this qualifies under the catch-all title of 'craft' though.


It's as good a description as anyway, some of their beers are clearly influenced by that whole scene.


The brewery itself was more of a "destination" back in the summer though - sun shining, pop-up food in the front yard, etc. Not sure I fancy it so much in the winter.

They've moved some of the benches inside now. Quite a pleasant vibe sitting round inside next to fermenting beer, drinking beer. Agreed, you wouldn't want to spend all evening in there, but it's nice enough for a drink or two of something new I reckon.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • The current wave of xenophobia is due to powerful/influential people stirring up hatred.  It;'s what happened in the past, think 1930s Germany.  It seems to be even easier now as so many get their information from social media, whether it is right or wrong.  The media seeking so called balance will bring some nutter on, they don't then bring a nutter on to counteract that. They now seem to turn to Reform at the first opportunity. So your life is 'shite', let;s blame someone else.  Whilst sounding a bit like a Tory, taking some ownership/personal responsibility would be a start.  There are some situations where that may be more challenging, in deindustrialised 'left behind' wasteland we can't all get on our bikes and find work.  But I loathe how it is now popular to blame those of us from relatively modest backgrounds, like me, who did see education and knowledge as a way to self improve. Now we are seen by some as smug liberals......  
    • Kwik Fit buggered up an A/C leak diagnosis for me (saying there wasn't one, when there was) and sold a regas. The vehicle had to be taken to an A/C specialist for condensor replacement and a further regas. Not impressed.
    • Yes, these are all good points. I agree with you, that division has led us down dangerous paths in the past. And I deplore any kind of racism (as I think you probably know).  But I feel that a lot of the current wave of xenophobia we're witnessing is actually more about a general malaise and discontent. I know non-white people around here who are surprisingly vocal about immigrants - legal or otherwise. I think this feeling transcends skin colour for a lot of people and isn't as simple as, say, the Jew hatred of the 1930s or the Irish and Black racism that we saw laterally. I think people feel ignored and looked down upon.  What you don't realise, Sephiroth, is that I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying. I just think that looking down on people because of their voting history and opinions is self-defeating. And that's where Labour's getting it wrong and Reform is reaping the rewards.   
    • @Sephiroth you made some interesting points on the economy, on the Lammy thread. Thought it worth broadening the discussion. Reeves (irrespective of her financial competence) clearly was too downbeat on things when Labour came into power. But could there have been more honesty on the liklihood of taxes going up (which they have done, and will do in any case due to the freezing of personal allowances).  It may have been a silly commitment not to do this, but were you damned if you do and damned if you don't?
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...