so many slates, boards, bowls, cages, pans, skewers and platters that the presentation of the food somehow unwittingly usurps its taste. The Noughties Brewer Aside from the seemingly boundless infectious enthusiasm of modern brewers they also have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. It is a thirst that is sated by online forums, social media groups, brewing collaborations, recipe exchanges and most of all, of course, is empowered by the freedom of the internet. The old school brewer faces potential bewilderment as new techniques, invented and imported make the brewing of new beer styles de rigueur, and boundary pushing the norm. New world hops have been a revelation, beer that has hints of grapefruit, lemons, grapes or berries are now commonplace and techniques such as first wort hopping, dry hopping or hop bursting with massive amounts of aroma hops toward the end of the boil are resulting in some spectacular beers. They are not always universally liked but they are spectacular nevertheless. They can also be credited with acting as a ‘transition’ drink for a lager drinker who will find it relatively easy to switch to an ale that might even pay a passing resemblance to a lager and lime or even their favourite fruit flavored soft drink!
Tradition to be Respected Counter to this there is an unshakeable and highly deserved place for more traditional styles and flavours. There are few joys in life to better a perfect pint of traditional English Bitter with a hunk of bread and a slab of Cheddar for example and the resurgence of mild, ruby and old ales along with stouts and porters are a joy to behold. There is no question that new brewers, new ingredients and new methods have added colour, character and much debate to the beer scene. It’s an interest that healthily spans all age groups and it is good to see it sitting easily and being embraced by the establishment.
Bravo we say, but is it all sweetness and light; and what does the future hold? Like most other food and drink manufacturing sectors the only thing that is certain in brewing is change itself. The emergence of new breweries is fantastic for the Visit our web site for up-to-date news: www.real-ale.org.uk
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industry, indeed it counterbalances the somewhat depressing continued near monopoly by the world’s top breweries. In a similar vein there is no better indication of how well craft, micro and nano breweries are doing than seeing some of the majors, rubbishing them, buying them up or copying them by setting up their own, craft range or new products division.
Challenges Ahead Is there trouble on the horizon though? Brewing is a tough old business, and brewing the beer is the easy part. As any brewer will know, meticulous equipment cleaning takes up more than half of a brew day, then of course there are the un-glamourous tasks of cleaning casks, delivering them, collecting them and of course the tricky challenge of getting paid on time. All of these tasks can be outsourced of course, but at a cost. The ingredients for making beer can be relatively inexpensive but the cost is in the time. In the commercial environment a 6 to 8 hour brew session is followed by perhaps a week of your asset fermenting, then being cold conditioned before finally being released to market. By the time everyone has been paid, including the tax man and if you are lucky, yourself – oh and then of course there’s the rent, rates, water and fuel bills to settle, the margins are thin. Suddenly the use of those exotic hops from New Zealand, and yeast flown in from America may seem hasty as they are also tugging at the same margins. That is if you can get the hops, as the 2015 hop harvest was not the best. Poor weather and powdery mildew has all but wiped out some species for the year and others are near unobtainable having been snaffled under contract by the major breweries. There is no doubt the skills of the brewer will be under sharper than ever focus during 2016 as throwing mounds of fruity hops at a brew will no longer be a commercially viable option. Blend and balance will take on new significance and the elusive quest for popular saleable beers will continue unabated.
The Quest for Profit In other cases, the towel is being thrown in, in the quest for profit. Recycling yeast is considered good practice but re-cycling dry hops for the next batch boil, milling malt extra fine to extract more
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FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | BEER AROUND ERE