Angles

I was away at the weekend with friends, on a stag. The main attraction himself, as well as the best man, are big fans of craft beer, so we were all encouraged to bring along some tasty brews to drink and share. Most people obliged, so the canal boat we had hired was low in the water with hoppy treats and unusual brews. At least it was on the Friday. By Sunday the boat was sitting higher on the river. Ironic, considering that I felt less than buoyant myself by that point.

It was fantastic to be able to enjoy so many tasty treats in such a small period of time; like being the proverbial kid in a sweet shop. It was easy to imagine that this was this was how the state of play should be; lots of tasty beers, easily available and enjoyed with friends.

Unfortunately this isn't always the case. A recent post by the excellent Boak and Bailey regarding an interview with James Watt of BrewDog fame illustrated the point that only 1 in 2700 beers drunk in the UK is a craft beer. The big boys such as Stella, Heineken etc are still massively dominating the beer market in this country.

"Boo! Down with bland lager!" we cry and suck down a hoppy American Pale Ale. Wouldn't it be better if more people drunk better beer? James at BrewDog certainly thinks so and wants to encourage this. But of course he does, he sells the better beer! What about the people who drink it though. What about you and me?

For a while now craft has been a little exclusive. It is more expensive due to the smaller economies of scale and higher quality of ingredients. Craft is also harder to get hold of and less promoted and advertised than what the big boys can offer. Craft is also more complicated. How do you know what styles you might like until you try? And why try craft if generic lager is cheaper and easily identified? It's not easy to get into something you know nothing about.

My take is that if more people get into craft beer then more craft beer will be made. If more is made then prices may drop, or at least stop increasing so quickly, and it will be easier to find decent beer. So basically, we need more craft beer drinkers and then we might just get more craft beers.

So, if you know someone who has never tried craft beer, buy them one. Explain why you like it. Ask them if they would like another. Ask them why they like it. Suggest other beers they might like. You might just be helping everyone do better out of craft that way; brewers, consumers, you, me, the whole lot. And that has to be worth raising a glass to.

The thrill of the old

Well it lasts longer than one post anyway.

I'm planning to brew up a new batch of homebrew beer at the weekend. I really enjoy good beer, both making it and drinking it. For a while now there has been a movement of small scale brewers and breweries making quality brews. This is often referred to as 'Craft Beer'. This phrase can invoke a lot of controversy, what exactly is craft beer? If it is made by a micro brewery is it craft? If so, then what if the beer is just generic lager made on a small scale? Not much craft there. And what of the relatively recent phenomenon of larger breweries aping the smaller scale players and making limited editions of tasty beers? Is that 'craft' beer? It's complicated.

For what it is worth here is my take.

Any monkey in the jungle can let fruit ferment and drink the alcoholic product. This is probably how wine was first discovered. But beer needs civilisation. Beer means a farm, to grow and harvest the grain. Beer means another farm to grow and harvest the hops. Beer needs large volumes of clean water and time to let yeast have it's effect, then more time to condition and carbonate the product. The better beers will use better quality ingredients and have more care, attention and time applied. This to me is the definition of a craft beer. A beer that has been thought about, cared about and nurtured, rather than banged out at large volumes with little care, so as to increase profit margins.

It's this philosophy that means that I like to make my own beer. Drinking something that you have put a little of yourself into tastes better than something that is produced to make money, rather than generate pleasure. It also means that I can drink what I like, as opposed to the limited range of generic interchangeable lagers in my local bottle shop. Another big plus for homebrew is sharing my product with others. It's always nice yo see what kind of feedback I get. Anything from, 'I loved it!' and 'I'm going to try and make my own as well' through to 'I had to lie down afterwards'! (Note to self, reduce alcohol content on next batch...)

So homebrew let's me both improve the quality of the brews I drink and the quantity of brews available as well as letting me share this with the world. That has to be worth something, and as long as it is I guess I'll keep trying it. (Plus, there are still so many styles I want to try...!)

Well, let's see how long this lasts

As I get older I keep on finding that I want to try and do something new. Older is a relative term, and 35 is not that old, but still, the trying things thing is getting like an itch I have to scratch. I'm not saying I wasted my youth or anything like that, but the older I get the more I feel like I need to do more stuff that I haven't before.

Is this an embryonic midlife crisis? Only time will tell. I've taken up running and cycling. I have started brewing my own beer and my 21 year old self would be astounded by how much gardening I do now. But I work and have two kids, so any new activities have to be low cost (or free!) and not overly time thirsty, so here lies a blog. And why not? Someone I know likes to use the West Wing line about forgetting about coming late to the party and embracing the fact they they came at all. Well in blogging terms I arrive after even him.

I'm not a writer. Never have been. Or maybe I'm just a little lazy. But I'd like to try, and either way, I thought the best way to do something about that was to write, err, something. (You see? Maybe I'm not lazy and just can't write...) But here it is, direct from my brain to your eyes. And you can't unsee it.

I'm still very unclear what I'm actualy going to write about. (In fact I'm astounded how much I've typed already. This was supposed to be a quick hit. Yet still I type). I'm inspired by the 'Turn to 400' guy and his re-reading of the Fighting Fantasy novels of his youth. I'd love to do something like that. Maybe with the Usborne Puzzle Adventures that I used to enjoy and that my son is now starting to read. That'd be fun. Re-reading 'Escape from Blood Castle' and trying to be amusing about it.

Or I might write about brewing beer, as I'm having a lot of fun doing it, (and enjoying the endpoint as well!), but for this first post I think I'll just let the words come out. Like lancing a boil.

Mmm. Pus.

Well that threw me right off for a bit there. Note to self, less similes. It disrupts the flow. Or is it an metaphor? See? I told you I'm not a writer. And what the hell is an analogy? As for allegory? Forgeddaboutit.