Craft beer - coming of the Messiah or a passing fad?

Tom Dunne

In keeping with our tradition here on BGRH of debating the issues that matter, I draw your attention to current discourse on the matter of craft beer.

To some, it is literally the coming of the Messiah, liberation from the shackles of dull, flavourless liquid, masquerading as beer, the dawn of a new era of beery goodness.

To others, it is an abomination, nothing more than beer for metrosexuals with all it's "hoppy flavour" and "fruit overtones". Give me a pint of plain any day.

So, esteemed members of BGRH, where do you stand on the issue?

The Hill Billy

While I can appreciate a well-crafted ale I find that most of them have too distinctive a flavour to have more than one or two in a row. I like something I can sup for an evening. Yeah, pint of plain for me with an occasional toe dipped in a hipstery craft beer.

jester77

Define craft?

Is the fantastic trappist beers that the monks have been producing for centuries considered craft? Or is it just a term associated with all the new micro-breweries that have started popping up over the last decade or 2.

Either way, I still like a tasty beer. I have grown out of the binge drinking way of consuming beer and these days I much prefer to sit and have 3 or 4 quality tasting beers. Give me a quality imperial stout or trappist beer any day of the week over a bland lager or pils that needs to be chilled just to make it drinkable.

Tom Dunne

jester77 wrote: »

Define craft?

Non-mass produced, commercial. Small, independent breweries making beer from the tears of angels.

Tom Dunne

The Hill Billy wrote: »

While I can appreciate a well-crafted ale I find that most of them have too distinctive a flavour to have more than one or two in a row.

I put it to you that craft beer is not intended to be drank like regular beer, but more to be savoured like a fine wine.

Not that I condone drinking wine.....

Micky Dolenz

I think craft beer is here to stay and only becoming more popular. I read there are over 1000 breweries in the UK with nearly 300 opening over the last couple of years. I'm not sure of the Irish number. But it seems everyone is at it, pro and amateur alike.

I'm all for it. I spent a glorious beer filled year in Brussels a while back and it really made me appreciate the beery goodness. The commercial big names tasted like water flavoured beer after it.

I tasted a beer recently, which is quite apt for the here. It had a smoky flavour and it almost tasted like bacon. It was yum if weird. I must find out the name of it. I go to a craft beer bar every Monday night. They constantly change the beer

Hurray for Mondays

Tom Dunne

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

I tasted a beer recently, which is quite apt for the here. It had a smoky flavour and it almost tasted like bacon. It was yum if weird. I must find out the name of it. I go to a craft beer bar every Monday night. They constantly change the beer

Goddammit man, find out the name of that beer, the producer, the importer, the truck delivery guy and the barman who serves it.

Don't tease us like that.

Zaph

This beer really has it all - bacony, doughnuty, maple flavoured goodness. No idea if it's available here, but Voodoo's black lager is. I seriously recommend getting your hands on some.

But to answer the original question - craft beer, hell yeah!

Robbo

I think we're approaching "peak craft" at the moment. Based on no market research bar my own lushing, I think there'll be a trend towards consolidation. I'm enjoying the hell out of it and indeed my local is a craft mecca but I'm not sure how long it will last.

It seems that every disused shed in the land is being colonised by bearded gents trying to make an IPA that's slighlty different from what the chap down the road is doing with the same kit and expertise gleaned from t'Internet. We're one step away from being the Real Ale Twats from Viz. For the love of Jeff, I was drinking one that was brewed in Offaly, of all places, recently.

Also, I'm pretty sure some of the "hoppier" brews are the result of a misheard instruction and instead of "moar hops", they added in copper sulphate.

Don't get me started about awful "creation myth" blurbs on the side of the bottle...

jester77

Robbo wrote: »

I think we're approaching "peak craft" at the moment. Based on no market research bar my own lushing, I think there'll be a trend towards consolidation. I'm enjoying the hell out of it and indeed my local is a craft mecca but I'm not sure how long it will last.

It seems that every disused shed in the land is being colonised by bearded gents trying to make an IPA that's slighlty different from what the chap down the road is doing with the same kit and expertise gleaned from t'Internet. We're one step away from being the Real Ale Twats from Viz. For the love of Jeff, I was drinking one that was brewed in Offaly, of all places, recently.

Also, I'm pretty sure some of the "hoppier" brews are the result of a misheard instruction and instead of "moar hops", they added in copper sulphate.

Don't get me started about awful "creation myth" blurbs on the side of the bottle...

You are right about peak. Hops are in short supply, I was reading the large breweries were consuming around 70% of the hop harvest 5 or 6 years ago. Now they are only consuming 40%. This is due to the micro brewery explosion and the fact that craft beers require up to 6 times as much hops to produce as the mainstream beers. They are expecting there to be a hop shortage next year.

Micky Dolenz

We may need to hop on that investment

emo72

I grow hops in the garden. Will I be rich?

Robbo

jester77 wrote: »

You are right about peak. Hops are in short supply, I was reading the large breweries were consuming around 70% of the hop harvest 5 or 6 years ago. Now they are only consuming 40%. This is due to the micro brewery explosion and the fact that craft beers require up to 6 times as much hops to produce as the mainstream beers. They are expecting there to be a hop shortage next year.

Buy high! Sell low!

Tom Dunne

emo72 wrote: »

I grow hops in the garden. Will I be rich?

How big is your garden?

Micky Dolenz

Tom Dunne wrote: »

How big is your garden?

Worst chat up line ever?

emo72

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Worst chat up line ever?

Not making this up but it's huge. Late in the summer when I'm in the garden looking at all the hops in flower, I get a mighty thirst. Must grow more hops!

lil_lisa

I honestly think it is the rebirth of the age of beer. Its different here in the US. Before prohibition there were thousands upon thousands of breweries in this country. Every town had a local bar/restaurant that brewed and served their own beer. Then, law stepped in and changed the craft beer world over here. For the last 20 years, breweries have been making a comeback and popping up left right and center. I feel like its been having a rippling affect across the world too and pushing for a lot of competition and innovation everywhere. Which has just been fantastic! More beer for us to enjoy

Tom Dunne

They say you never forget your first.

It was summer time, circa 2004, Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest of the US, in a beer garden. A slightly less rotund and more hairy Tom Dunne was sitting on a bench under a tree in the shade. The grass swayed in the light breeze, flies could be heard buzzing nearby.

The waiter had just informed me that they don't serve any commercial beer, only their own brews. After a brief moment of horror, and with the authority of a teenager struggling in the dark with his first brastrap, I pointed to one on the menu.

Firefly Kolsch it was, the name evoking images of a tiny insect guiding me to a nirvana of hoppy goodness.

To my horror, when the beer arrived, it had a slice of lemon in it. My learned colleagues told my that was the norm in this parish. Somewhat hesitantly, I sipped. I then gulped. I then fell off the bench because a hornet landed on my other hand and I screamed like a girl. Big feckers they are.

It was an instant attraction. From this tender moment, a love affair began between man and craft beer.

Zaph

I've said it before and I'll say it again - fruit has no place in beer. And whatever about the Americans weird insistence in putting fruit into hefeweizen, wtf was it doing anywhere near a Kolsch??? I am truly shocked and appalled.

jester77

Zaph wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again - fruit has no place in beer. And whatever about the Americans weird insistence in putting fruit into hefeweizen, wtf was it doing anywhere near a Kolsch??? I am truly shocked and appalled.

Banana in Hefeweizen is very common here in Germany. Don't knock the fruit, you should try some of the Belgian Lambic beers, they are great.

Robbo

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Worst chat up line ever?

Roadside frontage?

Zaph

jester77 wrote: »

Banana in Hefeweizen is very common here in Germany. Don't knock the fruit, you should try some of the Belgian Lambic beers, they are great.

It's not the making of fruit flavoured beer that I object to, although most of the ones I've tasted have been too sweet for my liking, it's the addition of pieces of fruit to an otherwise perfectly fine glass of beer that I have a problem with. And a banana in my beer is just plain wrong, although I have had banana bread beer and it was pretty interesting. One of those ones that you'd enjoy but not necessarily want a second.

Tom Dunne

Zaph wrote: »

It's not the making of fruit flavoured beer that I object to, although most of the ones I've tasted have been too sweet for my liking, it's the addition of pieces of fruit to an otherwise perfectly fine glass of beer that I have a problem with. And a banana in my beer is just plain wrong, although I have had banana bread beer and it was pretty interesting. One of those ones that you'd enjoy but not necessarily want a second.

Hold on there a minute.

If memory serves me correctly, and it doesn't normally, don't you put pineapple on pizzas?

Zaph

Pineapple on pizza is perfectly acceptable and should be encouraged. I've had apple on pizza once. That's not something I care to repeat.

Tom Dunne

Zaph wrote: »

Pineapple on pizza is perfectly acceptable and should be encouraged.

:eek:

NewCorkLad

Zaph wrote: »

Pineapple on pizza is perfectly acceptable and should be encouraged. I've had apple on pizza once. That's not something I care to repeat.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

:eek:

Im with Zaph on the pineapple

Micky Dolenz

The cherry version is like liquidised marzipan.

On the pineapple on pizza buzz, not my thing but I would eat it before I eat a pizza with those horrible little fish.

Tom Dunne

I was in the UK last summer, walking along a bridge when I spotted a lovely bar by the river bank.

I remarked to my friends that we really should nip in there for a pint, at which point they reminded me that I had spent an hour there the previous night with them.

That was swiftly followed by "so you don't remember drinking that strawberry beer I ordered you then?" Clearly, it made an impression on me. An abomination, I tell you.

NewCorkLad

I am hoping it is the coming of the messiah because I have only discovered the nectar that is craft beer and wont be going back to the standard lagers again. I would love to know how many craft breweries do people think Ireland will be able to support as more seem to be popping up all the time?

trout

Zaph wrote: »

Pineapple on pizza is perfectly acceptable and should be encouraged.

Truefact.

Zaph

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

The cherry version is like liquidised marzipan.

You say that like it's a good thing.

Micky Dolenz

It's far from a good thing.

Reminds me of a time a mate bet he could eat not 1 nor 2 but 5 blocks of marzipan in one sitting. Think he got through 1 before he turned green

trout

*drags thread back on-topic*

I have been invited for crafty beers this evening ... I will report back, or perhaps during, the event.

Tom Dunne

trout wrote: »

*drags thread back on-topic*

I have been invited for crafty beers this evening ... I will report back, or perhaps during, the event.

So? Do tell...

dub_skav

I think better choice in beer is here to stay, I'm not particularly pushed whether it's "craft" or not.
We had many years of all the diageo beers on tap with Heineken and Bulmers added for extra "choice".

I'm not sure how many craft beer specialist bars we will end up with, but I believe that an extra couple of taps in every pub will be here for the long term.

In my opinion it all really started with Erdinger and the likes in some pubs giving you a choice outside the norm, this has been carried on by craft brews.

I welcome the diversity and am one of those annoying gits who has to look at the taps and fridge before I make my decision in a pub.

SEANoftheDEAD

dub_skav wrote: »

I welcome the diversity and am one of those annoying gits who has to look at the taps and fridge before I make my decision in a pub.

Yep I'm in the same boat here. Only got into the whole craft beer thing this year when a cool pint of O'Hara's Pale Ale was parked in front of me and with that single pint my world was rocked!

Too many years have been spent drinking Carlsberg/Heinenken and the like, overpriced and full of chemicals that leave you with a nasty headache! It really is rotten stuff...

So for me, this is the coming of the Messiah. (In fact I may even start home-brewing some IPA and call it just that) The wide range of em is amazing and fascinating. It's weird how the culture of the whole scene has taken over me. I used to get the 8 packs of lager/cider and skull them, but now I opt for 4 craft beers instead and actually find myself sitting and really enjoying them. I haven't binged on drink since last year and can't see myself ever doing so again.

And I for one welcome our new drinky overlords!! :pac:

dub_skav

SEANoftheDEAD wrote: »

Yep I'm in the same boat here. Only got into the whole craft beer thing this year when a cool pint of O'Hara's Pale Ale was parked in front of me and with that single pint my world was rocked!

Too many years have been spent drinking Carlsberg/Heinenken and the like, overpriced and full of chemicals that leave you with a nasty headache! It really is rotten stuff...

So for me, this is the coming of the Messiah. (In fact I may even start home-brewing some IPA and call it just that) The wide range of em is amazing and fascinating. It's weird how the culture of the whole scene has taken over me. I used to get the 8 packs of lager/cider and skull them, but now I opt for 4 craft beers instead and actually find myself sitting and really enjoying them. I haven't binged on drink since last year and can't see myself ever doing so again.

And I for one welcome our new drinky overlords!! :pac:

Only problem is if you get out for a night and find a pub with a nice IPA selection and do drink them swiftly, you can have problems pretty quickly