Just as the quintessential English pub experience began to feel threatened by corporate monopolies, a new model arrived to shake up the neighborhood watering hole.
Fort Worth’s beer can house sold; CAMRA launches revitalization project; Brouwerij de Molen sells minority share; and presidential candidates inspire new beers.
Long known for its use in Guinness Draught, nitrogen is showing up more often in a variety of beer styles, from Stouts and Porters to White Ales and IPAs.
Bitter is what overseas observers have in mind when they dismiss British beer as “warm and flat.” This is a shame not only because the subtleties of Bitter can be a delight, but also because craft brewing as we know it was built on its back.
The name Watney conjures up very different emotions either side of the Atlantic. Many North Americans nurture fond memories of Red Barrel as a quality import. Older Brits mostly harbor a lingering contempt. But what’s the truth about Watney’s beer? Was it really that bad?
In the middle of the 20th century Light Ale, buoyed by the surge in sales of bottled beer, was a rising star of Britain’s pub trade. The dubious quality of much draft beer prompted drinkers to start mixing it with bottled beer. Light and Bitter—a half-pint of Ordinary Bitter topped up with a bottle of Light Ale—was one of London’s favorite tipples.
AB-InBev and MillerCoors want a piece of the apple cider pie; CAMRA Vancouver FUSS-ing over standardized pours; Belgium celebrates Trappist breweries; Oglala Sioux tribe suing brewers, wholesalers, retailers; and Virginia, Mississippi attempting to pass brew-friendly laws.
Despite the economic woes, 2012 is going to see large increases in export sales of small-scale craft beers from producers in Australasia, South America and the European “new wave,” as well as from North America.
Bad Language Back in 1972, the oddly named Campaign for the Revitalisation of Ale decided it preferred the word “real” to describe its preferred forms of ale. To this day, UK media still use the word “real” to distinguish the authentic and elite from the mass produced and fake. A few years later, the Belgians
The UK-based organization CAMRA champions the sale of cask-conditioned “real ale.” And every year, Edinburgh-native and CAMRA chairman Colin Valentine crosses the pond to attend the New England Real Ale Exhibition.
At times of rapid change, people crave rules. For many British beer drinkers, it is a definition of good beer devised in innocence a few decades ago, when we worshipped yeast.
Over the years, brewers have come up with four basic types of packaging—casks, bottles, kegs and cans. Each type of package protects beer in different ways, and can cause the beer to taste quite different.
The beers that brought craft brewing into prominence largely owe their existence to a historic brewing scene that largely revolved around, and served, London’s thirsty masses.
Since it first appeared in 1992, Good Beer Guide Belgium has grown to include advice on where to buy beer, bar etiquette, what a train is, why cycling is good, how to eat food and so on.
CAMRA steers cars to “real ale” pubs; the global real ale collaboration; the birth of beer weeks; iPint gets iSued; and Palestinian beer attempts to unite.
