The Craft Beer Cometh

i live near London, so obviously the answer's 'yes'! That said, i wish more craft beer bars would open elsewhere near where I work- fed up of after-work drinks in the same boring pubs.

 

Craft beer !?!

Nothing better than a well kept real ale of 3.5-4.5% !

It'll never catch on !

 

Good times indeed. I'd have to agree with you as far as my personal experience goes (though I'm sure it depends where in the country you are). York has a few superb craft/cask bars, in addition to numerous excellent traditional pubs. The pinnacle of it's type has to be the York Tap, with 32 pumps/taps. They opened shop less than a year ago, and offer an ever changing range of ales (though they do tend to focus on young, adventurous breweries). There are also Pivni (owned by the same people as the York Tap) and Trembling Madness (who have a fantastic bottle shop). Even pubs with a more traditional line-up have their eye on the ball - for example the Three-legged Mare has a fridge behind the bar with a range of US craft/Belgian offerings, to accompany the UK beers served from cask/keg. In short, the variety of beer available here has never been greater, and everywhere in York centre is within easy walking distance.

I do think that we will see this elsewhere as well. Brewdog just announced that they've been granted the go-ahead for their next bar in Leeds. I'm sure in cities where Brewdog has a presence (being something of a craft-bar trendsetter), other people in the industry are going to notice their success and think 'hang on, I could do that'.

Watch this space. And pray the bubble doesn't burst anytime soon

 

Are you Marquis in disguise ;-)

 

The East Midlands is fairly barren for 'craft', though. Brewdog in Notts, a couple of Jaipur keg lines in Derby. The cities are awash with brown beer, new breweries with few exceptions love Fuggles & twigs.

The fact that there's a pub seven minutes from my front door by bus that serves three Summer Wine keg beers makes me chortle, though.

 

I'm with Martyn Cornell on the notion that "craft beer" means absolutely nothing in the UK.I regard keg asthe equivalent to instant coffee-acceptable where there is no alternative but well short of the real thing. And admittedly better than bad cask ale! I do worry though that it poses a threat to the pub whose lifeline is cask beer. If people get the idea that keg can be as good as cask the next step is bottles/cans of the same brew in supermarkets at a fraction of the price.

 

Agree but why can't "craft" brewers make real cask ale? Here in the U.S. a craft brewer is a small brewery making good beer, not national light lager swill. Sadly keg is prevalent here in the States but some small breweries do make cask ale. When I went to the Craft Beer CO. on Leather lane I ignored the kegs and chose from the cask offerings. I always will too. Why anyone would drink otherwise is beyond me.

 

What is touted as "craft beer" in the UK at present should really be known as "fashionable beer" or "hipster beer". If someone asks where they can find craft beer, they won't be happy if you point them to a well-kept pint of Harvey's or Batham's bitter.

 

Depends, what would you take Arbor, Moor, Magic Rock, Tiny Rebel etc to be? It's certainly craft beer in my eyes, without all the made up marketing ploys of Brewdog.

 

Tastes like beer to me.

 

That's because it is. This whole website, surprisingly enough, is one for beer.

 

I really hope British people don't start using the term 'craft beer'. I live with a bunch of Americans in Korea and I wince every time I hear them say it. You don't get craft wine so why should there be craft beer?

Anyway, I'm from Peterborough which has Oakham Ale's Brewery Tap and their beer is quite 'crafty', except they're not so anal as to categorise their beers.

 

Too late to wish for that mate.

 

Teaching English over there, by any chance?

 

The term "Craft Beer" was coined by Charlie Papazian. Wince as you may, but the man is partly responsible for bringing us out of the dreadful era of golden lager. English is an ever evolving language where terms are determined by the people speaking it.

 

By the way, my last post was a genuine question.

 

Who's "us?" What dreadful era of golden lager?