Beer In The News thread....

but good news on the horizon http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/129...k___Bar_boss___BBQ_champion_team_up/?ref=fbpg

 

That sounds fantastic - completes a trifecta of top-notch pubs (and now food)!

I wonder if I could buy one of the flats above it, though I'd probably have to win the lottery.....

 

I personally enjoy the banter you blokes push up on here. Craft is just a name...silly, misused and certainly abused. Truth is any beer that has actual flavour and character today would most likely fall into this "category" if you must. I support character and unique flavour...so I guess this means I support "craft".

We sometimes need to close our eyes to the marketing and just drink the beer. If it is enjoyable (to you) and is unique, why would you not support it? Try not to let the influence of the brewery or more importantly the marketing and social perception sway you. Enjoy the beer you can get.... and don't worry about the individuals who think their opinion is better than yours.

Cheers, Steve

 

Some potentially good news for shoppers - Lidl to start selling 'craft' beer.

http://www.theguardian.com/business...e-following-success-with-upmarket-wine-sales?

I suppose it depends on what they offer (and where you are in the country), but a good sign of growth....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-33175395

 

The cask and bottle versions have gone way downhill since it was one of the first ales I tried 4 or 5 ish years ago.

 

Interesting article written by John Keeling of Fullers (edit: OK the think doesn't work when I copy it over but it's on the Craft beer London site)

http://craftbeerlondon.com/

 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/22/david-cameron-xi-jinping-village-pub-drink-pint
http://www.theguardian.com/business...nd-greene-king-ipa-up-1600-percent-xi-jinping

 

Nice little piece in BA magazine about bitter:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/117...lish-bitter-inspired-a-revolution-in-brewing/

Just a couple of pockholes to pick at:
I think the author is talking about 'traditional' bitter being in decline, not bitter in general. JHB, Ghost Ship, Black Swan, are all types of bitter, ie. pale ale!

I don't think Jonny Foreigner needs to travel to Yorkshire for true enlightenment. You can find Sammy Smiths Organic Pale anywhere in Britain, not that you'd want to. By chance was this article written by a Yorkshireman?

 

It's boak and bailey who live in cornwall . They always make a clear distinction between golden ales and brown bitter in their blog and book so I guess they are right if you consider how golden ales have supplanted brown bitters by and large. Although I agree with you, but theyare primary writing for an amerAmerican audaudience who tend to assume that british beers must have fuggles and goldings. My predictive text seems to have fucked up lol

 

"Supermarket giant Asda has agreed a listings deal with 13 breweries to put 25 new craft beers on its shelves in Scotland, in a deal worth more than £850,000. "

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-36071876


The breweries that are involved in the deal are:

• Deeside Brewery (Banchory)
• Eden Mill Brewery (St Andrews)
• Jaw Brew (Glasgow)
• Knops Beer Company (East Lothian)
• Lerwick Brewery
• Stewart Brewing (Edinburgh)
• Loch Lomond Brewing (Alexandria)
• WooHa Brewing Company (Nairn)
• WEST Brewing (Glasgow)
• Isle of Skye Brewing Co. Ltd.
• Loch Ness Brewery
• The Kelburn Brewing Company (Barrhead)

This is great news as ASDA has been awful for beer up here for as long as I can remember, certainly the worst of the major supermarkets although sainsbobs have been giving them a run for their money recently.

 

Totally agree Hanglow, my local Asda is very poor. That looks like a decent addition to the meagre offerings we have just now.

 

Finally Scotland have decent supermarket beer (grumble grumble).

 

Sarcasm?, lol.

 

My old Lidl in Cardiff never really stretched further than the Shep Neame seasonals which were dull as dishwater (almost literally) and occasional boxes of Marston's stuff (Wychwood regulars, Jennings etc). Good wine selection though. Nowadays the best supermarket selection is Wholefoods for me.

 

Not so much beer in the news as news about beer, but it seems the Celt Experience is shutting down.

 

St Austell have just bought Bath Ales
https://www.businesscornwall.co.uk/...ws/2016/07/st-austell-brewery-buys-bath-ales/

 

'This is a really exciting move for Bath Ales. With the investment and broader support from St Austell Brewery we are better placed to capture the opportunity that exists for Bath Ales.'

I thought Bath Ales had already captured that opportunity. Their beers are in coffee shops and garden centres everywhere, and distributed internationally.

 

The former Celt Experience, now owned by Evan Evans, is changing it's name to Celt Craft Beer and will be brewing some of the old stuff under the apparent supervision of the original owner.

 

subscription only for that article @Aye

 

That's weird.

 

If we can form an orderly queue...

http://imbibe.com/news-articles/beers/carling-re-launches-carling-premier-lager/

 

http://www.insider.co.uk/news/hippo-beers-goes-into-liquidation-10888863

Noticed this today, as I was going to browse the online shop.

I've never physically been, but have used them online a couple of times, and were always spot on.

Sad to see, and, I think the first time I've seen / heard of a specialist bottle shop shutting down?

More competition? Badly run business? Bit of both?

I hope it's an anomaly. There's something quite special about visiting an indy bottle shop.

 

Good post. I think one push factor might be the ramping up of the range of supermarket ales, particularly hopped fronted IPA's. Whilst there is still clearly space for indy bottle shops at the niche levels such as RIS, DIPA's, sours etc. some consumers, like myself, might not be buying or finding certain brands now. One of my local indy shops use to be one of the only to stock Stone, speaking to them now, they won't be due to the supermarkets.

 

There's also a lot of hype in the industry at the moment and with crowdfunding it's easy to translate that into investment, regardless of what the actual business plans are or their realistic hopes for success.

 

GBBF winners announced

overall 2017 Champion Beer of Britain is churchend beer Goats Milk!


Also interesting that three of the top four golden ale beers were single hop citra ones, no sign of that trend letting up by the looks of things

 

It's odd because Citra beers have been mostly dreadful recently, all cat pee and no citrus.

 

I've been to the shop and thought it was a pretty good place. Not sure if I'm right or wrong, but I think the problem with bottle shops in the UK (vs. the US) is the cost difference between the pub and the shop. In the UK, you are maybe paying ~4GPB for a pint in the pub. The bottles in the shop are usually over 2.50GBP. Compare that to the US where the pint in the pub is about the same as in the UK, but the bottle in the shop is around $1.50GBP. I the US, I drink almost exclusively from home and buy from bottle shops. In the UK, I drink UK beer from the pub and Belgian beer at home.