Below is an embedded video from the Real Ale Craft Beer channel of the same name, explicitly: “Fear & Panic In The Brewing Industry As Magic Rock Brewing , Black Sheep Brewery & Purity Go Bust.” I am not a UK citizen and my drinking experiences in the UK (e.g., London, Cambridge, Edinburgh,…) was many, many years ago in numerous/various pubs so I have no knowledge of the current beer scene there. I can report that a number of years ago (10 years?) I did drink an imported bottle of Black Sheep Bitter Ale which I enjoyed drinking; a Black Sheep Bitter Ale is featured in the below video. What do you British BAs think about Simon’s discussion about the beer scene in the UK? Are you frustrated with what brands & types of beers available for sale at your local beer retailers (e.g., supermarkets)? Simon describes that brands are decreasing in quality (e.g., BrewDog Punk IPA), will that be a continuing ‘theme’ in the next year(s)? Any other thoughts/concerns? Cheers! @Providence @Dethark
Damn it. I literally just bought my first four-pack of Black Sheep Best Bitter last week. I really like it and thought to myself that it could be my new go-to beer.
Do you feel lucky!?! https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/ke...g-despite-administration-fears/712525.article Cheers!
What's going on in the UK is what's going on in the rest of the beer drinking countries. Cost of raw ingredients, natural oddities such as higher temps and flooding, and of course, non-drinking "yahoo's" like our non-drinking president laying tariffs on anything that moves, doesn't help matters any! One specific change I noticed on my last visit to Liverpool (my wife is a scouser) is that beer drinking seems to be on the downslide as "sparkling" alcohol drinks begin to gain favor...especially among the younger generation. Here's hoping things get better for the brewing industry, but I honestly see it getting worse before it gets better.
I missed this in December and only saw it now because of a reply here. Getting in depth news about the UK beer scene and business updates from Real Ale Craft Beer is like getting your global geo political news from the Kermit the frog news reporter on Sesame Street, yes you will glean the tiniest amount of knowledge, but it is in now way the best resource. Like, for example him thinking he could save Black Sheep Brewery by buying it for a pound. "Beer enthusiasts might have moved on to wine" well maybe, but if they really are beer enthusiasts, they most likely already moved away from Brewdog to better overall quality small batch microbreweries. Early December gives an indicator of the Christmas trade, but there isn't the full story until early January. Now, no Keystone beer in supermarkets? Now admittedly, these three supermarkets haven't updated their beer ranges for 2026, and furthermore bolstering that idea, Tesco have, but have no Keystone Beers, but you have to factor in that Tesco have cut back the size of their beer range, both craft and overall. But Tesco did have Black Sheep and Magic Rock back in December, also counteracting that is budget supermarkets Aldi & Lidl with contact brewed by Keystone breweries beers on their shelves.
Personally I think the supermarkets are doing quite a good job. ASDA has had some great collaboration beers with some really reputable brewers, Tesco’s 2026 range maybe reduced but it has an awesome Double West Coast IPA (surprisingly from Beavertown). Sainsbury’s, once the leading supermarket for craft beer still has some choice beers. Now as much as I dislike Brewdog as the next beer enthusiast, has punk really dropped in quality or is it just catering to the contemporary audience? Simon (it is Simon isn’t it?) also laid the claim of Northern Monk dropping its quality, which is patently incorrect. But if he is now doing more videos on fast food, was his interest really in craft beer or just in Youtube revenue streams?
Ironically enough the vlogger is in the same position as many breweries. He has to put out videos regularly to keep the channel visible and to keep up the income. The breweries have reached a certain size with huge fixed costs – they can’t temporarily shift down to a 10 barrel kit – and have to flog the beer somewhere, whether that is Aldi, Tesco or Wetherspoons.
I don't want to get into the weeds about whether "Fear and Panic in UK Brewing" is real or imagined. As someone who has lived in London for legal six months (and has to leave for a while now), I might provide a useful comparison. My major one is the UK and US micro-industry are more similar, but their macros are not. While the UK has a few "quirks" that makes its micros better (more cask ales, for example), the micros largely operate the same as they do in the U.S. and tend to limit themselves to regions. Macros in the U.S. worked the system of distribution so well that they radically reduced the quality to consumers and, essentially, ran oligopolies. This allowed micros to emerge and compete and have now stabilised at some 24% of the beer market. However UK macros were less like an oligopoly and micros have led a renaissance in brewing. When a few established micros failed, some felt like the sky was falling. It's not. There were only 46 insolvencies last year or 2.6% of total. In the U.S., 500 micros -- or 5% -- fail a year. Why twice the rate? Because brewing was largely regulated properly in the UK and this made micros grow more evenly. However U.S. macros had their way for so long that the micro-market actually grew too fast with too many not-so-good brewers and, thus, has many more failures. Or at least, that's my theory.
I am sorry to disappoint you but UK macro beer is very much an oligopoly. A handful of massive pub companies dominate the pub market and have sweetheart deals with the biggest brewers to put their products on the bar. Supermarkets are not much different.
If the UK macro industry is an oligopoly, at least it has a higher quality of beer to start with than in the U.S. Fullers is no Budweiser.
