The Craft Beer Cometh

Hawkshead are, without doubt, one of the best breweries in the UK. Their Beer Festivals are a joy, went to both in 2012 and I'm annoyed that we have a meeting in Edinburgh that clashes with the March 2013 Spring Festival, but I'll make sure I'm at the Summer one.

 

Call it what you like Craft beer is the way to go....i have witnessed a pitiful decline in most pubs regarding what they have on offer....the usual boring watered down lagers..the insipid flat bitters which again lack body or bite....and the inevitable rubbish bottles on offer like bud or other bland overpriced fizzy watered down lagers etc

Supermarkets are not much better...they stock a plethora of useless silly named British bottled beers that breweries supply...they seem more intent on creating daft names for their beers rather than creating really good honest beers!...
There are always the limited imported beers on offer of course, but after 5+ years of selling the same old repetitive beers, supermarkets are fast becoming a disappointment... so i eventually decided to brew my own beers, my last effort was awesome!..a 10% American style IPA'.......made using the finest malt and using Cascade, citra, simcoe hops....bottled and matured it was much better than most beers i have bought...

But homebrew is tiem consuming and hit and miss.....i want to sample lots of different beers.....one reason am a big fan of the smaller 'CRAFT' breweries that have sprung up...

The main problem i have is product availability!.....apart from the few British craft breweries i find some of the great American beers impossible to find...i think the mars rover has more chance of finding water than i do a Pliny The Elder or a Founders CBS Imperial Stout.......hopefully our own breweries will realise what a good beer is all about and stop their production of watered down ales......

 

Having just ordered 9 bottles of Tiny Rebel Hot Box because it's some of the loveliest craft beer I've ever had, I would be inclined to agree with that sentiment.

 

Nice! Drinking my Brewed Awakening, mighty fine stuff it is!