Good Beer Joy

To borrow from a well known phrase, justlike Christmas and taxes, one of the hardy annual certainties of life nowadays is the autumnal appearance of Camra’s Good Beer Guide (www.camra.org.uk ).Now in its 37th year, the 2010 beer bible appeared recently and has both good and bad news for the pub and brewing industry.

The bad news is that many pubs are still closing apace - some forty a week. The good news that there are still more than 4,500 serving very decent real ale (the guide doesn’t claim to include them all).

The even better news is that last year we welcomed another 70ish brewers into the burgeoning throng – now standing at some 670 plus across the UK. This is more brewers per head than any other nation, including the US where micros have mushroomed these past ten years.

Makes you wonder, then, with all these pubs closing, just which necks all this new beer is going down(other than those in Harker's that is) doesn't it? OK, some of these brewers are tiny, either supplying very local markets or just bottling their ale and selling it piecemeal.

But others mean business and are slowly but surely taking trade away from the big boys – whose sales of imitation Euro fizz and nasty cream flow concoctions are seriously flagging. And it's no surprise that it's the pubs selling the good stuff that are surviving.

I must have reported on about half of these new brewers over the past year.I never cease to be amazed by their enthusiasm, determination, imagination and sheer bloody guts. Unlike for a certain Scottish politician, it seems in the beer world at least, things really can only get better as innovation becomes a buzzword in the once staid world of beer.

Good supping
Now my personal loyalty will, I believe, always lie with good supping ales at moderate strength. I like drinking traditional bitters. I like being able have three or four pints - think B&P Original for instance (eh ed?) - without having a falling over feeling. But many pubs no can longer survive on drinkers like me cluttering up the bar.

They have got to offer something special as customers are looking for new experiences. Craft beer should be at the heart of this.

Food and beer matching, for instance, could be an important part of the future, so the choice of beers available will be increasingly important. And could it be that eventually a 'beer list' will be given the same respect as the grape list?

Over the next few months I intend to try and spotlight a few of the brewers doing things differently, pushing out into new beer experiences. Here's one for starters that I believe we'll hear a lot more about in the future.


Outstanding brews (www.outstandingbeers.com )

Ironically, the brewery doesn’t stand out much at all in the Weatherfields-like location. Indeed casual observers have no idea that there is an Aladdin’s cave of ale behind the care worn facade of Britannia Mill in Cobden Street.

But head brewer Dave Porter is not generally known for hiding his light under a hop bushel or two. Dave turned to brewing several years ago in Haslingden, Lancashire, when he got fed up of engineering sales and has never looked back. He makes and fits breweries for start-ups and is just about to hit his first century. The map on his wall locates his customers, with coloured pins yomping across the country.

He also trains many new brewers and gives help with recipes if they want it. Just how many brews he has created is anybody’s guess; but there are lot of ales out there that owe just a little bit to the ebullient Dave. By the way, he tells his novices that they have got to have a name that will, well, stand out – so you can see where he is coming from here.

Outstanding has a 15 barrel-brew-length plant alongside a 2.5 plant for experimental brews. All the evidence in the first year is that the brews have lived up to the sobriquet. Outstanding Stout is an impressive brew with liquorice, coffee and chocolate notes finished with a bitter sweetness. It moved a swiftly and smoothly as a gazelle when it first appeared at Harker's. This success, in a pub where blonde ale is king, must be the beer equivalent of a standing ovation at the Sunderland Empire on a wet Monday matinee.

Authentic Bock
Dave is also putting his money behind his garrulous preaching to explore new styles – at least for the UK that is. There’s a true Pilsner, a wheat beer and the richer and strong Amber Bock - using a authentic Bock yeast and at a very tasty 6% abv. Other's include Ginger (4.5%) and and Smoked Out (5.5%) brewed with traditional continental lager malt as well as the very pokey Pushing Out golden ale -7.3% strength! Now you could sip that just like wine.

When I visited Dave and his team, Alex and Glen, a party of would-be brewers were just coming to the end of a three day course. These guys hailed from all across UK, including the far flung reaches of the Highlands to deepest Kent - and even Southern Ireland had a look in. Next year’s GBG already looks like it will have lots more to bring us.Cheers!

PS: Warning to all B&P managers/beer buyers: I have recently consulted with the Oerstgruppenfuhrer of Communications at High Command, over a pint or two of B&P Original of course, and we have decided to occasionally feature your erudite thoughts herewith on your best selling beers. What I need to know is which customers are drinking what (not by name you understand but customer type), beer trends etc and who's a general real ale pain in the proverbial in your pubs (anonymous of course) well maybe not). It's chance to have your say. I'm coming for someone soon. And it could be you!