Defining Craft Beer

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Mark Dredge from Pencil and Spoon has thrown the question "Is there such a thing as UK Craft Beer?" out into the internet ether.


This has been discussed with some people arguing that the craft beer moniker for some British beer is a misnomer and should only be used when in reference to beer produced by our American ale cousins on the other side of the Atlantic. This is a rather knee jerk, rigid and dogmatic response that maintains that under no circumstances should the term "craft beer" or "craft beer revolution" be used to describe the product or the upturn in interest and sales of some of our most exciting and progressive brewers and breweries.


Others, Mr Dredge included, consider it an apt name to describe and quantify the new brewers on the British beer scene who embody, exhibit and bring new levels of passion, creativity, experimentation and eclecticism into their beer craft. When I hear these words referring to British beer, I think of the following breweries - Dark Star, Thornbridge, Brewdog, Hardknott, Fyne Ales, Kernel, Marble, Moor, Redemption among others. These breweries are pushing the beer boundaries and are radically different from what has gone before. Many have been inspired by the U.S. and are using a range of hops and flavours that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. They are clearly doing something radical, something different and distinct from many other UK breweries.


Should we therefore create a new category of definition to differentiate these beers and breweries from the rest?


Yes. I think so. But I don't think that it should be the term 'Craft Beer'


Why?


Well, I've always been wary of the U.S. linguistic imperialism that seems to be creeping into the lexicon of our language. Words and phrases such as '24/7', 'Step up to the Plate', 'OMG', 'Awesome' and 'Craft Beer' are Americanisms that deserve to stay on the other side of the Atlantic.


Personally, I prefer the phrase 'Artisan Ale' or 'Artisan Beer' rather than 'Craft Beer'.


It conjures up an image in my mind of people making beer for the sheer love, pleasure and passion of it. Making it to be enjoyed and experienced and the beer produced being an end in itself and not simply a means to an end.


Ultimately, though, it doesn't really matter what it is labelled or pigeon holed as.


Good beer is good beer. Just get it opened, poured and enjoyed.


Have a nice weekend.




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T'was the blog before Christmas

Christmas is usually the time for pushing the boat out and indulging yourself in the finer things in life. The beer monkey is no different. Over the past few months, I've been finding myself spending an awful lot of time on two of  my favourite websites,  My Brewery Tap and  Beer Merchants, admiring the stunning collection of UK and International beer. I've also been ordering a bottle or two to keep me refreshed over the festive period.

So, my  Christmas cargo is now complete and this year I shall be mostly drinking beer such as....... Thornbridge, Marble, Brewdog Abstrakt, Sierra Nevada, The Kernel Brewery, HardKnott, Cantillon, Odell, Goose Island and the lovely, lovely Fyne Ales among others. That's my Christmas cargo. What's in your Christmas cargo?

One Happy Beer Monkey

So, whatever you are drinking, I hope you have a wonderful, lovely Christmas and that Santa brings you all that you hope and desire. And a few nice bottles too.

Merry Christmas Beer Buddies.

Have A Great One.

Six of the Best - my beers of the year

It's getting to the time of the year when people take a pause out of their hectic festive schedule and reflect, reminisce and indulge in a spot of quite reflection of the year soon to pass. We order in our heads the high and low points, the happy and sad times and the experiences of the previous year.



The beer monkey is no different and of late I have been wearing my beer memory cap and thinking back through the last year and contemplating the beers that have best been dinging my dong, ringing my bell, floating my boat and generally putting a big beery smile on my face in 2010. To be honest, It was a pretty difficult task to whittle my beers of the year list down into the single digits. It is an exciting time in the world of real ale and craft beer at the moment and there are exceptional breweries making exceptional beers so it was no easy task but i've managed to choose some of the beers that have tantalised, tingled and teased my tastebuds over the last twelve months.



So, in no particular order, I give you my 2010 Six of the Best .

First up, is a beer that I have actively sought out and travelled miles to taste - Fyne Ales Jarl.
I first tasted Jarl at the Fyne Ales Festival in June. It was the first outing of this special beer and it blew me and my fellow drinkers away. It is a fresh and refreshing Pale Ale with tropical citrus aromas and gorgeous grapefruit and lemon Citra hops bouncing all over your tongue that ends in a beautifully dry, bitter finish. It is simply, a stunning beer and one that needs to be tasted to be believed.



I next tasted Jarl at the Great British Beer Festival at Earl's Court in early August and again it was outstanding. It was my beer of the festival and I quickly became a Jarl evangelist, converting everyone I spoke to onto this fantastic Fyne Ale. Everyone thought it was lovely. My hopes for 2011 are that Jarl becomes a regular fixture in the Fyne Ales repertoire and that it soon appears in bottles.

My second beer is a gorgeous Summer Ale from U.S. craft brewers Odell. Odell has spent a lot of time and effort trying to raise their profile and customer base in the U.K. Some of their beers are pretty good, particularly their IPA and Cut Throat Porter but one beer stands head and shoulders above the rest. That beer in question is St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale and it was the thirst quenching beer that I couldnt get enough of during the summer.



It is a lively and invigorating fruit bowl of passion fruit, mango and lemon with a sprinkling of spicy pepper and sweet honey. It has a clean, and crisp, hoppy finish that leaves you wanting more, more, more. Particularly on a hot, summer day.

My next lip smacking beer of 2010, is a little bit darker than the first two but is no less lacking in full on meaty hop flavour. The beer is Brewdog's Edge and is a cracking example of a well made and tasty Mild. It has split opinion with one beer blogger describing it as merely a Scottish 60 Shilling beer with added hops but that is like describing Gareth Bale as merely a left sided footballer with a bit of pace. Edge is much, much more than that.



It is a complex smoky blend of plums, raisins and rich fruits with a lingering dark chocolate and coffee bitterness. It is only 3.2% abv but punches well above it's weight in terms of body, mouthfeel and taste.  Yet again, those Fraserburgh upstarts have created a beer that is memorably tasty and very, very moreish.

A beer fromThornbridge brewery is next up on my list of cracking beers that have I have enthusiastically consumed in 2010. Thornbridge is a brewery that is a byword for innovative, interesting but above all stunning beers and to pick just one from their mouth watering selection was very difficult but I went for one that I've had the pleasure of tasting and enjoying many times over the past year and on each and every occasion it has been a South Pacific hop explosion of fragrant, tropical shrapnel of pink grapefruit, mango and kiwi fruit flavours and tastes. The New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops deliver a huge fruity kick that gives way to a long dry citrus bitter finish. Kipling is the beer and it is as sumptiously gorgeous a beer as you are likely to find.

Two left on my six off the best list the next one up comes from Marble  Brewery in Manchester. Marble have a reputation as purveyors of high quality and consistently flavoursome beers. Like Thornbridge,  it was really difficult to choose just the one from Marble's healthy choice of beers. I could have gone for the excellent Dobber or their lovely Manchester Bitter but instead I went for Lagonda IPA. It is an excellent example of an IPA and it's lovely herbal hop aroma is matched by well balanced sweet toffee malt and citrus fruit and floral hops. I thought it was an exceptional, well conditioned beer that was robust and full of flavour.

My last beer of the year is Brewdog's Punk IPA. It is a somewhat lazy choice but to be honest it's usually the first beer I reach for in the fridge and I always make sure that I have a regular supply at hand. It is my default beer of choice when at home and the one that I've probably downed the most of during the last year. It is exactly what I need of a midweek evening and it hits the spot everytime. It truly is outstanding and has everything that I want in a beer. Hoppy, Fresh, Tasty, Flavoursome and Refreshing. I don't know if it's possible for a 6% beer to be classed as a session beer but in my case session means the beer I drink regularly and Punk IPA is the closest I'll get to having a session beer.  Until, that is, Fyne Ales bottle Jarl.


So there you go. Six beers that I have particularly enjoyed this year but as I said earlier, it really was a difficult job to get it down to six as there are a lot of great brewers out there making innovative and excellent beers.

 Long may that continue.


What were the best beers you had this year?