A Pre GBBF Thought

I have limited time, but I wanted to get this little post out before I pack my bag for London and the GBBF.

When reading a comment on Boak and Bailey about what CAMRA ought to do, there was one helpful comment. It was along the lines of "What are CAMRA doing about quality?". I couldn't agree more. Those of us that spend a lot of time drinking cask beer in pubs know that it can be a lottery, with even so called top pubs unable, or unwilling, or for God's sake unaware,that they are selling sub standard product. In these trying times you don't want to spend £3+ on less than optimum beer. You don't want the embarrassment or hassle of sending it back, using euphemisms such as "I'm not sure this is quite right" or "Has this reached the end of the barrel?" when you know very well it is undrinkable piss. At the same time the bar staff should know. (The best pubs will have the manager sipping the odd mouthful to check from time to time.)

There are some dodgy arguments about new craft going around, but one thing is reasonably certain about craft keg. That is, that while it may well be cold and gassy, it is unlikely to be actually "off". This to me is where we came in many years ago with keg, though of course, current pricing and availability is likely to leave craft keg as a minority sport, but that can't be relied on forever.

As I say, time is short, but one of the recommendations of the review of CAMRA that I was a member of, was to campaign for better cask beer quality. When CAMRA sets its priorities, that should be number one, top of the tree etc. While we are at it we should encourage brewers to provide cask beer in as small a quantity as the pub wants. Too big a container limits cask beer's ability to compete on short run speciality beers. Keykegs may be part of the answer, but the good old pin (4.5 gallons)should be brought back in great numbers, breweries should use them to produce short run exciting and innovative beers. If a brewery can't do short run beers and it is of any size, it needs a pilot plant. A sound investment and cheap as chips too.

Who says innovation should be the domain of craft keg? Craft keg brewers that's who. It is one of their main selling points (though you could argue that umpteen variations on an IPA theme is hardly cutting edge).

Other brewers need to wake up and take them on at their own game.

Next time you get a duff pint, send it back.  And a question. How do you send a pint of craft beer back if you think it is too cold and gassy? I honestly don't know.

Getting Better

What is? London is. There is a step change in what is happening in the capital. More choice and better choice, new bars opening, new breweries appearing and getting space on bars because they are local. (Not yet because they are universally good.) Better awareness of beer all round it seems too and it is happening fast. Very fast. Publicans and pub chains are thinking about beer and how they can make something more of it and that is fantastic and overdue.  London has great pubs and now we are on the way to great beer. Brilliant.

There are still problems, though most can be easily eradicated. First range and choice. Too much samey brown beer. The golden, hoppy, quaffing beer is still hard to find and when you do it is likely to be Dark Star Hophead. No bad thing in itself, but there are others out there. Variety is important and if like me you are unattracted to a certain style of beer, you will have lost a customer if there isn't a bit of real choice, rather than just a variation on a single theme. When choosing beers, spread the choice and broaden the appeal.

The second is temperature and condition. There is still too much tired, flabby and overvented beer being sold at over 16C- and sold for top dollar too. That's easily sorted and it is instructive that you are at least as likely to get a properly conditioned pint, served at cellar temperature in a JDW or a Nicolsons (haven't they improved?) than you are in some of the the new fancy beer emporia. Particularly disappointing as you would hope that the new specialist beer bars, appealing to younger drinkers and beer enthusiasts as they do,  would be leading the way on this.

So with a few caveats, great stuff and huge potential for more, but the old mantra of quality, quality, quality, can never be repeated enough. While it may be needed more in London, it should be the watchword of every publican in the land, particularly in these difficult times.