Book Review. Beer by Design by Pete Brown

There are over 2,500 breweries in the UK and when you add imported beer to domestic output, there are over 10,000 beer different brands on sale in the UK.  This should be seen against a background of falling consumption, so given this plethora of choice, how, in such a crowded marketplace, do you nudge the customer to pick up and look at your product over another, and more importantly, buy it.  In his latest book, Beer by Design, beer writer Pete Brown sets out not only to tell us what processes are involved, but to explain and decode the hidden subtext of beer labelling.

Firstly Pete explains that visual marketing is everywhere and despite our best efforts to deny it, we are all influenced by it to some degree or other.  Beer is no different. What makes you choose? Well in short, in addition to what you already know - your personal preferences, strength and so on make up a part of it - but also, more subtly, it is how the beer is presented to you. 

How it appears, the shape and colour of the packaging and the labelling all give (or don't give) visual appeal on a number of levels. In this, straight up, Pete declares an interest. He has a degree in marketing and worked in that field himself before becoming a writer and trust me, this is a good thing, as when you read the book, the first thing  that strikes you - apart from the lavish illustrations - is that this book is written by someone who knows and understands his subject. Marketing as a discipline is tackled head on with its good and bad points, fairly presented to the reader. While many of us may jump first on its ability to deceive or mislead, the other side of the coin is to present a case to the consumer. As Pete points out, when done honestly, it can be helpful to the purchaser, and false or misleading marketing usually gets caught out.

So where did it all start?  At its most basic, the brand is an identifying mark which denotes ownership.  Commercial branding also prevents the unscrupulous from passing off their product as someone else's. As far back as 1266,  bakers were required to put an identifying mark on their bread, but marks of ownership were around in 2700 BCE - so the idea isn't at all new. Now it is firmly enshrined in law of course. In the case of the UK, the key date is the 1st of January 1876 with the passing into law of The Trade Marks Registration Act. Fittingly, in the context of this book, it was brewer Bass which registered "Trade Mark No1".  A separate page of the book describes this and the continual fight Bass had against counterfeiting of both their brand and product. 

Further chapters tell us of the evolution of branding, from labelling, to bottle shape and more recently, with the advent of craft beer, how cans became somewhat of a blank canvas to offer individuality and to get the product noticed.  Here the book really comes into its own with case studies of various well known and not so well known breweries. Pete explains that BrewDog's early labelling, with its offset lettering and brash colours were a clear nod to its rebellious beginnings and a two fingered salute to big beer, but also as BrewDog became more available in mainstream outlets, the design and attitude moved in two further iterations, from "rebellious" to "maverick", but still, distinctively "BrewDog".

This part of the book is in effect an enjoyable and detailed insight for the reader as to what can influence labelling once the statutory requirements of contents, strength etc are got out of the way. The examples are carefully chosen and Pete's words set the context and decipher and break down each for the reader.  You will find what to the uninformed may be generically be "simply" art work, has to the brewery - and its marketeers - particular purpose and is carefully selected accordingly.  

By the time you have whizzed through the book - and it is a delightful read in Pete's usual warm and easygoing style - you will find yourself going back over it again to look at the individual brewery pages in more depth. I particularly enjoyed the analysis of Cloudwater and Camden Town, where on one hand you have a small brewer with a great reputation, approaching design in one way and the other, now owned by "Big Beer" making changes that position the former craft darling - my words not Pete's - in the mainstream, but branding wise, still cutting edge.  As an aside, you learn too, that minimalism as in the case of Kernel is nowhere near as easy as it looks.

Whether it is art, typography, themes, family similarities, traditional or zany, labelling has a similar purpose, to identify and attract.  Pete poses the question at the beginning of the book "should you judge a book by its cover?"  As he himself says -  and I'm slightly paraphrasing here - Why not? You have to start somewhere." Of course the ultimate decision will be about the quality of the product inside the packaging, but the reasonable hope is that if care is taken in packaging and presentation, then great care is being taken with the beer. 

This book is well  written, interesting and visually very appealing.  It is not remotely dry, but rather an engaging history of a serious subject. You will learn a lot in reading it.  This is not just a book for the beer geek, but has much broader appeal and is unhesitatingly recommended.

Pete Brown is a British author, journalist, broadcaster and consultant specialising in food and drink, especially the fun parts like beer, pubs, cider, bacon rolls and fish and chips.  He was named British Beer Writer of the Year in 2009, 2012 and 2016, has won three Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, and has been shortlisted twice for the Andre Simon Awards. Pete is Chair of the British Guild of Beer Writers. He lives in London with his wife Liz, and dog Mildred.

 Beer By Design is available from CAMRA Books

Publisher: CAMRA Books
ISBN: 9781852493684
Number of pages: 224
Dimensions: 250 x 210 mm

 

The Pub - Book Review

For a person that loves pubs as much as I do there can be few more pleasurable reads than a well written book about pubs, especially when the book is illustrated with some of the finest pub photography I have seen to date. The Pub, by well known author Pete Brown, is a stunningly well written and erudite excursion into the pub as a defining British icon, and with a little history and context thrown in, it draws you into the simple fact that a pub is not just a place to sell beer, wines and spirits, but in Pete's own words, "a cultural institution". Pete describes the book as a "personal journey" and while the book only mentions some 350 out of the 50,000 or so pubs in the country, you really do get the feel for why the pub, to many, is regarded with warmth, affection and a probably a touch of living nostalgia.

Now this isn't a small volume. It is coffee table sized, but the size is used to show in both words and photos, what Pete is driving at when he talks about the various pubs he has chosen for this book.  The book has a short introduction from Pete himself, pointing out that your own favourite pub may well be absent and that he has sought to represent the broad diversity and character of pubs, so if yours isn't included, he is sorry, but he had to be firm in achieving something manageable. This makes sense. Instead what you will find is a wonderfully representative selection of pubs and a neat and sensible set of chapters, dividing the pub into types  such as historic pubs; architecturally interesting pubs; coastal pubs; railway pubs and more. Here is the beauty of writing about pubs - you can use your own categories and chop it up in any way you want - and if written well - as this book is - you can be both personal and at the same time speak the familiar language of the pub buff, as well as reaching out to those who simply like to go to pubs on occasion.

Perhaps though the hardest thing of all is to describe in a way that can be easily understood, what pub culture is. Pete takes a bit of time over this and rightly so, for it is the culture of the British pub that makes it what it is. The backdrop may be its history or its architecture, but it is what goes on inside that makes it a pub. Here Pete excels. He "gets" pubs - and not everyone does - and this is reflected in his writing.  He identifies - correctly in my view - that it is that most difficult to pin down aspect, atmosphere that makes the pub what it is and his pubs are chosen to reflect that. No easy task that, but I think it fair to say that Pete has a pretty good bash at it, repeatedly (in a good way and with a sense of astonishment and wonder), describing local characters and landlords in a way that inspires you want to go and experience them yourself. If you don't believe that, read the description of the scene in either the Snowdrop in Lewes or the Hatchet Inn in Andover. Or any of it really.  You can just dip in and out and will find something to love, or a pub you make a mental note to visit sometime in the future.
 
Following his personal sub-division of pub types, Pete then does a run around the country by region. He astutely recognises that what the British pub is really like "often depends on which part of Britain you are in".  Each area is given a bit of  a pen picture and is then exemplified by picking a number of great pubs to talk about in detail and giving other pubs shorter descriptions under the "Also Try" banner.   It works.  London gets a large chunk of course, possibly reflecting the author's place of residence, though I did feel that the sections on Scotland and Wales could have been beefed up a little.

But these are minor points. Pete Brown's use of simple words, elegantly put and the clear enthusiasm for his subject, together with his sharp and witty observations, make this a book I recommend unreservedly. The superb photography is a wonderful bonus.

The Pub is published in hardback by Jacqui Small.  Price £22.00 

And for those interested in such things, Pete Brown is most assuredly a Pub Man.