Too Many Breweries? Probably.

Before I was diverted from sitting on my arse doing sod all by Manchester Beer and Cider Festival (MBCF) - more of which soon - I put up a little poll about whether there are too many breweries in the UK.

Now I had a kind of idea that the answer would be "Yes" and indeed that proved the case with 57% of the respectable 103 respondents agreeing that there are. Only 28% thought that there aren't too many breweries with 14% undecided. most respondents have a pretty good interest in beer and pubs I imagine and likely a fair knowledge of the issues, so I'm reasonably confident that the result reflects a general feeling of unease about the seemingly unstoppable growth of new breweries in the UK.

While at MBCF I took the opportunity to ask brewers big and small what they thought. Tellingly they more or less all thought there are too many and a shake out is ahead. Not them of course though. It is hard to be sure, but with dog eat dog at the lower cask end, regional brewers as the squeezed middle and too many brewers chasing too few opportunities you can't help but think something must give. Whether you are big or small, one thing is for sure, if you have found a niche or market that suits you and makes you money, stick to it and nurture it.

And for those that aren't in such a happy place, better find one quickly or you might be heading for the rocks.

One thing though. Brewers are the most amazing optimists. They have a propensity to find a way round problems which is wholly impressive.

Oh. And you must make good beer. There is a feeling around that quality needs to be upped and the smart ones recognise that. 

Back to Unclear Beer

It is ages since I did a poll and I haven't got the hang of putting it up on the newer version of Blogger that I now have, so apologies to the person that voted.  It wasn't meant to be published until I'd done this bit. Sorry.

When you are doing this, it is difficult to get the questions as right as you'd like, but hopefully I have included most scenarios.  Anyway, while in the main it is just a bit of fun, it does have a serious background and purpose.


I may draw conclusions from it and use it at the CAMRA AGM.  So get voting.

See also my earlier blog here and blogs from Phil and Paul  who also have views on the matter.  I do urge you to read them before diving in.  They do tend to be supportive of clear beer, so if there is another link to the opposing view, let me know and I'll include it.

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Blogging

The poll is over. A somewhat disappointing 74 responded to the set of questions posed and only 63 let on whether or not they are a blogger.

The results were kind of mixed, with both good and bad news for blogging and bloggers. The good news is that clearly blogging is doing something right, with 51% believing that it encourages them to drink better beer and a respectable and 37% reckoning blogs the best place to find out the essentials of British beer today. Now you don't have to be a genius to work out that in a poll where you could answer to each question if you wanted, there is a large minority in the first case and a large majority in the second that don't see it that way.

Significant numbers think there are problems of blogs being inward looking and an unhealthy number think it all an ego trip by the writers. Nonetheless, taken as averages of the "positive" and "negative" questions, almost twice as many were on the positive than the negative side and only 9% find blogging as boring or irrelevant.

So a reasonably good result? I think so, but it seems there is still more work to do to satisfy our readerships.

Finally 63% declared as non bloggers.

The results are below for the record.

An essential "must read”? 17 (22%)

A way to pass the odd five minutes; mildly diverting, but that’s all? 29 (39%)

Boring, repetitive and irrelevant? 7 (9%)

A vehicle for overblown egos 25 (33%)

A place that will inform, enlighten and encourage you to drink better beer? 38 (51%)

A self congratulatory, inward looking clique? 29 (39%)

Being affected and overtaken by Twitter? 9 (12%)

The best place to find out the essentials of British beer today? 28 (37%)

In terminal and inevitable decline? 3 (4%)

A Forgiving Lot - Almost

The poll on bad pub experiences has closed. A reasonable 65 people voted and here are the results:

Shrug and put it down to experience - 7 (10%)

Complain politely and if not satisfied walk out vowing never to return - 14 (21%)

Walk out without complaint and vow never to return - 9 (13%)

Slag the place off to everyone you know afterwards no matter the outcome - 1 (1%)

Report them to Trading Standards - 0 (0%)

Give them a second chance then do one of the above - 34 (52%)

Unsurprisingly, given that most if not all voters were presumably British, our reluctance to complain, our stoicism in the face of adversity and our sheer good nature, gave a majority to the "second chance". A surprisingly healthy 33% were of a less forgiving ilk, with vows of "never to return". That is surely enough to give at least pause for thought to publicans. Bad experiences will lose you customers.

Thanks to everyone that took part.

Poll Result

In a huge response (190 votes) the results of my poll on smoking in pubs were:

Should never have been introduced and should be repealed	58 (30%)
Should have been in introduced in a modified form to allow smoking in some areas	34 (17%)
Is a progressive and positive thing	56 (29%)
Is regrettable, but inevitable and we should accept it and move on	3 (1%)
Has ruined pubs and changed them for the worse	8 (4%)
Is a dead subject which we shouldn't even be discussing	31 (16%

The poll was interesting in that the smoking brigade, mostly anonymously, popped out of the woodwork to vote. Another interesting feature was the dodgy and bloody boring stats that were hauled out to defend the cause. One thing was clear from the smokers. They wish to conflate the smoking ban with a general health push against drinking; you can decide for yourself on that one. Most who didn't smoke, it appears, couldn't care less about smoking, but just didn't want to stink of the stuff. That aspect was scarcely addressed by the pro-smoking brigade. I could go on, but won't.

So if you count answers 1 and 5 as "anti", they polled a respectable 34%. If you count answers 3, 4 and 6 as "pro" ban, that is a total of 46%. The middle ground of a modified ban polled only 18%, so it seems we are all pretty entrenched in our positions. I notice it doesn't add up to 100%. Seems 3% is lost in the rounding.

My conclusion? Smokers were the ones losing their "rights", but even now they don't favour the compromise solution. Seems they weren't and aren't prepared to compromise even retrospectively. Non smokers aren't either, but they don't have to.

New Poll

Inspired by a discussion over on Curmudgeon's Blog, I have devised my second ever poll on this blog, this time on the subject of smoking in pubs. It is a subject that perhaps should be dead, but won't lie down. Or has ruined our pubs and caused untold misery. Or points between

I have tried to make it as reasonable as possible and cover all the main views. Have your say.

Bottling It

My recent poll on how many bottled beers you drink at home has ended. The results are as follows:

One or two	13 (14%)
Three to seven	32 (34%)
Seven and above	24 (26%)
I rarely drink bottled beer at home	23 (25%)

It probably isn't that surprising, but I was kind of pleased that as many as a quarter don't tend to drink any bottles at home. Rather more surprising is those who drink over seven.

I wonder how many over seven that is?

Voting Over

Well, wasn't that fun? Seems like the term "cask ale" was a clear winner. With 53% of the vote, it could form its own government in this country.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was the number that voted for "craft". Still, whatever was voted for, it was an interesting little exercise. Thanks to all 98 that voted. Just for future reference, here's how it went.

Cask	52 (53%)
Craft	13 (13%)
Handpulled	1 (1%)
Live	5 (5%)
Real	25 (25%)
Traditional	2 (2%)

Let's Vote

I have been thinking about the term Real Ale, prompted this time by Boak and Bailey, but I have discussed it before. Is the term out-dated? I don't use it personally and there are alternatives. While I reckon CAMRA is unlikely to change its name, what do others think that the beer commonly known as real ale should be called?

In the first ever poll on this blog, tell me what you reckon.


Options are shown alphabetically.