Craft beer

[chuffer]

3 hours ago, shaun mc said:

 

Titantic Plum Porter

haven't had this yet but heard it's a beauty

[Padge]

5 minutes ago, chuffer said:

haven't had this yet but heard it's a beauty

 

I don't go for porters myself but my mates who do sing its praises. Haven't heard anyone have a bad word for it.

[Griff9of13]

12 minutes ago, Padge said:

 

I don't go for porters myself but my mates who do sing its praises. Haven't heard anyone have a bad word for it.

You should give it a go, it's exceptional. Also, from the same brewery, Cherry Dark is possibly even better.

[shaun mc]

2 hours ago, Kayakman said:

Very hard to get your hands on any of that stuff over here.

I believe Hawkshead export to the US but not sure of Canada. Its local to me, so sample them quite often!

A lot of the their beers are very good - Windermere Pale & Iti as Blonde Beers, Cumbrian 5 Hop, NZ Pale Ale, Great White & Damson Stout to name a few. 

 

[Padge]

An interesting aspect of the "Craft" revolution is the number of women who are taking to drinking ales and beers. The introduction of fruit beers and beers with a hint of fruit flavour seems to have persuaded quite a few women to ditch the lager and go for something with a bit more flavour. Sour beers are also catching on.

I had a nice pint of Peach Melbear yesterday which was with Peach and Elderflower my wife thought it was great and I  enjoyed as a change from my usually dry hoppy beers I go for.

[Padge]

5 minutes ago, shaun mc said:

I believe Hawkshead export to the US but not sure of Canada. Its local to me, so sample them quite often!

A lot of the their beers are very good - Windermere Pale & Iti as Blonde Beers, Cumbrian 5 Hop, NZ Pale Ale, Great White & Damson Stout to name a few. 

 

Hawkshead are certainly in my top breweries list.

[Tongs ya bas]

Woodies real ale house, in Headingley is now Woodies craft ale house. What a load of nonsense.

[shaun mc]

46 minutes ago, Padge said:

An interesting aspect of the "Craft" revolution is the number of women who are taking to drinking ales and beers. The introduction of fruit beers and beers with a hint of fruit flavour seems to have persuaded quite a few women to ditch the lager and go for something with a bit more flavour. Sour beers are also catching on.

I had a nice pint of Peach Melbear yesterday which was with Peach and Elderflower my wife thought it was great and I  enjoyed as a change from my usually dry hoppy beers I go for.

Quite a few of my female friends will now try a light, hoppy, blonde ale or a wheat beer over tasteless, fizzy rubbish like Fosters that they used to drink back in the day. They'll also sample some of the stuff the blokes try as well. So there's definitely a change going on

[shaun mc]

1 hour ago, Padge said:

Hawkshead are certainly in my top breweries list.

Their beer Festival is worth a visit. Very busy though. Just over an hour on the train from Wigan and 5 mins walk from the station

[Padge]

Just now, shaun mc said:

Their beer Festival is worth a visit. Very busy though. Just over an hour on the train from Wigan and 5 mins walk from the station

We visit the brewery fairly regularly, it is as you say, easy to get to from Wigan. Haven't done their beer festival though. 

[Tongs ya bas]

Every year they have a beer festival in our village hall. It's good fun, they have a band on, decent nosh, and all the micro breweries contribute. There are some great local breweries, and they don't seem to have jumped onto the craft ale bandwagon. But the beer is often rank, as if they are offloading the stuff they can't sell. The strong stuff always goes in the first hour or so. 

[chuffer]

2 hours ago, Padge said:

 

I don't go for porters myself

i only recently started enjoying them, mainly due to home brewing. One of the best beers Ive made was an attempted clone of a Guinness west indies porter, didnt taste much like the original but ended up much smokier as I couldn't get exactly the right type of malt, but it was a happy accident and got more praise from friends and family than some of the IPAs ive attempted

[Padge]

So have we now cleared up the OP's question, "What is Craft Beer". 

[Tongs ya bas]

10 minutes ago, Padge said:

So have we now cleared up the OP's question, "What is Craft Beer". 

No. 

[chuffer]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbrewery

[chuffer]

so think smaller scale, better quality

[Padge]

6 minutes ago, chuffer said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbrewery

As often is the case in Wikipedia there is just a load of bollards in that.

[Tongs ya bas]

11 minutes ago, chuffer said:

so think smaller scale, better quality

But small scale brewers were growing(something I will be forever grateful for) long before the term 'craft beer' became trendy. 

[chuffer]

depends how bogged down on pedantry you wish to be....like I say the main things to take from it (when compared to the large, commercial beer industry) is the difference in scale and quality

*cracks open another oakham Citra and gives up trying to explain it*

[Tongs ya bas]

Just now, chuffer said:

depends how bogged down on pedantry you wish to be....like I say the main things to take from it (when compared to the large, commercial beer industry) is the difference in scale and quality

*cracks open another oakham Citra and gives up trying to explain it*

I just enjoy decent beer, different styles and varieties were growing long before the term craft beer became fashionable. 

[chuffer]

1 minute ago, Tongs ya bas said:

But small scale brewers were growing(something I will be forever grateful for) long before the term 'craft beer' became trendy. 

yes but they were probably limiting themselves by sticking to UK hops which have earthy, grassy, herbal flavours to them. Hence why many perceive english bitters / real ales (even the ones from smaller, independent breweries) to all taste the same. As someone mentioned earlier, this perception has now changed as better beers are now being made where breweries are experimenting and the emphasis is on flavour rather than profit

[Tongs ya bas]

45 minutes ago, chuffer said:

yes but they were probably limiting themselves by sticking to UK hops which have earthy, grassy, herbal flavours to them. Hence why many perceive english bitters / real ales (even the ones from smaller, independent breweries) to all taste the same. As someone mentioned earlier, this perception has now changed as better beers are now being made where breweries are experimenting and the emphasis is on flavour rather than profit

Apart from the profit bit, I see where you are coming from. I have simple taste in beers. I don't go for beers with chocolate, fruit(not a new thing) and stuff. Beer to me is beer..purely my personal taste.  I do disagree with you about beers from independent breweries all tasting the same. Mate, we both enjoy a decent drop from small interesting brewers, and thankfully they are on the increase. This craft carry on just seems to have the whiff of ###### to me, along with all this stuff about coffee and bread 

[Padge]

27 minutes ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Apart from the profit bit, I see where you are coming from. I have simple taste in beers. I don't go for beers with chocolate, fruit(not a new thing) and stuff. Beer to me is beer..purely my personal taste.  I do disagree with you about beers from independent breweries all tasting the same. Mate, we both enjoy a decent drop from small interesting brewers, and thankfully they are on the increase. This craft carry on just seems to have the whiff of ###### to me, along with all this stuff about coffee and bread 

As I keep saying Craft is meaningless, it's become a marketing slogan.

It is the "Home Made" of the brewing industry.

 

[chuffer]

16 minutes ago, Tongs ya bas said:

 I do disagree with you about beers from independent breweries all tasting the same.

yeh sorry I probably didn't put that point across well. I don't think all independent breweries taste the same. Some are great and definitely pre-date the craft fad, I hold Sam Smiths in that regard which is in stark contrast to its next door neighbour john smiths in tadcaster (owned by Scottish and Newcastle or Heineken now maybe) which churn out bland, mass-produced cack for several brands such as Kronenbourg, fosters, john smiths, Heineken etc). But I think the craft beer fad has turned lots of drinkers toward breweries like Sam smiths, me and my mates are big fans whereas we may not have necessarily "discovered" it had there not been an explosion in decent beer which has educated us a bit more. You could perhaps attribute that to the increase of the "craft" beer thing, dunno....we didnt intend to get on any bandwagon but I appreciate the resulting variety and range of stuff that's out there now....i will walk straight out of a pub if all you can see on tap is fosters, Guinness, tetleys/worthys, strongbow and stella...if they do bass or pedigree then maybe I'll stay but now now I'm looking for stuff I've never tasted before

[shaun mc]

48 minutes ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Apart from the profit bit, I see where you are coming from. I have simple taste in beers. I don't go for beers with chocolate, fruit(not a new thing) and stuff. Beer to me is beer..purely my personal taste.  I do disagree with you about beers from independent breweries all tasting the same. Mate, we both enjoy a decent drop from small interesting brewers, and thankfully they are on the increase. This craft carry on just seems to have the whiff of ###### to me, along with all this stuff about coffee and bread 

Beer, bread, coffee, etc. Same as in a lot of industries/markets, consumers want choice now. The smaller producers may go for a niche in the market or just do it for the love of the process and the end product and grow their local market share. There are brewers who aren't doing it for profit and a good life. I know a brewery in Lancashire who definitely don't make wads of cash, yet they are big enough to have to sell to Wetherspoons at a low price of course. There's 4/5 of them working at the brewery in total. Small scale beer making is a labour of love many brewers (as well as bread makers and coffee merchants) are driven by quality of product rather than the wonga at the end of it. The current market drives innovation and experimentation and to be frank some brews are rubbish. But hey ho, you have to be willing to be out there doing something different, so yes there are some fantastic chocolate/coffee nib stouts & fruit beers out there - IMO of course