Cheers! It's A Real Ale Renaissance

[rich_4646]

Interesting article in 'The Guardian'(U.K. newspaper)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/201...-taste-for-beer

 

[spaced]

Interesting article in 'The Guardian'(U.K. newspaper)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/201...-taste-for-beer

Cracking read that, also it's amazing when.

Hunter's is part of a remarkable early 21st-century flowering of traditional British ale. Helped by an increasingly enthusiastic public and a handy excise duty relief that effectively halves your tax bill as long as you make no more than about 3,000 barrels a year (thank you, Gordon Brown), some 50 new small breweries are expected to open around the country this year.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Someone email this to the PM, ATO or some other useless public servant. Maybe putting prestige on the line will help the cause.

Goomba

Edit: oooh, the bloke in the photo has the same last name as I - I'm really interested now.

 

[Bribie G]

The UK has always had a thriving real ale sector - in fact until the 1960s that's all there was. However Australia lost nearly all its ales, real or otherwise about 100 years ago. Since the big mergers of the 1980s and 1990s quality seems to have been driven down, hop rates now almost non existent and a once fine range of lagers are now just swill. As I've posted before I'm old enough to have directly compared good Euro beers and Australian beers back in the 1970s and I can tell you that Fosters, XXXX etc held their own against mainstream European lagers which is why they became so popular there (then got screwed over when they BUL-ed them of course).

Rather than apeing the Yanks and importing "APA" as our new default national ale style I think more micros should try to revive full flavoured Australian beers. For example when in Sydney recently I didn't mind Balmain Lager or James Squire (ok I know they aren't a micro anymore) Sundowner lager, which were a step up from the likes of Carlton Draught, and more like I remember. For example if you want to try one yourself grab a tallie of Cascade Pale 5% ABV, then grit your teeth and try a VB by comparison. I reckon they haven't changed Cascade since the 70s and it really stands out.

 

[rbtmc]

I've noticed the quality of JS has gone to shit recently also. Maybe around the time they brought out their new branding?
Cut backs on hops and increase in marketing = More profit?

Now is a better time than ever to brew your own I think.
There is literally nothing beer-wise at my local IGA that I can appreciate the taste of any more.

 

[Zizzle]

CAMRA and BrewDog in the same article. I thought they were at war?

We can't have people force carbonating decent beer on our watch! Next thing you know, they'll be be drinking beer without wearing wool cardigans too!