I find aspects of this conversation becoming a trifle bizarre.
Methinks many people give the BJCP
far too much credence in the "creation" of beer styles. Beer styles existed before the 1999 BJCP guidelines came out. And stylistic differences, broadly underpinned by historical and regional boundaries, existed well before American home brewers started to fill their mash tuns in earnest.
You can rest assured that the beer drinkers of Scotland where not waiting for Mr Jackson, or the beer Nazis, to tell them their most common, public bar, bevvies were substantially different from their average Sassenach counterpart.
The apparent inference that there is no general Scottish style, on the basis that contemporary Scottish brewers brew beers
not to that style, is a furphy also. I have already acknowledged that fine Scottish Brewers like Caledonian and Harviestoun (now actually owned by Caledonian) produce beers that are superb examples of non Scottish styles, and have reaped the rewards of significant CAMRA recognition accordingly. That they market these beers under terms such as India Pale Ale and Bitter is, I would suggest, telling.
That these, and other Scottish brewers, also produce beers described under the shilling naming system, or as Scottish ale, heavy, export etc marks a clear differentiation between a
stylistically Scottish beer, and a beer brewed by a Scottish brewer borrowing from, or emulating, other traditions.
If I can be forgiven a little book learning
.
Writing in 1837, in his
Scottish Ale Brewer and Practical Maltster, W H Roberts identified some key factors that differentiated Scottish brewing practice then, and which led to different qualities in the finished brews. Foremost amongst those differences were significantly higher mash temps, extended fermentation at lower temperatures (suggestive of the use of yeast with different characters and behaviour), and longer, cooler maturation periods. The use of the fly sparge was also a common feature of Scottish brewing at this time, though not so South of the Border. Roberts acknowledged the growing influence of English brewing practice on the Scots scene, and the increasing experimentation with other styles.
Even a cursory glance at Ian Donnachies
A History of the Brewing Industry in Scotland will glean for the reader a sense of enterprising Scottish brewers consistently brewing beers for domestic and export markets. Experimentation with foreign styles, most notably lager, porter and IPA is a constant, as is the continued brewing of more domesticated Scottish ales.
At its most basic, a high quality bitter can be brewed from a relatively simple combination of pale ale and crystal malts, judiciously hopped. It is this relative simplicity and elegance that makes the English bitter style so frustrating for many a home brewer, there is little room for hiding faults. Check out the brewer provided information on the grists used for bitters in any CAMRA Real Ale Almanac . This holds true for the English style beers being produced by the Scottish brewers cited above. There is no yeast information given here, but I would suspect they have the same ready access to English Ale yeast as the home brewer now has.
If you look at the grain mix for the 70/, 80/ and Scottish ale styles, you will see a far lesser reliance on crystal malts, and an consistent incorporation of darker, black and roast grains. Add to this mix a different mashing regimen and the use of historically specific Scottish yeast, it is no surprise that a different and distinctive beer style emerges
.
Not fantasy. Not the invention of the BJCP. Go on, Save up, get your self to a bar like the Abbotsford in Edinburgh and sample a few pints.
Then tell me that I am the one who is dreaming.
If you can, that is.
Rant over,
awrabest, stu
