Unfortunately over the last 5-10 years there has been a massive boom in craft beer and small breweries. Even before the cost of living crisis there was a view that this was unsustainable and the market could not sustain them all. Shame to see one go down though
1 Like
Talking about longevity, one of the great Brit beers always in my Desert Island Pints - smooth as a babyâs bum. Tonight straight from a barrel on the bar.
Only marred by the village ukulele orchestra butchering Hotel California!
16 Likes
Iâm sure thereâs a few gone to the wall here but it seems to happen with very little fanfare. Think the micro brewers here do need to rethink their strategy, most seem intent on out IPAâing each other to the point that a lot of there beers donât taste like beer anymore.
Good riddance! Sorry, but there are a lot of long established breweries in the UK, many of whom produce excellent beers. While there have also been great new breweries starting up at a local level (often filling in for others who have been bought up and decimated by global conglomerates) and often making excellent beers, there seems also to be a sort of parallel universe in which a bunch of clearly inexperienced brewers have jumped on a âcraft breweryâ marketing bandwagon in which mediocre beers are masked by excessive use of hops for flavour, and hyped with gimmicky packaging in small cans at astonishingly high prices. This sector of the brewing industry has (without wishing to name names) really gone to the dogs in my opinion.
1 Like
I wouldnât disagree with you there. I think we will see a return back to well made bitters away from over-hopped IPAs
I agree about the many mediocre beers, but the prices are probably less astronomical than you might think.
Brewing is very energy inefficiënt and the price of ingredients, especially hops, has skyrocketed. The big conglomerates have the economy of scale and long term contracts with suppliers allowing them to keep costs and profit margins low.
1 Like
I get that costs have gone up, but even before inflation started to climb there seemed to be many âcraftâ beers appearing whose prices were inversely proportional to the size of the can, and considerably higher than those charged by most good, established breweries.
Canât even find hardly any Pilsnerâs anymore here in Sydney
Itâs my favourite beer
Agree - very product-led, with parties investing, often on a shoestring budget, and then trying to build scale through existing outlets via displacement.
What Iâve noticed is the absence of guest beers (e.g. Harveyâs) in many pubs now, probably crowded-out by the roster of lagers, cold beers, light-beers and IPAs. Some of the latter Iâve tasted have been horrible, which means theyâve been kept badly and/or they are horrible (I suspect the latter!).
Dry-hopped IPAâs, so mostly NEIPAâs deteriorate quickly with age as well. They need to be drunk fresh, how you keep them is less of a factor as the age based deterioration is so quick.
My local had a change of management recently; the new manager decided to introduce a new feature: guest ales. These were priced above the usual price of a pint. I was assured that the regular beers would continue. Did they heck! Complaints were registered with the new manager and the owner, and assurances were given that the regular ales would remain. Of course what happened was that the guest ales would not sell, so from time to time, according to deliveries and racking, the regular ales disappeared to allow the guest ales to be sold off. Poor cellar management in my opinion but a lot of regular drinkers were upset.
Pubs have enough trouble selling a range of ales, let alone introducing guest ales that displace existing favourites. I donât object to trying new beers, but not when the price is hiked up. Rant over.
Sounds like you are well served with decent ales â per my comments above, in many of the large chain establishments nowadays, the guest ale is the only one worth having 
I know what you man though in that a decent manager/landlord knows what his punters drink and like.
Of course, it could be worse IMHO (tastes may vary!), they could be selling banana-beer which, from the tasting sample I was given, made all IPAs taste like nectar 
1 Like
There are probably 6 small breweries within a ten mile radius of me, possibly more. Most brew traditional bitter, but those citra flavoured IPAs keep turning up. I worry about the taste buds of the young!
2 Likes
Nice pint of cascade today, much better than my last pint. Itâs brewed in Gloucester.
It has be good then. 
1 Like
All pumps at The Bandstand dedicated to Windswept Brewing this weekend. A fitting send-off from one of their staunch supporters. Hurricane and Clavie both superb and Wolf due on later in the weekend too; I will return!
Cheers
Ian
11 Likes
Beerbohmâs in Lichfield. Jaipur was as good as ever, less keen on the Wagtail which had an odd aftertaste.
11 Likes
Strong British ales, or old mans beer has plenty of options available should the need be.
King Goblin hits a spot peculiarly unique to itself that others miss.
12 Likes
At the Pelican this lunchtime; it has a wonderful selection of beer, not just their own either. I was sampling the Hopfather rather than my usual Butty Bach.
16 Likes
