Franconian Beer Message Board
Gosh! |
| Posted by Barry on 2016-02-28 08:23:21 |
| My objection to the many new types of beer found in Britain is not that they are different but thatmost of the ones that I've tasted are just not very good. On one hand, brewing is relatively simple, just throw some malted barley into a big kettle, boil it up, add a few hops and ferment for a bit. Easy really. But... there are quite a lot of variables and these must be got right before you can produce a decent beer. Oh, and then it must be conditioned properly, both in the brewery and the pub. Of course, if you start to make things more complex, then things can go wrong and it's pretty obvious to me that some (many?) of the micro's have got things wrong - perhaps a lack of experience or technique? I don't know. Then there are a nother couple of factors. Firstly, it seems to me that an awful lot of publicans are (a) not really experienced and able to serve beer correctly; and (b) are more interested in food, because it has a higher profit margin. Put all these things together and you have the perfect recipe for a not so perfect product - but one for which we are having to pay an increasingly high price. Should a nation's brewers stick to original styles? Good question. Of course, they are free to do what they want but it should always be what they are competent to do. Being of a certain age, I don't really want a vast range of choice in a pub. I'm happy with a couple of styles (in my case, a bitter and a mild will do) in each pub but I want to be confident of what I'm going to find in X pub rather than embark on an expensive mystery tour. If I know what's on offer, I can choose my pub, rather than having to work my way down the bar. Re Americanisation: I think that you've got hold of the wrong end of the stick here, Nick. I know that Americans, like Nigerians, Chinese, Papua New Guinians (?), etc., etc., come in all shapes and sizes, so I don't tar them all with the same brush. It's not people that I'm criticising but the effect of the enormous industrial empire that is the modern USA has on the rest of us. There is no other country that us having the level of cultural and social influence on the rest of the world. Now I'm going to watch the League cup final and have all fingers and toes crossed for my beloved boys in blue! |
| Followups: |
 Gosh! by Barry on 2016-02-28 11:33:01 |