Franconian Beer Message Board
Weekend round-up...and what's wrong with |
| Posted by Barry on 2016-03-05 09:28:03 |
| I didn't think (or hope) that you thought that I was like Archie! And, actually, I don't think that I am in the other sense. I'm really open to new experiences, which is why I ventured into Germany and Belgium, and I'm happy to see people trying to produce new but, more importantly, better beer (or ale) but I fear that Andy is right in saying that much of it is done to grab attention. Given that so many UK pubs now have loads of different beers on offer at any one time, this is probably really essential. I've said before that the end of the tied house system was a double edged sword. In cases like in East Anglia (Andy might comment on this) one or two big brewers got a near monopoly by buying up and closing down small local breweries and replacing their characterful local beers with mass-produced (usually keg) swill. In this case, it was good that their monopoly was broken. But, with reduced outlets for their product, some brewers just decided that profits were reduced so much that they got out of the business, often closing pubs or converting them to other uses (thus Camra's campaign to prevent this happening). The really enterprising newbies made sure that they had a market by buying up pubs that were being off-loaded but, of course, that took a lot of capital and wasn't available to everyone. What you have now is this free for all on the bar, where the most strident voice is heard - so, loads of gimmicky beers and beer names. I've seen one interesting development in a little pub in Conwy, North Wales, the Albion Alehouse. Lovely little local, owned and beautifully restored by a consortium of 4 local micros. Of course, I don't know the upshot of this co-operation but it seems an interesting way forward. Just to bring this discussion back to Franken, it seems that many of the same developments are in play, with small local breweries being squeezed (correct me if I'm wrong). |