Tuesday 16 July 2013

Craft keg’s summer?

Is this the summer of craft keg? Could this be the summer when craft keg hits the mainstream craft drinking culture or at least gives the impression that it does? As the sun continues to shine, could those who drink cask beer completely ideology free occasionally switch their allegiances to a colder and more carbonated beer, albeit one they perceive to have as much flavour as the cask that they normally drink (we’re talking Camden rather than Carling). 

I have personal memories of the way a long sunny spell hit cask in the mid 1990s. In my diary from 1995, an entry from early August, it reads: ‘went to CAMRA beer festival thing tonight, lots of beers off. Thought not best time for bitter.’ The next night I went again and wrote: ‘It’s bloody too hot to drink bitter but I did my best.’

I would hope that all kinds of beer profit from the warm weather, which should drive greater amounts of people to the pub (this is not about craft keg vs cask, which is a tired old argument that should be bedded down once and for all). Unlike the 1990s, I believe there is a greater awareness in the trade of the need to maintain a constant and correct temperature, but reading here and here resurrected old concerns. Meanwhile in my own experience I can point to the weekend when I did a tasting at my local of Brains’ Three C’s Son, a saison hopped with columbus, citra and centennial. This unfiltered and unpasteurised saison was served from a keg font and went down a storm (especially with the CAMRA members that turned up); when I returned on Sunday looking forward to drinking more, none was there. Cask By the Horns IPA was fine, but I would have preferred a colder, sharper, refreshing beer.


There are caveats, though. Craft keg is a minority taste, mainly available in craft beer bars and saddled with the reputation of being an expensive treat, so Carling drinkers are unlikely to switch over. Craft keg also needs to be looked after with as much dedication as cask; last year I had a beer from Mallinson’s in one of London’s craft beer bars that had all the liveliness and sprightliness of a catatonically-inclined Methodist. On the other hand, Fuller’s has developed a pretty decent craft keg lager with Frontier and in London Camden and Meantime are ubiquitous (ok that’s London, but there are opportunities for craft keg throughout the country). I’ve had good craft keg in Bristol, both at BrewDog and Zero Degrees, while I’m sure others around the country can point to similar experiences. 

So could this be the summer of craft keg? I don’t know but if enough noise is made it might be remembered as such — not everyone was a hippy in whenever the summer of love was. 

I do know that if I was writing this for the Publican’s Morning Advertiser I would be advising licensees not to go overboard with lots of cask hand pulls and look at trying at least one good craft keg font to keep the cask beer drinkers happy.

17 comments:

  1. It still hasn't made any noticeable inroads into mainstream pubs outside London, though. Even in London I suspect it's only in a relatively small number of high-profile pubs and is actually far from ubiquitous. Would you see Camden or Meantime in a food-led pub in an Outer London borough?

    Another factor is that most craft keg seems to be of a high strength which isn't really compatible with thirst-quenching volume drinking.

    When Spoons give a national listing to a craft keg, then it will have arrived.

    Meanwhile, there must be plenty of people who normally would include cask as part of their drinking repertoire but who now are going unhesitatingly for the Carling tap.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was surprised to see kegged Adnam's Sole Star on my last visit to a Wetherspoon, so perhaps it's not that far away.

    Is craft keg beer really so prevalently strong? Camden Town's core range seems to be all in the 4 to 4.6% ABV range; Meantime's pale ale, lager and stout are in that zone too. And there's nothing unquenching about Camden Town USA Hells.

    ReplyDelete
  3. plenty of craft keg across bigger cities and not just in the specialist outlets either. Bristol and Edinburgh great examples

    ReplyDelete
  4. With Meantime being found in many Young's London pubs, I would say yes, craft keg can be found in outer London boroughs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Craft keg is pretty mainstream in Inner London now, I'd say, and mot just in high-profile pubs. And yes, you do see Meantime and Camden in food-led pub in the outer boroughs. But obviously it has not passed the Spoons test just yet and in cities other than London tends to be only seen in specialist beer places. However, Bury-one of the smallest metropolitan boroughs in England can now boast craft keg, so perhaps (very gradual) change is in the wind?

    ReplyDelete
  6. As others have commented, it probably would be if it wasn't for the fact that its still basically impossible to get hold of outside of central London.

    ReplyDelete
  7. There's a range of craft kegs in the Hope in Stockport, but I can't think of any in most of the pubs in my local area, which in general are fairly enterprising places and not backstreet deadholes. Indeed there's one that serves good food but can't keep cask beer to save its life where a craft keg of quaffable strength would be extremely welcome.

    A few city-centre bars in Bristol and Edinburgh is not "mainstream pubs".

    ReplyDelete
  8. Curmudgeon — good point about Spoons, though high strength is not the only fruit in the orchard
    BN — Sole star on keg — was it ok?
    Steve — you can add Bath, Manchester, Sheffield and Falmouth for starters.
    Anon — agreed the Young’s deal is carrying Meantime’s beers further, will have to check if the Young’s pubs in the West Country (a result of when Young’s bought out Smiles’ pubs) stock it
    Tyson — if it appears in more places, will quality suffer I wonder? I want it to co-exist with cask, just want choice.
    py0 — not physically impossible, see comments above, I even had Bath Ales Dark on keg for a while in my Exmoor local…though the Guinness drinkers rebelled and got it reinstalled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, didn't try the Sole Star. Firestone Walker American Independence trumps it.

      Delete
  9. What percentage of UK pubs carry a craft keg beer? 1 in 100? 1 in 200?

    ReplyDelete
  10. "What percentage of UK pubs carry a craft keg beer?"

    Depends if you include craft keg lagers like Cotswold, Leodis, Moravka etc.

    I'd say maybe rather more, perhaps 2,000 or 1 in 25.

    "high strength is not the only fruit in the orchard"

    Most of those you see in places like the PSBH are strong, though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think the growth in UK brewed "craft lager", perhaps along with a slightly more adverturous selection of cask ale and even the very occasional guinness alternative could be regarded as the precursor to the craft beer revolution, but it certainly isn't the real deal.

    Once we see a range of kegged UK beer - something pale and hoppy, something dark and hoppy, and something sour/wheaty, at a sensible price in at least 1 in every 10 pubs and I will say "craft beer has arrived".

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've got nothing against craft keg, but is it necessarily more refreshing than cask? I've had a fair bit of cask in the last week and it definitely hit the spot. I find the lower level of carbonation makes for easier drinking, for one thing.

    I dunno, maybe I'm weird, but I find a good bitter perfectly refreshing if it's kept at a proper temperature.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Temperature. Of course. If cask beer was kept and dispensed at the correct temperatures then no problem. Nobody wants to drink flabby, warm beer.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The cost of domestic craft keg annoys me. I don't mind paying a bit more for something that's been flown in from Boston, but domestic kegged beers seem overpriced. In Leeds, Dark Star Revelation £2.50 a half on keg. Next door, the cask version £3.40 a pint. Both pubs are in a same price range.Can anyone explain the difference?

    ReplyDelete
  15. I was delighted to find a Keg Butcombe Blonde in Cheltenham this week at the council run Imperial Gardens bar. Crystal clear, refreshing and very, very drinkable. They have served me real ale in the past which was none of the above, so it's the fact that great beer can be served so well with relative ease that is the most exciting angle for me in the whole debate. One of the differences in cost (Anonymous above) is that it has to go through additional processes at the brewery and in the case of OWK's the whole cost of the keg has to be covered in the sale of each container. Currently they are not cheap.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There must be plenty of lower-turnover outlets which in the past have tried and failed with cask, but where a distinctive locally-produced keg beer would be a much better option.

      Delete