The On-trade going Off?

The Institute of Alcohol Studies have recently released their 'Drinking In Great Britain Factsheet' an in depth look at alcohol consumption, pricing and units for the UK and it makes for interesting and in places startling reading, it shows alcohol consumption in the UK is FALLING regardless of what some quarters would have you believe and more worryingly that alcohol consumption in the On-trade is in marked decline whilst Off-trade sales remain broadly unchanged.

*Source 'Insitiute for Alcohol Studies'

As you can see above there is a stepped decline in On-trade alcohol consumption & for England & Wales at least, Off-trade alcohol sales remain steady (Scotland seem to be swapping the pub for drinking at home at an alarming rate), there could be a variety of causal factors for England & Wales' figures, it could be that we are drinking more low abv. alcohol products at the pub i.e 'Session Beers' or that hikes in alcohol prices in the On-trade are due to external pressures like inflation & decreasing footfall. When we take into account the price per unit of alcohol from 2005 to 2009 the figures would argue that prices per unit in the On-trade are directly responsible for the decreasing volumes in the On-trade.

*Source 'Institute for Alcohol Studies'

During the increases in alcohol unit prices in the On-trade you will see that Off-trade unit prices have remained almost unchanged, now this is where we get to the crux of the issue, are the Off-trade unit prices we see unchanged due to the Off-trade artificially holding them lower i.e large volume cheap supermarket alcohol  or does the trend show that operational costs of the On-trade have increased so highly as to force their hand on pricing?

Either way the gap is widening worryingly, for me this means the poor pubs & bars alike have to 'up' their games and make sure they don't unduly hike prices &  make sure that the pub offers added value, this can include quality of 'cask products' that have condition and correct serving temp, correct glassware that is immaculately clean, knowledgeable staff, cleanliness of premises the list goes on... Tandleman is a stickler for all of these and rightly so!

I applaud the many top outlets that get it right time and time again but there are still pubs out there that are flattering to deceive.

There have been recent examples of poor pub experiences that demonstrate my point in the blogosphere here and here.

After all the wider the difference in price the more picky the customer will become about the pub & they will be less & less tolerant when they get it wrong. The On-trade must up their game to make sure that they meet their punters demand for quality or they may lose them to home drinking forever, this is the harsh reality that pub operators really need to wake up to, it is easy to point fingers at ridiculously cheap alcohol which granted is a contributing factor but there is an old saying 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' get your own house in order and lets take it from there..

Only then can we hopefully arrest this decline in On-trade sales before too many of our national treasures are lost forever!

Do these figures also forward a case for minimum pricing? It wouldn't affect the On-trade and would close the gap between On & Off trade pricing, the jury is still out in this but take a look at the report and draw your own conclusions.

Solid Bronze

Next week we will be launching our new monthly special 'Gambit', which is an interesting little number, bronze in colour 4.2 abv. bittered with English hops & heavily dry hopped with American varieties, this beer will have a balanced bitterness with some juicy American hop notes. Inspiration came from drinking  Odell's excellent beers, the balance they achieve in their beers coupled with the wonderful Anglo-American feel their beers have inspired me to produce something really moreish with poise, balance & a little bit of wow factor.

Also you may notice this is the first beer to sport our new style pump clip which will be gracing our entire range before the year is out. This is the last remaining piece of the full re-brand we undertook at the beginning of the year, leaving us settled to concentrate on producing some of the best cask ales around at the moment.

Also on the Project 6 front Brew Four is in the tank and acquiring some gorgeous aromas and flavour from the masses of dry hops in there, Brew Four is an Amarillo dominated IPA, with masses of floral tangerine goodness! Sure to please the most avid of hopheads!

Also to accompany 'Gambit' & Project 6 Brew Four this  month we have 'Orion' a fruity & ridiculously session-able Blonde ale at 4.0% abv. Couple that with our core range of Nine great beers, you really are spoilt for choice this month! As I sign off this post I raise my glass which is full of Odell IPA & say cheers for the inspiration Doug! 

Red is THE Colour...

A style of beer that has always appealed to me has suddenly been thrust into the limelight:

'Red Ale'.

The Thornbridge/Odell collaboration 'Colorado Red', Hardknott's Infra-Red, Brewdog's 5 am Saint & others, you can see Zak Avery's take on Hardknott's Infra-Red Oxymoronic IPA here.

This style really is 'a la mode' as our Gallic friends might say.

As a style subset this is a really interesting area, there is a lot a flexibility within this style for the brewer, grist make-up can vary quite dramatically, you can really get away with adding any type of malt to a 'Red ale' although in some cases small amounts, i.e. Chocolate malt used sparingly can give a deep ruby colour and some interesting malt notes, Amber malt for a touch of colour and smokiness, Munich for colour and malt sweetness the list goes on...

 When it comes to hops the combination's are also truly endless, something that seems to be a relative standard in this style is a quite assertive hop bitterness and a heavy aroma addition, the levels of variables in this style lead me to think this will become an area that will be heavily explored by the UK craft scene in the coming years. I see a range of benefits from this; a staging point for stalwart brown bitter drinkers to take a sidestep and enjoy some variation and who knows a widening of their vision towards other styles,  it also for some may prove to be a welcome diversion from the hugely popular pale & hoppy style sweeping the UK craft sector.

Although 'sessionable' red ales for the on-trade will be a whole new challenge altogether, something we tackled earlier this year a special called 'Redwood' at 4.0% abv. we brewed with plenty of Munich malt & loads of Simcoe hops & it proved to be really popular as it seemed to fill a gap in the market & really appealed to licensees.

I hope this style really is here to stay & be explored for the foreseeable future and who knows there may be some real new stars born.  It is an area I will be devoting my 'full' attention to later this year but in the meantime I'll be sure to be seeking out these gorgeous redheads for further attention.

Hops: Seasonal Variations

Hops are in my opinion the most pleasurable vegetal matter known to mankind, they can be anything to the senses; fruity, piney, spicy, sweet, citrussy, lemony, pithy, earthy, tangy & floral, to name but a few characteristics. But as with all naturally grown products they are completley at the mercy of mother nature on how they grow, yield, taste, smell etc, just like any fruit or vegetable you would buy.

Seasonal variation of hops is something that is talked about very little in the UK, those in and around the beer scene will be aware that the alpha acid content of hops varies from crop to crop, this is due to entirely to natural variation, this means although certain hop varieties remain the same by type or strain i.e the same seedlings the same variety of hop can yield differing results in the brewing process from year to year.

Take example the current crop of Cascade hops from the US are slightly down on alpha acid content from last year and for me are not packing the same 'Cascadey' punch as the previous years crop from the US, now in some cases this can present a problem for a brewer in that a core range beer that is permanently available needs to remain the same in bitterness & flavour regardless of the year or the crop used, bitterness adjustments are fairly simple to achieve with a few simple mathematics but something that cannot be catered for is the change in the flavour characteristics of hops which will inevitably change the finished product.

In this mass produced ever more consistent & dumbed down world we live in this may provide a dilemma for the more un-educated drinker, in that a beer they consume and enjoy one year may taste very different just a year later, there are other varying factors like levels of certain compounds in malt & water which also varies but thats for another post.
 

Organic Hops Growing at Sierra Nevada

Now the beer world seems much less tolerable of products that 'change' year on year, yet the seasonality of grapes in the wine industry is what the very industry is about, i.e a 2007 Cabernet maybe for example accepted as a better year than a 2009. This is part of the very psyche of the wine world, yet seasonality in the brewing world is not acknowledged by most nor talked about. I have to say i'm a fan of seasonality as it throws variety into life not to mention challenges to a brewer keeping you on your toes & it also reminds me that the flavour profile of beers should always be checked, managed & improved. It is worth noting that you may have not quite enjoyed a craft beer you liked sometime ago but is worth revisiting to see what annual variation has played out on the beer.

The brewing trade is very lucky at the moment as there are a multitude of new hop varieties appearing from all over the world which gives brewers an ideal opportunity to brew one off seasonal brews with sometimes staggeringly good results, the wine world is not so lucky grape varieties for the most part are established.

So why do we as brewers & drinkers not embrace the roulette of varietal changes in hops & strains in the same way the wine industry reveres a 'good year' on the vineyards?

The huge yellow fizzy manufactures spend millions on analysing every discreet batch in a multitude of ways to ensure, colour, bitterness, viscosity, pH, etc. remain the same day in day out week in week out & so on, some people may like this 'reliability' (used in the loosest form) but I myself find the subtle variance of craft beers all part of the nature of our intriguing industry it provides an unending challenge to a brewers skill.

Beers may change for better or for worse but for me it is all part of the nature of the craft beer industry.

They say variety is the spice of life, if so, the magical hop will keep life very interesting...

What will the next crop & the new varieties flooding out of the US &  around the world throw at the craft brewing industry?

Who knows...

That's what keeps us on the hop!!