The Nerotype Series

February sees the launch of our single hopped range of black IPA's.
First up, Simcoe, a resinous, piney & spicy hop, that delivers notes of strawberries & grapes, a much unsung hop that should make waves this year. There will be at least four in the range, depending on the popularity of the project. There will be  'Columbus', 'Warrior' & 'Herkules' versions to follow in a monthly sequence.  The series will see us explore the black IPA phenomena thoroughly after the success of our 'Heretic Imperial Black IPA' which used a blend of hops, it will be interesting to see how some of the big new US varieties play out in the beers. Brew One can be found at the White Rose Festival at Magna in Rotherham along with our new flagship IPA 'Diablo' starting on the 2nd March.

If you see it out & about in the coming month we'd love to hear your feedback!

CAMRA - The Campaign for Real Alienation

Yesterday we received an email from a proud CAMRA member, here it is...

Hi,

I have just seen your website & feel obliged to comment. In the current state of decline how can you possibly believe that importing American hops is going to assist this country. The finest hops in the world come from Kent & always will. Surely if you wish to add improvement to your own ales, would it not be a little more diplomatic to be a little quieter about America & more praiseworthy of local grown? Why not save yourself more financially & grow or by from local sources? 1st the Germans now the Americans - how do they know how to brew ale anyway - were they around in the stone age? Come on lads - be British & Campaign For Real Ale (not America Beer).

Regards Kevin (Camra member)   

Now I'm a pretty placid guy but this REALLY annoyed me & left me almost speechless, so I decided to collect my thoughts & respond to every point Kevin has made.

Kevin's Utopia is certainly not mine.

• 'In the current state of decline how can you possibly believe that importing American hops is going to assist this country.'  Firstly, Kevin what exactly do you mean by current state of decline?  Cask ale is the only growth sector in the market, surely you would know that as a CAMRA member? Regarding American hops that are imported, as a brewer & a business man I source the best ingredients available to me to improve my product, there are no similar English alternatives to the vast array of US hops.

• 'The finest hops in the world come from Kent & always will.' In your opinion Kevin & your quite entitled to it, I know thousands who would disagree.

• 'Surely if you wish to add improvement to your own ales, would it not be a little more diplomatic to be a little quieter about America & more praiseworthy of local grown?' There is no room for diplomacy in a commercial environment Kevin, your product dictates whether you live or die & I assure you if all of our beers contained homegrown hops we couldn't compete in this highly competitive industry. Also, why would I want to be quieter about America? They are brewing stunning beers & growing the worlds best hops, I have a habit of talking about things that excite me & I won't stop that for you.

• 'Why not save yourself more financially & grow or by from local sources?' Possibly your most uneducated comment, as my fellow brewers & brewsters will tell you, US hops are currently roughly half the price of English hops, & don't get me started on quality! So it would actually cost us more as a business to use more English hops.

• '1st the Germans now the Americans - how do they know how to brew ale anyway' - were they around in the stone age?' Talk about a xenophobic insult, no the Americans weren't around in the Stone Age but you are clearly stuck there Kevin. A bigoted, introverted & highly insulting comment. I'd say they know an awful lot about brewing beer, I just hope there are no Americans or Germans reading this blog for your sake.

 Now this brings me onto the organisation of which Kevin is a member, CAMRA.

Last week Pete Brown made a post regarding a comment made by Micheal Harding, one of the original founding members of CAMRA, here's Michael's quote:

“I must point out that we’re not fighting against anything, we’re fighting for something,” he says, as measured as a well-poured pint. “There may be some members who give a different impression and I apologise to the general drinking public for the fact that we’ve recruited those people.”
  

I think Kevin is one of 'those' people to whom he is referring.  I fear however there are rather more CAMRA members like this than they would have you believe. It is a tired arguement to keep labelling these people as a minority as these spats are becoming more & more frequent.
 

I personally know members of CAMRA who are ready for wholesale change of the organisation & are in fact calling for it, however, I feel as long as the 'Kevin' element exists CAMRA will be unable to move forward.

The beer world is changing, fast! If CAMRA does nothing they will be maginalised over time & seal their own demise with the attitudes played out above. The alternative is to move on with our dynamic, eclectic, exciting, fast paced industry & become a useful force instead of hankering after their past glories, the term 'Real Ale' no longer encompasses what we as brewers are doing. We are progressive not regressive, we are innovative not traditionalists, we package beer in new ways, we dispense in new formats. Stop trying to reign in our activities, if you persist then we are better off without you!
  

In your current format you are not standing still you are going backwards, it seems you are becoming impotent &  irrelevant. You claim to have lobbying power yet you efforts to prevent extra pressures on the industry always fail, huge beer tax hikes in recent years & closing pubs, you celebrated a break in duty for beers sub 2.8% but you failed to prevent tax hikes on stronger more popular beers.
 

At branch level I feel you rule by fear, I know licensees who are afraid of addressing their concerns to CAMRA branches as they fear their business will suffer as a result, you have become a toothless self-interest group riddled with politics & resistance to change.
  

My message to you CAMRA, if you won't modernise, fine! But stop your members meddling in the affairs of those who are modernising & attempting to take craft beer to the next level!

The new wave of exciting craft brewers, new breed licensees & outlets WILL move this industry on, with or without you!

And finally to you Kevin,
 

I won't apologise for brewing cutting edge beer.

I won't apologise for using the best ingredients available to me. 

I won't apologise for brewing beer you don't like.

I won't apologise for endorsing great beer regardless of where in the world it is brewed!
 

And finally, I certainly won't apologise for not subscribing to your xenophobic & bigoted views nor your precious pre-historic organisation!

Bottled It!

What's your ideal size?

They come in a multitude of shapes, sizes & colours with different sizes suiting different abv's & different beers, but when it comes to setting your stall out to produce popular accessible beers which size suits best?

In the picture the bottles start at 750ml descending to 660ml, 500ml, 375ml, 355ml to finally 330ml, the beers were a varying array of style & abv's.

The 660ml & the 355ml are US stalwarts, more commonly known as 'Bombers' & '12oz' ers respectively, then we have the UK standards 500ml & 330ml & a couple of odd sizes in 375ml & 750ml (champagne sized bottle).

Recently in the UK smaller measures have been forced into the limelight, no better example is BrewDog's standard 330ml bottles for all the beers they produce apart from the Abstrakt range. We have Evin at The Kernel releasing his 6% plus beers also in 330ml format,  this size bottle is far from the norm in the UK, in the UK craft brewing scene the 500ml bottle still rules the roost. However, due to the huge popularity of BrewDog's 330ml revolution I believe we will shortly see more & more UK craft brewers adopt 330ml bottles to showcase their wares in. 

We ourselves plan to bottle our beers in 330's as we feel the size is best suited for the abv's of the products we plan to bottle, but that isn't to say we won't produce limited special edition beers in varying sized bottles, as it is sometimes nice to have a large 'sharing' bottle of something special.

I do think glassware in UK beer scene has had some effect on the adoption of smaller sized bottles, particularly stemmed glassware often around the 350ml size are perfect for serving a 330ml bottle of beer allowing for head space, I think 500ml bottles have remained popular due to the pint pot (568ml) as a perfect serving vessel also allowing for head space, maybe various glass sizes will mean a proliferation of varying bottle sizes in the UK, who knows?

But for now I think the 330ml format is in for serious growth in UK & choice can only be a good thing, right? Also with canned beers having now put a toe in the door in the craft brewing sector, what are your thoughts on your ideal serving size? Are you a sharer, a traditionalist or are you more comfortable with 330ml becoming more common?

The Americans are Coming!!

Something is happening very quickly in the beer world, right before our very eyes & we almost are oblivious to the woods because of the trees.  Well what is it I hear you cry?!

The Americans are coming!!

The influence of American beers, American hops & American craft breweries is starting to ooze a little more throughout the British beer scene everyday.

The use of US hops has never been more prevalent in British brewing, more & more breweries are brewing US style  pale ales, average IBU's of beers is on the rise, US yeast is becoming commonplace & British beer has never been never been in such a rude state of health.

In the past 5 years more & more British breweries have opened heavily influenced by US styles & ideals, BrewDog being the most obvious, but I would include our brewery in that our beers are dominated with US hops & brewed with an American yeast strain. Only yesterday a new brewery just a few miles from us was opened by a good friend, Richard has opened (Magic Rock Brewing) Richard admits  “The intention is to brew modern flavour-forward beers inspired in part by US craft breweries in order to take advantage of the current real ale boom and an expected increase in discerning drinkers seeking more flavourful beers,”

But why are US beers, hops & breweries so irresistible??  The answer partly lies in the very nature of Americans...

If something is worth doing, it is worth overdoing!

Big flavours, big ideals & big volumes, it is this intrepid nature that is at the very heart of the US craft beer movement. Those in the American craft beer movement want beer to grab you by your senses, to enthral you & to capture your imagination. It is merely not enough for beer to be a social lubricant, it must be more, it must be at the very heart of the reason to socialise, to talk about the very beer you are socialising over.

These ideals are sinking into British beer & I for one welcome it, the time of insipid faceless beer is on the wane in the UK, and US hops are giving a more than generous hand. There will always be those who are very wary of US influence, some believe it will eclipse British beer, the truth is it won't! As the very beers being made with the stunning array of hops coming from the US are being brewed on British soil & therefore ARE British beer! Also the fact that British beer styles are also embraced by the American craft beer movement, not to mention the growing popularity of British hops in US pale ales, I met an American brewer recently who swears by certain UK varieties to finish his beer. It is give & take, the market is mutating & evolving & the prospective outlook is looking nothing short of sensational.

As I brewer I have a plethora of superb US hops waiting to grace a new beer, such varieties include: Citra, Chinook, Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade, Columbus, Summit, Bravo, Herkules, Simcoe, El-Dorado, Willamette, Santiam, Sterling & Liberty. The truth is British hops just cannot compete on the vast array of flavours & aromas that can be achieved through the liberal us of what I like to call 'sunshine hops', bright green oozing with sticky lupulin, these hops were only destined for one thing, to make stunning beer!

British pale ales have never been more exciting & US hops are the biggest reason!

Love them or loathe them, they are growing stunning hops & brewing stunning beer & the US influence will continue to grow for a long time to come in the UK.  I for one welcome it, because it's dragging British beer kicking and screaming out of the dark ages in back to the top of the tree where it belongs!

The outcome of this mingling of influences will be a creative, inspirational & diverse British craft brewing scene which will be nothing short of nirvana for all beer lovers.

The Americans are waking up to something amazing & I can assure you we won't be far behind!

You may have seen this video, but watch it again & be inspired about what is to come...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev5OZS75qaY