Keg, CAMRA & Dinosaurs.

Camrasaurus trudge on bemused by what is about to occur.

Sixty-Five million years ago the dinosaurs were wiped out by something beyond their control, why? Because they weren't advanced/evolved/intelligent enough to do something about the fate which befell them. However the race which crawled from the primordial aftermath eventually evolved into Homo Sapiens with intelligence & who now have the capability to counter such a threat that the dinosaurs faced long before it would happen.

So what am I getting at? Yes you guessed it! The Camra/Keg debate.

Earlier this week Camra's monthly newspaper was released & it contained an article written by Camra's very own messiah Mr Roger Protz the Editor of the Good Beer Guide. These are excerpts from his article:-

“Far from joining hands with CAMRA round the birthday cake, some craft brewers and beer writers have chosen this year of all years to attack the campaign for – and I almost have to suspend disbelief as I type these words – refusing to embrace keg beer.”
 
“At the risk of patronising them, many weren’t born or were too young to appreciate just how dire the beer scene was in the early 1970’s. The likes of Watney’s Red, Worthington E and Double Diamond were spreading like some dreadful bacillus across the country. Breweries were either closing or switching to keg production.”

“And yet, in spite of these facts, CAMRA is being criticised for refusing to embrace keg beer. It seems scarcely credible, yet the question of CAMRA and keg raised its over-carbonated head at the annual SIBA conference in February. Some SIBA members are either making keg beer or are considering doing so and wanted to know what the Campaign’s attitude would be. My reply – and it was a personal one – was that if some brewers want to make keg they are perfectly free to do so but, given the current success of cask beer, I thought they would do better to concentrate on real ale.”

Now Camra celebrates the fact it has 120,000 members yet how many have the same views as Roger? I doubt it's even a few percent, & yet how is it their policy is dictated by the minority? Surely average members voices should be heard  like Neil's thoughts here.

There are those closer to the top of the organisation who have a very fuzzy hole ridden argument about why the new wave of  keg beer should not be credenced:-

They harp on about keg beer of the 70's being awful dead filtered beer, a fact that no-one can deny. But they incorrectly describe keg beer as a 'style', keg is NOT a style of beer, it is a mode of dispense as is cask beer. I read a comment in reply to Roger on the BeerCast blog from Mark at the BeerBirraBier blog & he hit the nail on the head so instead of regurgitate his comments I'll copy & paste them:-

"Maybe having lived through the 70’s is preventing Roger from seeing the difference between a poor beer being put into a keg and a great beer being put into a keg. GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. A brilliant beer doesn’t become poor just because it’s put into a keg.

The method of dispense is a means to an end. Some styles are enhanced by one particular closure whereas others are worsened. Put a beer in the container that presents it in the best possible way to the drinker. Simple."

"For hop-forward, American style IPA’s and IIPA’s, nothing beats the higher carbonation and extra chill of a keg. Sampling any of them at the GBBF bar that CAMRA forced into gravity dispense casks proved that … although it seems the mere presence of them at the festival is testament to CAMRAs forward thinking …"
BeerBirraBier.

Now herein lies the very crux of the issue, Camra say keg is a style which was characterised by pasteurised dead beer from the 70's. The crucial differences here are the beer being kegged by the new wave of craft brewers is non-pasteurised, largely unfiltered beer that is of infinitely higher quality than 70's dead keg.

You drink our cask ales & enjoy them, then believe we sneak around in the early hours pasteurising & dumbing down our wares ready for keg with a mind to destroying ever popular cask ale in the UK? C'mon Roger surely not even you believe that! The fact that most new wave keg beer is 'KeyKeg' which is essentially real ale in a keg the only difference is it is slightly pre-carbonated & served without a beer engine or a sparkler, no extraneous C02, none.

This is about handing choice & diversity to the consumer to grow our market share, not to destroy our beloved cask ale in the UK. It's a about having a diverse show with many facets to take yet more share from the macros.

There are many outlets around the country installing guest keg lines & it is proliferating, fast! So what will be your response? To ignore, to denigrate? Does that not make you as ignorant as those who ignore cask ale?

You are becoming defensive to what the current wave of exciting UK brewers are doing & instead of talking to us & finding out solid facts about what we are doing you quickly scurry back to the hills waving the 'evil keg' banner. We are not saying we are going to overnight shift our production into keg, cask will always remain king in Britain, all we ask is some credence for our innovative efforts to draw more drinkers into the quality beer market.

I'm excited about where this industry is going & what we have the potential to be, the US market is currently the perfect antimatter to the UK market, the majority of their beer is keg but cask beer is growing in popularity over there & guess what?! They are positively embracing it, as they believe it adds value to their industry, just as superb quality keg beer adds to our market.

I'll leave you with @neil_bowness  thoughts because he is a Camra member & I am not.

"I would like to challenge you and CAMRA on this front: stop preaching, stop lecturing and try educating by helping drinkers make an informed choice, not just telling them that it is good because it comes from out of a cask."

"Far too often I’ve seen beer being lauded for it’s real ale and local credentials, but the liquid has been verging on the undrinkable. I am fortunate enough to live in Cumbria, a county with over 30 breweries and which I’m happy to help promote but - hand on heart - I cannot truthfully say that all of their beer is good, but I will continue to support them."

"Yes, cask beer may have been lost in the UK* had CAMRA not been established, and yes, the real ale market is doing very well, but don’t think for one minute that every pub in the land would suddenly see a massive reversal in fortunes off the back of introducing more cask ale.

To bring this to conclusion, I feel your article shows that you and many CAMRA members are still in a mindset that was relevant in the early 1970s - to illustrate, in the very first paragraph, you make reference to Spitfire aircraft in the last world war. This outlook reflects a generational attitude which CAMRA could do well to distance itself from should they wish to continue in any meaningful fashion for another 40 years."

Surely it's time to stop looking backwards & back patting for a victory 20 years since won & embrace what's ahead, if not you will end up becoming a 'liberation remembrance club'. You could learn an awful lot from SIBA's progressive all embracing stance & evolve with the times to become  relevant, potent & fit for use in our modern, dynamic beer world, if not, it's the way of the dinosaurs I'm afraid.

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!

The Key to Real Keg?

In the past twelve months the idea of Keg craft beer in the UK has been brought to the fore by several high profile craft brewers in the UK these include BrewDog, Meantime & Thornbridge. For so long a taboo in the UK craft market as it was seen to be too close to what the huge fizz producers did on the bars up & down the country.

Recently there has been a softening to varying dispense methods for beer in the UK, this seems to have appeared naturally along the side the growth of cask ale. There are now also a handful of progressive beer outlets in the UK who have fowarded the idea of guest beers appearing via keg & rotating on the taps just like guest cask ales on the pumps, examples include The Rake in London & The Sheffield Tap to name just two, & judging by the response they have recieved by pioneering guest keg beers it is surely something that has a role to play in the UK beer market.

Britain is the world pioneer of cask ale & champions this style & quite rightly so as it is hard to beat this method of dispense if executed correctly, i.e. correct glassware, correct serving temperature &  beer that has been nursed  into condition, bursting with life, cask ale really is hard to beat as method of dispense. But as the UK beer market has evolved keg has a method of dispense has naturally come to the attention of micro owners up & down the UK & during the past month I too have become aware of a new innovative method of kegging beer that requires no extraneous CO2 to dispense the beer in the keg the product to which I am referring is KeyKeg.

Picture Courtesy of KeyKeg.

Available in 20 & 30 litre versions KeyKeg is a disposable plastic ball enveloped inside a cardboard outer, inside the plastic ball of the KeyKeg is a foil bag system into which the beer is filled, the video here demonstrates the inner workings of KeyKeg. The Keg can be filled either by filling it with ready carbonated beer i.e. beer with CO2 dissolved in it or can be filled with beer that has a degree of conditioning left to do once inside the Keg thus building up condition & pressure inside the Keg I believe this is a German idea which is catching on.

The most impressive thing about KeyKeg is that at no point during serving does oxygen or CO2 come into contact with the beer, compressed air or gas is pumped into the ball between the bag a ball causing a gradual collapse of the bag thus forcing the beer out of the bag & out of the open tap, at no point is EXTRA CO2 added to the beer, the dispensed beer contains only the CO2 added during packaging or that has occured through natural conditioning in the KeyKeg without oxygen, 'Real Keg' in my eyes. The greatest advantage for micros is that KeyKeg can be filled individually by hand in the brewery without the need for an expensive kegging line, see the video here.

 Now we all know CAMRA's hard line & almost papal view of anything that is not cask or bottle conditioned, well this product kinda falls between all CAMRA's governance as it IS keg dispense as the beer is pushed out & not drawn out via the suction created inside a beer engine, but at no point does extraneous CO2 enter the dispensed beer.  I saw a tweet from Kelly Ryan at Thornbridge the other day saying he was showing Stratford CAMRA around the brewery & he showed them the dispense technology of KeyKeg & apparently they were amazed by it, CAMRA members amazed by keg... I know, I thought exactly the same, but it may be that we have come across a product that CAMRA as an organisation may be able to credence within the trade in Britain.

However regardless of CAMRA's stance on such a product I believe this product has legs in the UK as it opens up 'kegging' to micros of all sizes & that can surely only be great for the consumer, the more breweries offering keg the more likely you are likely to see it on the bars of craft beer outlets up & down the country. I know BrewDog & Thornbridge are already using this technology to great effect.

We for one will be taking delivery of KeyKegs & making our beer available for the select outlets that do rotate keg beers in their outlets. Some narrow minded people may see this as an attack on cask beer, not at all, it is our lifeblood as brewers, but it can SUPPLEMENT cask as a new exciting part of our amazing craft beer scene, cask will always be king in Britain but some very good sideshows like 'KeyKeg' may well bring craft beer to the masses who will still only for some ingrained reason drink from the font....

A diversion from cask... No, a new piece of the craft beer jigsaw in the UK...?

I think so....