Craft Beer V Real Ale

MyQul said:

Seriously though, It like the recent discussion on the forum about style's and style names. It's all just disappeared up a marketing bung hole. These names and labels which you used to be able to use to navigate your way, now means less than nothing

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Yep ... totally agree there

As Witgenstein would have said had he been alive today.

"Beer is beer, and that's the truth"!

MyQul said:

I think your right in that the macro's are now calling everything "craft beer". To this end I have now decided the new official name for 'craft beer' is 'bespoke beer' then when all the macros have spent millions of pounds/dollars rebranding all their beers to 'bespoke beer' I will then change the name to 'artisanal beer'.
Keep the buggers on their toes is what I say :twisted::lol:

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I got a bottle of something actually called 'Artesan Ale' from asda a few years back. Still got the bottle which has since seen countless 550mls of homebrew pass thru it! Anyway the label was filled with as much unpalatable cack as the bottle originally was. Craft ale my **** - it's all utter junk aimed at simple-minded sheep.

wfr42 said:

I was told real ale meant casked conditioned where as craft wad used to describe small independent kegged or bottled batches.

I believe blue moon were told by a judge to stop calling themselves a craft beer.

Edit - taken to court about it and had it thrown out
http://time.com/money/4373420/blue-moon-craft-beer-lawsuit-dismissed/

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I had a sample of the blue moon the other day and it was quite horrible. Overpowering orange and coriander. Apparently the ladies like it though. Last time i drank cask conditioned ale was flat as when i bottle it. Also had a few (craft) pints from the Grain brewery when was in Norwich and was warmer than room temp. Completely unacceptable to serve tepid IPA.

Craft beer makes me think of wicker baskets. Its such a **** term.

BeerCat said:

Craft beer makes me think of wicker baskets. .

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It should. ALL craft beer is made by rosie cheeked bumkins wearing plaid shirts, dontcha know.

MyQul said:

It should. ALL craft beer is made by rosie cheeked bumkins wearing plaid shirts, dontcha know.

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And don't forget beards with plaits in. My beard is just scruffy. I don't roll like that.

BeerCat said:

And don't forget beards with plaits in. My beard is just scruffy. I don't roll like that.

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Bet mine's scruffier than yours. I've got birds nesting in it, bits of old rizla papers and mebbe a few crown caps in there too. But no plaits dear god no, and my outrageously long hair will never be formed into a ponytail!!

Back to the original question neither craft beer or real ale have any legal definition in the UK but they are both in the Oxford dictionary
Real Ale = "Cask-conditioned beer that is served traditionally, without additional gas pressure."
Craft beer = "A beer made in a traditional or non-mechanized way by a small brewery."
Despite there being no legal definitions trading standards can still get involved if labelling or product descriptions are misleading. Who would have thought you can get the meaning of words in a dictionary. Note but the Z in mechanised I imagine this is an American Oxford dictionary.

simon12 said:

Back to the original question neither craft beer or real ale have any legal definition in the UK but they are both in the Oxford dictionary
Real Ale = "Cask-conditioned beer that is served traditionally, without additional gas pressure."
Craft beer = "A beer made in a traditional or non-mechanized way by a small brewery."
Despite there being no legal definitions trading standards can still get involved if labelling or product descriptions are misleading. Who would have thought you can get the meaning of words in a dictionary. Note but the Z in mechanised I imagine this is an American Oxford dictionary.

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Right there is your answer. Real ale is served "Without additional gas pressure" as prescribed by CAMRA. They do now allow Key keg ale as Real ale as the CO2 applied does not come into contact with the beer, (key keg is a bag within the keg containing the beer and the CO2 is between the keg and the bag to dispense).

In my opinion cask, keg and bottle can be craft ales as they fit your second description but only cask, Key keg and bottle conditioned can be described as Real ale i.e. without additional gas. The 5 litre mini kegs are cask conditioned i.e real ale but lose this description once you connect a CO2 cylinder to it.

Although I am a CAMRA member I drink both keg and cask beers, long as its good I will drink it. Some styles such as NEIPA only work properly if sufficiently carbonated and almost require kegging but hey if I found a cask I would still drink it!

Difference between craft beer and real ale is normally around a quid a pint in my experience.

I view the term 'craft beer' as an Americanism and the Americans can't teach us anything about brewing beer IMO. Just like cheese, no one makes beer as well as the UK.