Interpretation of real ale?

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Bopper

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I've recently sold my old setup to a mate and done a demonstration as he was using kits, last night he said he loves real ale and wanted to brew one, but then he's said he going to force carbonate it, then i turned round to him and said Well thats not real ale! but he wouldn't have it. I hate CAMRA and all the **** that goes with it and so so many suckers that get drawn in by the word real ale, but even worse them idiots on ebay.

P.S No google extracts.


Richard
 
It's only not Real Ale in the eyes of CAMRA.

I like Real Ale, I also like Really nice Beer. As long as it tastes nice who cares what it is defined as.

To me it makes no difference whether you use CO2 from the yeast fermenting to carbonate it or CO2 out of a bottle to carbonate it, at the end of the day as long as the beer that was brewed was good quality and tastes nice it will be nice whether it is Cask conditioned or force carbonated in a keg.

Very few Home Brewers do not use any bottled CO2 at all, except for those that bottle all of their beers. I know there are exceptions and some people do use polypins etc.. but in the main most people that use kegs use bottled CO2 for some purpose.
 
Runwell-Steve said:
It's only not Real Ale in the eyes of CAMRA.

I like Real Ale, I also like Really nice Beer. As long as it tastes nice who cares what it is defined as.

To me it makes no difference whether you use CO2 from the yeast fermenting to carbonate it or CO2 out of a bottle to carbonate it, at the end of the day as long as the beer that was brewed was good quality and tastes nice it will be nice whether it is Cask conditioned or force carbonated in a keg.

Very few Home Brewers do not use any bottled CO2 at all, except for those that bottle all of their beers. I know there are exceptions and some people do use polypins etc.. but in the main most people that use kegs use bottled CO2 for some purpose.
Click to expand...

Good post..I agree with you, but makes me so mad when people think real ale is something special and completely different....Like its brewed in different way!!

Richard
 
For me I wouldn't want force carbonated beer or beer served through a tap with CO2 (or Nitro/co2). But then I remember growing up in the 80's when kegged beer was quite prevalent in some of the drinking establishments I used to frequent, gassy with no head. Personally I don't want to go back to the days of neon pubs, mullets, leather jackets and shoulder pads. :lol: :lol:

I had a pint of brewdogs Punk IPA on tap a few years ago served through an font, far to cold and with far too much gas, put me right off.
 
I was an amazing pub in Edinburgh over Christmas. It has a massive selection of craft beers, but nothing is hand-pumped. I was a little disappointed at first, but then quickly got over when I tasted the quality of the beer.
 
'Real Ale' can be fantastic but can be a risk depending on the pub and the cellar etc

'Craft' Keg* Ale is consistent (even if you dont like the chill / carbonation) but can lack the subtulity of a proerply conditioned beer.

Personally I prefer some beers on keg and some on cask (and bottle!). Unfortunately they all tend to be a bit too cold on keg at the moment but that is changing slowly with the bigger 'craft' bars as they start to understand the product and containers better.

*craft keg ie is non filtered, or pasteurised etc.

D
 
There's good and bad in both (craft/real ale) and they're not mutually exclusive. Arguably though, 'real ale' has a practical meaning, where 'craft beer' has none and is just a signal of the intent to be somehow innovative, artisan, niche, or at least generally more engaged in the quality of production.

If those noble attributes were some how regulated successfully and upheld in practical terms, then I would buy 'craft' over simply 'real ale', but I don't think they ever could. EDIT ...though it wouldn't stop me drinking established, traditional beers as well!
 
I don't think 'craft' can be set in stone. Generally its term is for 'newer' or 'fashionable' brewery's. Generally should be considered a marketing term to be avoided. Similar to 'hand made' doesn't mean its good as you say it just signify an intent (and market knowledge).

the word 'craft' is being dropped by a lot of micros now. The louder brew-dog shout about it the more people in the industry don't want to listen. As with any word it will start to find its own definition.

Have a pint, if its **** then you know not to have another one. If its good then your experimentation has paid off. To be honest I prefer the HB anyway!

D
 
Not many home brewers can make 'Real ale' and it's just not practical for most, bottle conditioned ale is a good alternative.

Force carbonation is not a bad thing as it allows you to put the beer in a condition that you like and I that's more important for me.

CAMRA have just changed the name of our local beer festival from The Paisley Beer Festival to Paisley Real Ale Festival, I go mainly for the foreign bar!
 
I have 0 problem with beer off the tap, keg, or whatever you want to call it.

A lot of pubs don't stock any "real ale" because they can't turn it over, and can't afford to waste gallons and gallons of beer when it goes off.

Had a pint off the pull the other day in a local pub, it was sour, off, and tasted like farts. They don't want to lose revenue on that cask they've bought and so will push the limit of the beer's freshness. Not all pubs will, but some do.

To me, if smaller pubs can serve quality beer and its not what CAMRA recognises as "real ale", then I'm fine with it.

The smaller ones can't sell it fast enough. If they don't have any "real ale" on, we won't go there again... if they do have "real ale" on and its past its best, we wont go there again. It's stupid. I see no problem with a well made kegged beer.
 
To me "real ale" was simply beer that remained in contact with its yeast right up to the point of serving. That meant conditioning by its yeast, which permits a better development of the beer, as opposed to kegged beer. Kegged beer was seperated from its yeast at an early stage of development by filtering and pasteurising (possibly the other way around), so would always be a "green" tasting sort of effort.

I suppose that means that for there to be any meaningful difference, there would have to be a significantly different length of time that a beer is in contact with its yeast. And at a temperature at which the bio-chemical processes might have time to make a significant difference.

BTW - I did my first drinking in the 1970's, which makes me older (significantly) than Victor Meldrew. :lol:
 
Who cares what CAMRA think anyway? I like beer.

I've had some really rubbish "real ale" in my time and also had some really rubbish kegged beer too. I make beer that I like and if someone's gonna have a go for it not being "real" enough for them then they can go drink someone elses! :)
 
I think years ago it was a campaign for both better beer and proper serving. Now the beer's usually good enough, it's pretty much an elitist campaign for cask only serving, and that doesn't suit every beer style. It has generally enhanced the british ale quite a lot which tastes great on cask, but there's some styles that taste pretty shitty on cask - lagers are being neglected completely when there are literally countless great lagers out there, wheat beers are usually served with high carbonation, temperature control is a big thing with beers like stouts and dubbels where the right temperature gives the best impression of the flavours.

Simply, I think they need to update their policies a bit and embrace the craft beer movement, rather than putting up sheer boundaries that no longer really apply. It might not be exactly what they stand for, but it would be cool if CAMRA were the organization that stood up for great craft beer as well as real ale.
 
There are also styles Rob which should be on hand pull which you very rarely see namely stout. Most stout is still kegged which IMHO is an abomination.
 
I was rather surprised when talking to an archaeologist to be told Ale does not have any hops. Only beer has hops historical speaking. So if real ale has to be rather a rare brew. Once you leave the real meaning of the word ale then the question is by how much. Is a dark beer which has been lagered still an ale?

I love real beer!
 

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