Craft Beer V Real Ale

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Clibit.. Was there a micro brewery/pub on Oxford road years ago? I seem to remember something near the Aquatic centre years ago when I was at uni

I don't recall one Glyn. When were you there? Are you thinking of the Firkin pub? Hang on, would it be the Lass O'Gowrie just off Oxford road, by the side of the BBC? They did brew in the basement for a while. Beers were called things like 'LoG 42'.
 
It will be the Lass. A once magnificent pub that has totally lost its way. At uni we'd have a couple of pints LoG 42 and sleep through afternoon lectures! :-D

I used to love the Marble Arch and played a few gigs in the room where they now brew. I find the beers they serve there now far too hoppy. Or gingery. Or just too much full stop.

Shame, as the pub itself is amazing.
 
I love the 'Unicorn Fuel', implies that real ale is in fact 'real', craft beer could just be legend or a figment of your imagination...

You just explained why I dreamed of craft beer last night. Now I don't need to discuss it with my analyst. Not paying him will mean I have more money to buy craft beer. Thank you.
 
It will be the Lass. A once magnificent pub that has totally lost its way. At uni we'd have a couple of pints LoG 42 and sleep through afternoon lectures! :-D

I used to love the Marble Arch and played a few gigs in the room where they now brew. I find the beers they serve there now far too hoppy. Or gingery. Or just too much full stop.

Shame, as the pub itself is amazing.

I really like the Marble beers. :drink:

Not as good as they were, had a few changes of head brewer, but still good, IMO.
 
I love the concept of BrewDog in that its bringing different beers to the masses and their pub in Birmingham where I've been a couple of times which is a really comfortable and quirky place. But I have to say its seriously overpriced!

I love BD also, yes beers are dear but good ingredients cost more.

Due to my level of hopping and use of DME they come out at around £1 a bottle. Ageing beers and storing them also costs the breweries.

I think real ale is if a particular process is followed ie. according to camra - no forced carbonation and unpasteurised. this means BIG brewers could still qualify.

I view craft beer as being small scale produced beer that can be subject to variation and is brewed to a quality not a price. A large scale brewer could use a 'craft recipe' and then brew it industrially to ensure total consistency between batches. This is something we perhaps as HB'ers would like to achieve: A consistent outcome when repeating a recipe, but a bit or variation is part of the fun of HB for me - no two batches of the same recipe are ever exactly the same:smile:
 
Good beer is good beer and bad beer is bad beer - it's as simple as that, any beer could be called 'Craft Beer'. The important thing is. Is the beer good - do you like the taste, colour, mouth feel etc. and this is all subjective - It's all up to you - the consumer.
Over the years I've had some **** beer that could well be defined as 'Real Ale' and some very good beer that CAMRA would not define as such. The same could be said of some of the 'Craft Beer' I've tasted.
As soon as one attempts to define a product like beer, ale, lager etc. the individuality of the product is, I think, lost - better to drink the product that you like, even when others would decry it.
Enjoy your beer! :D
Cheers
 
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Cask beer and real ale - £3.00 - £4.00 a pint

Craft beer - 1/3 pint, bottle or can at least £5.00 a pint usually more (plus all the associated garbage talk from hipsters in must be seen bars that sell "Craft beer")

That's the difference.
 
"craft beer" = an American import, used by the Americans because they didn't have any "real ale" to defend so they had to come up with a different term. "craft beer" ... which is any beer that comes out of a local brewery and not either of their two industrial mega-breweries ... hence it doesn't have to be "real ale" ... but it can be. And now the whole thing seems to have gone full circle because the industrialists have jumped on the band wagon and are calling everything "craft beer" ... so basically it is now just marketing BS. I think ... IMO :hmm:
 
"craft beer" = an American import, used by the Americans because they didn't have any "real ale" to defend so they had to come up with a different term. "craft beer" ... which is any beer that comes out of a local brewery and not either of their two industrial mega-breweries ... hence it doesn't have to be "real ale" ... but it can be. And now the whole thing seems to have gone full circle because the industrialists have jumped on the band wagon and are calling everything "craft beer" ... so basically it is now just marketing BS. I think ... IMO :hmm:

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:
 
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
 
http://siba.co.uk/2016/08/independent-brewers-take-back-craft-beer/

Yup, and we have signed up for it! :whistle:
Bun Dubh Words final.png :lol:
 
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:

Got me laughing out loud there ! :grin:
 
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