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11-08-2015, 10:25
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Tandleman has long been an outspoken critic of unfined beer, primarily on the grounds that hazy beer looks bad and, in his experience, usually tastes bad.We haven’t always been receptive to that — the idea that clear =*tasty, cloudy = rough is, we’re certain, a learned cultural prejudice (http://boakandbailey.com/2014/02/meaning-clear-beer/) — but in recent months, Mr T*has made an ever-more*persuasive case for why everyone should share his concern: it is confusing people, dragging down the quality of cask ale overall, or at least threatens to, and is damaging public confidence (http://tandlemanbeerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/back-to-grim-and-unwelcome-reality.html).
We’re not completely convinced there’s a trubocalypse underway, not least because most ‘normal’ pubs and the people who drink in them aren’t*remotely interested in*the politics of unfined beer.*The following recent*Twitter exchange, however, suggests there might well be an issue at the specialist end of the market (click the date below to read the whole thread (https://twitter.com/tandleman/status/629260466154524672)):

Manchester Murky. APA @cloudwaterbrew (https://twitter.com/cloudwaterbrew) http://boakandbailey.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/frownie.png pic.twitter.com/wjhkNUng5Y (http://t.co/wjhkNUng5Y)
— Tandleman (@tandleman) August 6, 2015 (https://twitter.com/tandleman/status/629260466154524672)


@tandleman (https://twitter.com/tandleman) @cloudwaterbrew (https://twitter.com/cloudwaterbrew) just phoned & they are taking it off sale. Clearly not ready. Get them to swap it. Thanks for making us aware!
— Emma Cole (@EmmaJCole) August 6, 2015 (https://twitter.com/EmmaJCole/status/629273518895706112)

Now, half-arsed bar staff have been using ‘It’s meant to be like that’*as a deflection probably for as long as beer has been sold — we remember being given a pint of vinegar in a pub in Salisbury and the chap behind the counter insisting ‘real ale is meant to have a tang to it’ — but this new angle on the same wheeze isn’t good news.
Perhaps hazy-beer-brewers labelling their products with a warning is no longer sufficient — maybe*breweries*who want their beer served bright should also state that*clearly on the pump-clips and keg lenses, and shout about it on social media? It would be difficult for bar staff to say*‘Oh, it comes hazy’ if the point-of-sale material states boldly otherwise. And there’s plenty of historical precedent:
http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/brickwoods_1912.pngFrom 1912.Cloudwater specifically has another problem: that name, which rather implies, that all its beers might be ‘fantastically cloudy (http://weebeefyspubblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/leeds-and-york-and-nearer-home.html)‘.
‘It’s Meant to be Like That': 2015 Edition (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/08/its-meant-to-be-like-that-2015-edition/) from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007 (http://boakandbailey.com)


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