Blog Tracker
22-06-2023, 09:08
Visit The Pub Curmudgeon site (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/06/out-of-condition.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wXsKmTaor0C_Smw05pMv0zoWq_U3h7Zq8hV4PUNQ-dEkzRUqvcerlrinPoQoOv3g9bG_s9MxAMC3FZlOGSj-ptaDtaVq6xXp-cGphzLg8E-QltJCLyrXGDMQSpxQIRLWg4U7MDLPW2C3dc_Y4QgoSnsReBdlu T-miACUsZjzhBAZMglYCM060HY_ioU/s200/pedigree%20non%20bca.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wXsKmTaor0C_Smw05pMv0zoWq_U3h7Zq8hV4PUNQ-dEkzRUqvcerlrinPoQoOv3g9bG_s9MxAMC3FZlOGSj-ptaDtaVq6xXp-cGphzLg8E-QltJCLyrXGDMQSpxQIRLWg4U7MDLPW2C3dc_Y4QgoSnsReBdlu T-miACUsZjzhBAZMglYCM060HY_ioU/s800/pedigree%20non%20bca.jpg)
Over the weekend, several people pointed out on Twitter that Marston’s appeared to have discontinued bottle-conditioning their flagship Pedigree Ale. The company have now confirmed this (https://www.just-drinks.com/news/carlsberg-uk-unit-confirms-marstons-pedigree-no-longer-bottle-conditioned/), saying “the decision had been taken in light of declining demand for bottle-conditioned beer”. There was some predictable harrumphing over this, but it’s hardly the end of a long-standing tradition, given that they only started doing it in 2016.
At the time, I have to say I thought this was a rather odd decision. I wrote back in 2016 (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2016/11/false-equivalence.html) about how I felt, for a number of reasons, that CAMRA was wrong to draw an equivalence between bottle- and cask-conditioned beers. At least for everyday quaffing beers, bottle-conditioning in practice adds very little while introducing an extra element of complexity in storage and serving and something of a lottery of how it will turn out, as Seeing the Lizards, who has worked in the retail trade, pointed out:
The perception of BC PBAs, is that one third will be flat, one third will be as intended and one third will be gushers.
— Seeing The Lizards (@seethelizards) June 18, 2023 (https://twitter.com/seethelizards/status/1670390015078146048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Although the purists may not like it, it’s a fact of life that most buyers of Premium Bottled Ales tend to avoid ones that are bottle-conditioned, so it is a sensible business decision from Marston’s. Few consumers are going to do something out of principle if it gives them no discernible benefit.
Over the years, a number of other brewers have taken the same course including, for example, Hop Back Summer Lightning. Most bottle-conditioned beers now seem to have disappeared from the major supermarkets, including Fuller’s 1845 and Bengal Lancer, Worthington White Shield and Young’s Special London Ale, and the only ones I still see regularly are Shepherd Neame 1698 and St Austell Proper Job.
As I said in the conclusion to my post,
Yes, at the end of the day, bottle-conditioning, if done well, does add something to a beer. Bottle-conditioned beers can be regarded as the crème de la crème. But, because of the practical difficulties involved, and the fact that the process adds very little to lower-strength quaffing beers, it is best reserved for higher-strength specialities.
More... (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/06/out-of-condition.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wXsKmTaor0C_Smw05pMv0zoWq_U3h7Zq8hV4PUNQ-dEkzRUqvcerlrinPoQoOv3g9bG_s9MxAMC3FZlOGSj-ptaDtaVq6xXp-cGphzLg8E-QltJCLyrXGDMQSpxQIRLWg4U7MDLPW2C3dc_Y4QgoSnsReBdlu T-miACUsZjzhBAZMglYCM060HY_ioU/s200/pedigree%20non%20bca.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wXsKmTaor0C_Smw05pMv0zoWq_U3h7Zq8hV4PUNQ-dEkzRUqvcerlrinPoQoOv3g9bG_s9MxAMC3FZlOGSj-ptaDtaVq6xXp-cGphzLg8E-QltJCLyrXGDMQSpxQIRLWg4U7MDLPW2C3dc_Y4QgoSnsReBdlu T-miACUsZjzhBAZMglYCM060HY_ioU/s800/pedigree%20non%20bca.jpg)
Over the weekend, several people pointed out on Twitter that Marston’s appeared to have discontinued bottle-conditioning their flagship Pedigree Ale. The company have now confirmed this (https://www.just-drinks.com/news/carlsberg-uk-unit-confirms-marstons-pedigree-no-longer-bottle-conditioned/), saying “the decision had been taken in light of declining demand for bottle-conditioned beer”. There was some predictable harrumphing over this, but it’s hardly the end of a long-standing tradition, given that they only started doing it in 2016.
At the time, I have to say I thought this was a rather odd decision. I wrote back in 2016 (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2016/11/false-equivalence.html) about how I felt, for a number of reasons, that CAMRA was wrong to draw an equivalence between bottle- and cask-conditioned beers. At least for everyday quaffing beers, bottle-conditioning in practice adds very little while introducing an extra element of complexity in storage and serving and something of a lottery of how it will turn out, as Seeing the Lizards, who has worked in the retail trade, pointed out:
The perception of BC PBAs, is that one third will be flat, one third will be as intended and one third will be gushers.
— Seeing The Lizards (@seethelizards) June 18, 2023 (https://twitter.com/seethelizards/status/1670390015078146048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Although the purists may not like it, it’s a fact of life that most buyers of Premium Bottled Ales tend to avoid ones that are bottle-conditioned, so it is a sensible business decision from Marston’s. Few consumers are going to do something out of principle if it gives them no discernible benefit.
Over the years, a number of other brewers have taken the same course including, for example, Hop Back Summer Lightning. Most bottle-conditioned beers now seem to have disappeared from the major supermarkets, including Fuller’s 1845 and Bengal Lancer, Worthington White Shield and Young’s Special London Ale, and the only ones I still see regularly are Shepherd Neame 1698 and St Austell Proper Job.
As I said in the conclusion to my post,
Yes, at the end of the day, bottle-conditioning, if done well, does add something to a beer. Bottle-conditioned beers can be regarded as the crème de la crème. But, because of the practical difficulties involved, and the fact that the process adds very little to lower-strength quaffing beers, it is best reserved for higher-strength specialities.
More... (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/06/out-of-condition.html)