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08-01-2012, 16:43
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Everyyear I write one of these posts. I never get anything right, but it’s worth apunt...
Kegbeer will not rocket in general. A few breweries will expand into using kegs,and others will expand current keg ranges, and they will sell these to thedestination beer bars around the UK. A 6.5-7.4% IPA on keg will become core tosome brewery ranges. Only about 10-15 breweries will do this properly and dothis well.
Assome breweries make beers to satisfy the geek end of the market, and see successfrom doing it (whether cask, keg or bottle), so all breweries will need to lookhyper-locally and nail their nearby market with whatever beers will sell bestthere, probably a sub-4% pale cask session beer. Given the massive competitionof breweries in the UK now, these beers need to be really good for a brewery tosurvive.
Caskbeer is very important to British beer and always will be. Kegs add to that andare not some kind of crazy, cask-killing beast. The cask vs. keg debate istiresome now. The two need to co-exist because they do different things. With900 cask breweries in the UK, why fear 10-15 breweries who want to use kegs todispense some or all of their beers?
TheOlympics are the big thing in 2012. I hope we don’t get a load of gold orbronze Olympic-themed ales released for the summer. I hate tacky ‘occasion’beers – are any of them ever any good?
Becauseof the Olympics, plus Euro 2012, bottles will be important as more people wantto drink at home. This summer will be the summer of home drinking. Brewerieshad better get filling those bottles.
Thisis an interesting one: big breweries taking a craft focus. Sharp’s are underMolsonCoors and I expect some good things from Sharp’s in 2012. As well asthis, Brains and Thwaites are both opening smaller plants to brew beers outsideof their core ranges. Shepherd Neame did this a few years ago but I rarely hearabout it anymore, which is a shame. This approach from the regionals andnationals is good to see. I hope the beers are good.
Micro-beerfestivals. The 400-cask beer festival is always fun but I love the idea ofsmaller-scale, better-quality festivals. The Snowdrop Inn showed how it’spossible. I also think themed beer festivals, or events based around certainbeer styles, will work well, as was seen with IPA Day in 2011. Breweryshowcases and tap takeovers are an extension of this – and they are events toget people to the pub.
Foodand beer will make it big in 2012! I hope. It’s been a long time coming butwe’re getting closer and closer to people really taking it seriously. If beeris going to be taken seriously in the mainstream then it’ll be alongside foodto begin, in the same way that wine attached itself to the dinner table in the1980s. To get beer to that point it will need a TV programme and majornewspaper columns but there are people around who can do those things.
Now for the beers... We’ve had IPAs,we’ve had Black IPAs. Some breweries have veered towards Belgium or played withBelgian yeasts. We’ve had more IPAs, red IPAs, Belgian IPAs and double IPAs.But what beers will come in 2012?
I think straight-up 6.5-7.4% US IPAswill be big still. I’m certainly not done drinking them. I just hope they gointo kegs and not casks (or at least go into both).
I think forward-thinking brewers willlook backwards at old recipes and styles. Fuller’s do a great job with thisalready, The Kernel is doing it, Thornbridge and Otley have done some – it’seither taking old brewing records and bringing them back to life or it’srejuvenating old beer styles like Burtons and old ales.
American hops are still hot but theirsupply is tight in 2012. This might see some more beers made with English hops.I think by the end of the year there’ll be a beer or two (probably IPAs) thatare hopped with just English varieties that are getting us all talking. Thismight also connect with the previous point of rejuvenated recipes...
I’m personally going to try and drinkmore Belgian beer in 2012. I’ve let it slip out of my sight in the last twoyears but I want to drink more. As for British breweries playing with Belgianinspiration... maybe. I don’t think we’ll see a Saison explosion but I expect somebrewers will experiment with styles like tripels and Belgian blondes.
Best bitters will get lighter andhoppier.
Whatdo you think will happen in 2012? What beer styles will we see more of? Whatbreweries do we expect to taste good things from?
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8717216232742676074-2741340102161793619?l=www.pencilandspoon.com
More... (http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/01/thoughts-for-2012.html)
Everyyear I write one of these posts. I never get anything right, but it’s worth apunt...
Kegbeer will not rocket in general. A few breweries will expand into using kegs,and others will expand current keg ranges, and they will sell these to thedestination beer bars around the UK. A 6.5-7.4% IPA on keg will become core tosome brewery ranges. Only about 10-15 breweries will do this properly and dothis well.
Assome breweries make beers to satisfy the geek end of the market, and see successfrom doing it (whether cask, keg or bottle), so all breweries will need to lookhyper-locally and nail their nearby market with whatever beers will sell bestthere, probably a sub-4% pale cask session beer. Given the massive competitionof breweries in the UK now, these beers need to be really good for a brewery tosurvive.
Caskbeer is very important to British beer and always will be. Kegs add to that andare not some kind of crazy, cask-killing beast. The cask vs. keg debate istiresome now. The two need to co-exist because they do different things. With900 cask breweries in the UK, why fear 10-15 breweries who want to use kegs todispense some or all of their beers?
TheOlympics are the big thing in 2012. I hope we don’t get a load of gold orbronze Olympic-themed ales released for the summer. I hate tacky ‘occasion’beers – are any of them ever any good?
Becauseof the Olympics, plus Euro 2012, bottles will be important as more people wantto drink at home. This summer will be the summer of home drinking. Brewerieshad better get filling those bottles.
Thisis an interesting one: big breweries taking a craft focus. Sharp’s are underMolsonCoors and I expect some good things from Sharp’s in 2012. As well asthis, Brains and Thwaites are both opening smaller plants to brew beers outsideof their core ranges. Shepherd Neame did this a few years ago but I rarely hearabout it anymore, which is a shame. This approach from the regionals andnationals is good to see. I hope the beers are good.
Micro-beerfestivals. The 400-cask beer festival is always fun but I love the idea ofsmaller-scale, better-quality festivals. The Snowdrop Inn showed how it’spossible. I also think themed beer festivals, or events based around certainbeer styles, will work well, as was seen with IPA Day in 2011. Breweryshowcases and tap takeovers are an extension of this – and they are events toget people to the pub.
Foodand beer will make it big in 2012! I hope. It’s been a long time coming butwe’re getting closer and closer to people really taking it seriously. If beeris going to be taken seriously in the mainstream then it’ll be alongside foodto begin, in the same way that wine attached itself to the dinner table in the1980s. To get beer to that point it will need a TV programme and majornewspaper columns but there are people around who can do those things.
Now for the beers... We’ve had IPAs,we’ve had Black IPAs. Some breweries have veered towards Belgium or played withBelgian yeasts. We’ve had more IPAs, red IPAs, Belgian IPAs and double IPAs.But what beers will come in 2012?
I think straight-up 6.5-7.4% US IPAswill be big still. I’m certainly not done drinking them. I just hope they gointo kegs and not casks (or at least go into both).
I think forward-thinking brewers willlook backwards at old recipes and styles. Fuller’s do a great job with thisalready, The Kernel is doing it, Thornbridge and Otley have done some – it’seither taking old brewing records and bringing them back to life or it’srejuvenating old beer styles like Burtons and old ales.
American hops are still hot but theirsupply is tight in 2012. This might see some more beers made with English hops.I think by the end of the year there’ll be a beer or two (probably IPAs) thatare hopped with just English varieties that are getting us all talking. Thismight also connect with the previous point of rejuvenated recipes...
I’m personally going to try and drinkmore Belgian beer in 2012. I’ve let it slip out of my sight in the last twoyears but I want to drink more. As for British breweries playing with Belgianinspiration... maybe. I don’t think we’ll see a Saison explosion but I expect somebrewers will experiment with styles like tripels and Belgian blondes.
Best bitters will get lighter andhoppier.
Whatdo you think will happen in 2012? What beer styles will we see more of? Whatbreweries do we expect to taste good things from?
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8717216232742676074-2741340102161793619?l=www.pencilandspoon.com
More... (http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/01/thoughts-for-2012.html)