What is Craft Beer

[london calling]

I was drinking proper beer yesterday in Shropshire from Joules,Salopian and Marstons and not one was more that £3.00 for a pint and many were at the £2.50 a pint mark.

If idiots want to drink key Keg or any other Craft beers at £6.00 up to £9.00 a pint then they are fools to themselves.

I would also like to know how a beer can come in at 22% or even 10% these can not be proper beers the ABV is far too high for them to be a beer,i thought Barley Wines started at about 10% and normal beers ranged from 3.5 up to 5.00 %.

But then again i am no beer expert i have only been drinking since 1978 and these modern trendy types probably know more than i ever will about beer

If only we in London could get beer for £2.50-3.00 a pint.The Earl of Essex has on today Hobsons mild 3.2 at £3.90 a pint for 60 p more you can get Keg Beavertown -gamma ray ipa 5.4 at £4.50 a pint.Def worth the extra imo.

[gillhalfpint]

I had Beavertown Gamma Ray APA 5.4% Keg for £2 a half at the Hand in Falmouth on Friday.

[london calling]

I had Beavertown Gamma Ray APA 5.4% Keg for £2 a half at the Hand in Falmouth on Friday.

Well Gill it did have to travel 3 miles from the brewery to the Earl of Essex probably by Taxi. cheers

[Aqualung]

If only we in London could get beer for £2.50-3.00 a pint.The Earl of Essex has on today Hobsons mild 3.2 at £3.90 a pint for 60 p more you can get Keg Beavertown -gamma ray ipa 5.4 at £4.50 a pint.Def worth the extra imo.

I do know that you realise that you can get beer for £2.50-£3.00 (or less) in probably all the Spoons outside of the Central London area as well as the King William IV in Leyton (and I'm sure a few others). The reality of this particular discussion is that it simply boils down to straightforward Capitalism in that any pub (including Spoons) will charge what they think will not drive the punters away.

To me £3.90 for a proper low ABV mild is just taking the Michael, but it's in trendy N1. One thing about these New Wave pubs in areas like N1, E5 and E8 is that they were all total dumps twenty or thirty years ago with little custom and rubbish beer.

I'm sure I played darts in the now Islington Craft Beer Co pub in the 1980's and it was so awful that bottles of Newcastle Brown was the best option.

[london calling]

Aqualung is right you can get cheap beer in Mc Spoons but you have got to like their style of pub and I don't.I am going up London on wed night Cock tav-fox e8-dukes brew and que -well and bucket e2- then the new Pelt Trader after that either Holborn or the Borough.All will have Craft beers all will be expensive but they all have a choice of cheaper cask beer. Choice is a great thing

[hondo]

Aqualung is right you can get cheap beer in Mc Spoons but you have got to like their style of pub and I don't.I am going up London on wed night Cock tav-fox e8-dukes brew and que -well and bucket e2- then the new Pelt Trader after that either Holborn or the Borough.All will have Craft beers all will be expensive but they all have a choice of cheaper cask beer. Choice is a great thing

jealous

[aleandhearty]

Over priced, over cold, over fizzy....

I'm trying to keep an open mind regarding the whole craft beer thing. I certainly don't ally myself with the foaming at the mouth, rabid CAMRA diehards who suggest that all non-cask beer comes straight from Satan's penis. However, on limited tastings, Wittenden's definition still works for me. On Sunday afternoon I drank my BOTW, Fernandes Octohop, alongside Rat Crazy Rat. The former an aromatic, hoppy cask ale, with bags of flavour for 4% and around £2.80 a pint. By comparison, the Crazy Rat 6% was served from the keg and cost £4.00 a pint. It had virtually no aroma, was muted in taste, but worst of all burnt the back of the throat with its harsh carbonation. Just not convincing.

[gillhalfpint]

I want to be fair on the new keg ales. They said the Beavertown I had was key keg and as such, no gas had touched the beer. Fair enough, but it was so cold. I couldn't get the flavour till I was half way down it, and I can't see why it has to cost so much either. I will have one now and then I suppose if there is nothing I fancy in cask, but I can only tot up 3 in the past 12 months, so it will be a very now and then drink.

As a matter of interest, are they all key keg these days, or if not, how do you tell keg from key keg? The fonts all look the same to me.

[london calling]

I want to be fair on the new keg ales. They said the Beavertown I had was key keg and as such, no gas had touched the beer. Fair enough, but it was so cold. I couldn't get the flavour till I was half way down it, and I can't see why it has to cost so much either. I will have one now and then I suppose if there is nothing I fancy in cask, but I can only tot up 3 in the past 12 months, so it will be a very now and then drink.

As a matter of interest, are they all key keg these days, or if not, how do you tell keg from key keg? The fonts all look the same to me.

You wont be able to tell if its keg or key keg as it will taste the same but maybe a bit gassier on normal keg. The advantage of key keg is its only 30 litres so less to sell and the keg is disposable so the breweries don't have to chase around to get them back. If the beer was too cold then that's the pubs fault as they set the temperature .It should add about 25p a pint on to the cost(ha ha).I would think if the beer is going local it makes sense for it to be keg and keykeg for afar.

[london calling]

I had 3 keg beers last night
alpha state -cironvand perfect carbonation and temp(hard to tell the diff from real ale)
beavertown -apricot ale too fizzy and too cold
beavertown -rypa -perfect carb and temp
both beavertown beers from the same pub so its a bit hit and miss.