Real Ale... Is it Real or just wanting to be posh

Mudball

Mudball

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'Real Ales', 'Craft Beers' and their ilk is now fully entranced. More and more pubs/bars serve them and is a bit snooty to be seen drinking one of them. Some are good but others are just more-of-the-same. I was at Waterloo station and at the bar, I asked for London Ale but he said, they are out of it, but have some Camden Ale. I wanted to ask if they have from SW19, EC1 or Abbot Road breweries.

Whatever happened to mass produced stuff like Peroni, Carlsberg, Kronenberg 1669 et al (Sorry no American p*ss). Are people really into the whole CAMRA thing or just a way to fit in with those who wear short trousers and no socks.
 
And not all “real” ale is craft. A lot of it isn’t. Real ale is a term usually synonymous with a beer that hasn’t been force carbonated and has undergone secondary fermentation in a bottle or cask.
 
The difference is that real ales are not pumped full of CO2 as is the like of beers like John Smiths Tetley. Any gassing is natural.

All of the other you mention are lagers which are top fermented (do not ask me to explain).
 
jim8flog said:
The difference is that real ales are not pumped full of CO2 as is the like of beers like John Smiths Tetley. Any gassing is natural.

All of the other you mention are lagers which are top fermented (do not ask me to explain).
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Lagers are bottom fermented.

And the method of carbonation doesn’t define a beer. Real ale is a BS term. So many dinosaurs who think a beer isn’t good because it doesn’t undergo secondary fermentation.

Then there’s the fact so many craft beers aren’t even force carbed anyway.
 
Worked in a spoons and free house part time when I was 18-20.
Hated the folks who used to ask for tasters. And spend 5 minutes swilling and smelling.
It all tastes like wazz, just pick a pale one or a dark one and jog on.
 
Kellfire said:
The owner is important to a lot of craft beer enthusiasts.
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Peroni could not in any way be described as 'craft beer' though could it! And Peroni is definitely Italian - not Japanese - beer!

Peroni is rather enjoyable after a round at Bearwood Lakes though! Not an environment where I would expect 'craft beer' either!

Btw; Asahi is pretty nice in the right circumstances too!
 
Foxholer said:
Peroni could not in any way be described as 'craft beer' though could it!

Rather enjoyable after a round at Bearwood Lakes though! Not an environment where I would expect 'craft beer' either!
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No that’s true. I don’t think I could drink Peroni without throwing up.
 
Jamesbrown said:
Worked in a spoons and free house part time when I was 18-20.
Hated the folks who used to ask for tasters. And spend 5 minutes swilling and smelling.
It all tastes like wazz, just pick a pale one or a dark one and jog on.
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That’s just not true though.

That said, Wetherspoons are an awful force in the beer industry in the UK, driving price and quality lower and lower.
 
Kellfire said:
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That said, Wetherspoons are an awful force in the beer industry in the UK, driving price and quality lower and lower.
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As a fan of Abbot Ale....I rather like Wetherspoons.

And I believe they actually support the brewing industry too! Had lots of 'intereting' beers (at great prices) that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to taste!

So while I can't comment on the pricing strategy - though I know how it started - I disagree about your 'quality' comment! To me it's the huge companies - like Whitbread - that put cost before quality (accountants before craftsmen)! The destruction of the Firkin range/concept being an example!
 
Foxholer said:
As a fan of Abbot Ale....I rather like Wetherspoons.

And I believe they actually support the brewing industry too! Had lots of 'intereting' beers (at great prices) that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to taste!
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They pretend they support it but really they use their size to force breweries into providing them beer at cut prices so the quality drops to allow the breweries to make a profit.

I’m not even affected by this because I hate that type of boring cask beer but it’s still disgusting how they use their power to disrupt the market.
 
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