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March 28, 2024, 10:39:34 AM

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BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

Started by Shoulders?-Stomach!, March 30, 2020, 03:56:03 PM

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Shoulders?-Stomach!

Drinking is believing as far as UK pils goes but shall definitely look out for that.

Coniston a very safe pair of hands when it comes to trad ales, love their stuff.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on October 07, 2021, 12:38:14 PM
Drinking is believing as far as UK pils goes but shall definitely look out for that.

Coniston a very safe pair of hands when it comes to trad ales, love their stuff.

It not mega bitter like Urquell etc.. but it is just a really nice flavoursome lager.  Coniston brewery are great had a load of Bluebird XB when aways was top!

Chedney Honks

Tonight I'm gonna watch Carl Th. Dreyer's Vampyr and Female Prisoner Scorpion 701 with some Spaten Oktoberfestbier plus some Georgenbrau Keller and Schlenkerla Weizen. Got a few Mahrs aU and Hacker Schorr Oktocunts, as well. Currently cunting on a Altfrankisch Klosterbier from Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe. Love the Dorito tang on the cunt.

king_tubby

Always forget what you jabronis have recommended once I get to an off licence with this kind of stuff so I've come back with a Paulaner Munchen Hell and a Schlenkerla Smokebeer. Am I going to top them up with lemonade to get them down?

Chedney Honks

I'm also on the Schlenk, king, so well done. Paulaner it's perfectly decent and a million times better than most other lager you could have bought. LGC

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Schlenkerla is not to be messed with. True love or hate flavour but give it a chance, the smoke dies down into the background.

Paulaner Munchner Hell is fairly average by Bavarian levels but better than many lagers you'll encounter in the UK still.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Been loving life out in Czechia last few days

Poutnik Kvasnicovy 12°
Pilsner Urquell 179th anniversary so the unfiltered version is available at many bars
Regent 12° which is so much better over here than the Uk it is frightening.

Lots of lovely Svetly lezak I haven't had before like Rampusak, Tvarg, Qasek, Baraba.

Not missing ale yet.

king_tubby

Cheers dudes. Should I chill the smokebeer or is it a room temp one?

Johnny Foreigner

What's so special about a 179th anniversary?

Ferris

Quote from: king_tubby on October 16, 2021, 06:07:48 PM
Cheers dudes. Should I chill the smokebeer or is it a room temp one?

Think rauchbiers should be room temp? I'll defer to Shoulders on that though.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: Johnny Foreigner on October 16, 2021, 06:11:06 PM
What's so special about a 179th anniversary?

Unsure, but the brewery put out a different beer each month as part of a rotating offer called Volba Sladku. Maybe they just got lazy.

Schlenkerla should be chilled if you want to take the edge off the flavour, a little warmer, cellar cool if you're acquainted with it.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58967530

News update on BrewTurds latest fuckup.

Even the fact they had such a competition, alongside things like showing off about their Las Vegas branch of BrewDog illustrates the tediously juvenile mental level this company operates at, made all the more irritating by its performative, conceited and hamfisted attempts to appear clean and green.


Have just received a gift box from honestbrew.co.uk from a client. Quite a few Trappist selections - Westmalle Trappist Tripel (9.5%) seems like it could have a bit of a kick. Likewise Chimay Bier Tripel (8.1%). There's also something called Tynt Meadow English Trappist Ale. And many many more...

If I have anything coherent and vaguely interesting to say I will report back.

king_tubby

I've had a few bottles of that Tynt Meadow and I'm not expert but it's pleasant enough.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Pretty good stuff, in fact all 3 you've mentioned.

Westmalle may taste a little sickly at first but I am really into it these days. Chimay tripel is more dry and bitter though it can be a bit too rasping. I think they're both good when in the mood for either flavour though.

Decided to start gently, with a can of Citrus Witbier from Browar Stu Mostów (Wroclaw). Pleasant enough post-dinner beer - light and refreshing, without being overly sweet like some of these citrusy wheat beers.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Stu Mostow know what they are doing

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Braybrooke have made a bloody good legit Bavarian Festmarzen. In fact it even has a bit of an angle, with an amber, harvesty quality along with those classic hops. Dare say it's a lot better than some of the Big 6 Munich festbiers.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Looks like I am finally at the forefront of a fashionable movement for once in my life.

Quality Uk and European lager now occupies at least a third of the fridges at Brownhill & Co bar in Leeds and 'Hoppy Pales and IPA' has a desultory 'So yesterday Kyle' fridge to itself.

Ganstaller, Vinohradsky, Einseidler, Flotzinger, Braybrooke, Donzoko, Monschof, Andechs, Newbarns, Augustiner.

What a time to be alive!

Shoulders?-Stomach!

I can't help but sense that fucking banging the fuck on about it over and over has in its own way contributed.

Chedney Honks

I definitely hope so. I've probably single handedly grown the market by about 8% on the strength of your recommendations, so thank you very much.

jobotic

From Facebook. Dunno how accurate it is

QuoteI have thought long and hard about writing this, as we don't usually bring politics into our little corner of the world... but I just thought I'd write a note regarding today's budget given all the headlines that are currently flying about.

If you don't want to read it all, here's the summary. This will not positively impact the small and independent pub or brewer that we cherish so much, nor will it result in a cheaper pint for you. Sorry.

Still with me? Ok... buckle up, here we go.

Why's that, I hear you cry, you're wrong!? He's cut the amount of duty paid by the brewer significantly!

Well, yes, I can be wrong (and indeed often so!) but the key bit of this duty cut is the sentence "served from containers of 40 litres or more".

But hang on, real ale is saved - it comes in both 18G and 9G barrels... and last time you checked, 9G is 40.91 litres! We're saved! Thank the lord Rishi...

Well yes, that may be the case, but there's still a lot of real ale put into pins, or 4.5G barrels, so what does a small brewer pay if they need to put some in 18G casks, 9G casks and some pins? Why should they not get duty relief on the whole brew length, rather than everything except the smaller pins? Will you be willing to pay more for a pint of beer just because it comes in a smaller barrel that allows a venue to keep it in better condition? But, let's get the calculator out, and assume the brewer can claim the new relief. This works out at about 3p a pint less in beer duty, which will mean a 9G cask could be a whopping £2.16 cheaper before VAT at a wholesale level. A small brewery, typical of those that we will typically buy from, makes a couple of thousand pints at a time, & maybe, on that sort of volume, be able to claim around £100 a time back. Assume they brew 3 times a week every week, that half goes into casks that can hold more than 40l, & this *could* result in a duty saving of £7-8k per year from 500,000 pints. All good for the brewer, maybe they'll take a wage from the business next year... obviously those that are bigger and more regional will have longer brew lengths and therefore, could see bigger savings. But the point stands, it's not massive amounts of money we're seeing here.

Let's move onto keg beer. Almost 100% of the craft and small/independent breweries that we buy from package the vast majority of their keg beers into 30 litre steel or plastic kegs, or 20 litre keykegs - yep, that's right, these kegs are under the 40l threshold and are therefore disqualified from the duty benefit. These smaller, independent, family owned, quality-focused breweries WILL NOT currently benefit from this duty cut.

Almost all of Big Beer, these large & multinational breweries we know so well, use containers bigger than 40l, the most popular ones being 50l kegs, for the vast majority of their beers. Carling, Fosters, Heineken, Guinness, Carlsberg, John Smiths... the list is both long and depressing. All of these breweries, the ones turning over hundreds of millions of pounds, WILL benefit from this duty cut.

What that means, is that without completely overhauling pretty much all of these craft/small/independent brewery's business plans, their operating systems *and* see them having to make significant investments in equipment, vessels and re-pointing the market (craft pubs and bars like ours) to the fact that a 40l or bigger container can still be turned over quickly enough to provide a constantly moving offer, no small, independent brewery will feel any benefit at all. Zero. However, for Big Beer - your Carlsberg, Heineken, Molson Coors, AB-Inbev et al... where the majority of their draught beers are packaged in +40l vessels... well, they are laughing.

If you take Molson Coors who make Carling for example. According to their own figures, they brew somewhere in the region of 3 million pints of beer a day, 1.8 million pints of which fall under the Carling brand. I'll say that again. They brew, at Burton on Trent, 3 MILLION PINTS OF BEER A DAY!

If I'm generous, and suggest 50% of their Carling output is kegged in 40l+ vessels, today's duty cut will have a cash saving to them of 3p per pint. Calculators out again folks, 3p x 0.9m = £27,000 saving on duty PER DAY. If they brew Carling 7 days a week, the benefit to Molson Coors courtesy of you & I as taxpayers, is over £9.8 MILLION PER YEAR.

Leaving that little number hanging there for a moment, do you honestly think you'll see that 3p reduction on your pint? A 50l keg (which holds 88 pints) may see a £2.64 decrease in wholesale cost due to lower duty charges (assuming the brewery passes them on!), but what with the rapidly increasing cost of energy & transportation costs, national living wage increases etc etc, *and* given the ties and pricing schemes set by PubCo's for landlords for these Big Beer brands, I'd be very surprised if it is translated into lower pump prices. Anyone seriously see any pub (Wetherspoons aside, as who knows what Tim Martin will do next!) moving the price of a pint of Carling from £4.00 down to £3.97....???

You may not be paying for it on the pint (again, making the assumption that Big Beer will pass that saving on to the Pub Co's and then in turn the big Pub Co's will pass it on to the consumer) BUT we will all pay for it in the lack of funding for social support schemes, healthcare, education, transport etc etc. Remember, that £9.8m/year is only from 1 beer brand, from 1 multinational brewery. Imagine how much they will all save from the Treasury if they brew similar volumes to Carling......

This one single aspect of the budget today is wrong on every level - whilst it may sound good for "the man on the street" it's really an impediment to sustainability & growth of small & independent breweries. Make no bones about it, this is a cleverly designed tax break for Big Beer, meaning they can then cut costs and further price out the smaller breweries. Yet the headlines will trick people into thinking the politicians in charge have done a good thing. The reality is that they have no interest in either small business, or you the average drinker.

Well done Chancellor... you have shaved 3p a pint off (mostly) shit macro beer duty. Happy days for Big Beer and another kick for small independents.

PS, this photo opportunity was taken after the budget today at FourPure's brewery, (a former craft brewer that can brew 14m pints/year), who was bought by Lion Little World, (who also own Magic Rock Brewing Co, who can brew 2.7m pints/year), who are themselves a company who are owned by Kirin Holdings Company Ltd, who have been part-funding Myanmar's military, who have been accused of many years worth of human rights atrocities. They're also holding 30 litre kegs, (which as we've worked out above), aren't eligible for beer duty relief... just in case you didn't understand how spectacularly crap these people are.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Yeah, micro breweries and beer twitter aren't happy and saying the same

Chedney Honks

Make beer as good as Franconia and maybe I give a fuck.

TrenterPercenter

Who seriously gives a fuck about 3p a pint.

"Wow I've saved a whole 3p on this pint, this will help with the finances, rule BritanNYA! THANKS BORWIS!"

Johnny Foreigner

People will buy the stuff they like most, and people have no taste. If you want them to buy more interesting beer, I say you have to force them at knife-point. Empty gestures and rhetoric will bring nothing to the table. It's physical violence you need.

A mate of mine is co-founder of Bini Brew in Ilkley. Please buy their entire stock. Now. That's an order.

...You're not going to, are you? See? Point proven.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Not with a range of 1 hazy pale and 2 goses, no.

Shoulders?-Stomach!


shoulders

In Framconio right now

It's ace guys 👉😀