What is Craft Beer?

Now, my intention was simply to repeat a blog post about keg beer written in late 2014, which I feel is still a current issue and worth repeating here. But even just composing the title (Keg [craft] beer) I realised there was a minefield which needed exploring first. So...

Real Ale. Craft Beer. What is the difference?

This is a question that has been typed into Google many times and anyone who has done so will have most likely not found a satisfactory answer. Do we need an answer? Some would say we do and others would disagree. But if you are new to beer drinking and are trying to navigate the different products that exist you would probably like one.

Well the trouble is there is no definitive answer though many have tried to supply one. In my opinion it is simply a case of a new band wagon. The old band wagon was real ale (an old band wagon indeed as the Campaign for Real Ale began in 1971) which found itself thrust centre stage about 12 years ago with the explosion of microbreweries.

Ah, now we have another term that should be explained, just in case we’re unclear about that too. There will be a definition out there somewhere I’m sure, but I will offer a brief description here. From the mid 1700s through to the 1800s brewing started to become a serious business, indeed most businesses became serious as it was the industrial revolution. For a nation (or Empire) of hard workers a lot of beer was required and so supply matched demand. Fast foward a century and, as is inevitable in a free market economy, the stronger breweries had acquired the smaller ones (See the other Note on Duncan Gilmour) resulting in the domination of a select few. Bass and Whitbread were two of England’s biggest players and they made it all the way to the mid 90s until the government decided they were too big (their interests included restaurant and hotel chains by this point) and demanded they split up their businesses. So compared to these brewing behemoths the fellow who started a brewery in his empty outbuilding or a modest sized industrial unit was small fry indeed. Micro in fact. There are also idealistic differences attached to the term but consider these to be further reading.

A lot of microbreweries popped up as more people became interested in real ale and realised they could make money from it. There were a few that started in the late 1970s, 80s and 90s (Kelham Island & Abbeydale locally) but the majority came into existence around 2004.

So that is beer band wagon number one.

Now, like anything that is popular and successful a similar revolution started across the Atlantic as well. Microbreweries began appearing in America in the 1980s (again there are earlier examples such as Anchor) and the scene exploded a couple of years after it did here.

The Americans, however, had a linguistic problem. For them ‘beer’ was Budweiser, Coors, Millers and other mass production big brewers that had been around since the late 1800s. US versions of Bass and Whitbread if you will. We would call this lager because for us beer came first, but in the US lager came first and was known as beer.

And so when more and more American microbreweries started making interesting and exciting beer, the Craft Beer label was born. This is band wagon number two and because it is the second band wagon it is newer, cooler.

Then some UK brewers started calling themselves ‘craft’. But what does craft mean when it’s applied over here? Well there is a fundamental difference between how beer is dispensed here and how it is dispensed in America. The latter method is through pressurised kegs and taps on the bar whereas as we tend to favour casks containing sediment served through hand pumps (although casks are being embraced by some Us brewers). America also has far more hop varieties - different hops have different flavours and qualities - and UK brewers utilise these a lot as our own hop industry is sadly limited. If I see one more ‘New World’ pale or IPA...

Keg beer has been growing in the UK over the last few years (See note on Keg Beer) and now some brewers prefer that medium, Brew Dog being the first high profile example. Closer to home, there are two new breweries in Sheffield that only produce beer in kegs and bottle; Lost Industry and North Union. Although the former is looking to provide some limited cask beers. Keg beer has been slow to take off in Sheffield but it is on the rise. The best places to find it are; the Broadfield, Sheffield Tap, Rutland Arms, Shakespeare’s, Anchorage and of course Brew Dog. If would like to sample some bottled craft head to Beer Central, Hop Hideout and Archer Road Beer Stop who all sell American beers and UK craft breweries such as Weird Beard, Siren, Kernal & the Wild Beer Company.

So when you see the Craft Beer label you can expect to see at least two of the following; keg beer, American hops, strong and experimental flavours high ABV’s and minimalist, snappy branding.