Recently ive been meeting more and more people that seem to have convinced that Keg is the only good beer. Now dont get me wrong Keg beer can be good and definitly has it time and its place (see my earlier post on this)
But its really starting to wind me up. Mostly this persuasion is come about by Clever marketing by Brewdog, and again dont get me wrong here. One of my Favourite beers are Brewdog beer, and i just love AB:04
But Keg isnt the only good beer, Its not true as has been claimed that there was no good beer in Scotland before brewdog, and its certainly not true now.
So once again the Cry goes out for Good Beer and ALL good beer.
Or have you been Dog-washed and think the Only way forward is Keg
I think it's hilarious that people are going around saying "keg is the future" just at the time when real ale is finally becoming fashionable and the Americans are discovering cask conditioning.
ReplyDeleteWell im kind of glad to see some keg appearing (gives me extra coice and sometimes only choice in the less good pubs :-} ) ut its not the sole future, but it will be part of the future. It only the attitude of Keg is better than winds me up. Its different not better
ReplyDeleteI'd challenge the ascersion that everyone who thinks that keg beer is the future has been 'Dog-washed' or even that people who think that keg ale is the future of beer have been directly influenced by BrewDog at all.
ReplyDeleteAnchor Steam, Brooklyn and Sierra Nevada are becoming more prevalent on British bars over the past two years and that trend started way before BrewDog started putting beer in to kegs.
Sure, in Edinburgh there has been something of a proliferation of kegged products but I very much doubt is indicative of the UK as a whole.
The US craft beer market is in the ascendency and the way the US microbrewers market their beers, coupled with the different tasting profiles they achieve which are in such stark contrast to many UK beers means that they are becoming more desirable to UK drinkers.
I don't think its a case of being 'dog-washed' more that BrewDog have been the only UK brewer to react quickly enough / predict the market growth at the right time / been lucky, whatever.... the fact that so many other brewers are kegging their beers shows that their is a market for that style of product.
Microbrewers don't 'want' to keg (except BrewDog and a few others) for various reasons. Its costly and its labour intensive for a start. They are simply reacting to the market.
Keg is the future for some beers, because some beers will work really well in keg form. That doesn't mean they can't been cask beers too however.
The danger is we will start seeing (we already have started to see) companies jumping on the band wagon and doing their product a disservice by kegging something that in that format is to the detriment of the beer inside.
Also, I'd challenge the ascersion that cask beer is becoming fashionable. Some cask beer is yes, but a large proportion of the market is still deeply deeply unfashionable. That will continue to be the case until more breweries get their branding right.
Kegged ale will bring more people on to cask beer and I would much rather see UK brewers kegging quality beer and increasing their share of the market in anyway they can if it gets more great beer to more people.
ok it is a little tongue in cheek. But James has said more than once there was no good Scottish cask. But i think your right they hit the market at right time with Keg and built in the SE at least on the US kegs, but in Scotland theyve been Keg driving force and other Scottish brewer are following suit. Which ive said is no bad thing. I think its in Brewdogs best interest to sell keg. Hell for some unknown reason Keg beer is a good 30-40p dearer a pint, but i do still think they can come over a bit strong on Keg is best. Hence my Tongue in Cheek attempt to get a new word into the English Dictionary
ReplyDeleteSimple reason keg is more expensive than cask is that it costs more to produce. Especially for a microbrewer.
ReplyDeleteBrewDog come on strong about keg because its the company line, its the way they see their market expanding. It is in their best interests to push kegged beer. Its how they want beer to be, its their vision.
I'd say so far as rhetoric and branding goes, they're doing rather well too