Hit the nitro! it sounds like something out of Knight Rider doesn’t it? no I didn’t think so either, as we all know KITT uses a turbo boost, not nitro.
You may or may not have read about the big brewhaha kicking off between CAMRA and BrewDog regarding kegging some of their beer at the GBBF (Great British Beer Festival) it’s mostly rather petty tit for tat but it does create a bridge to an issue that over the coming months and years we will be undoubtedly seeing more of, craft beer in a keg. Like it or not ‘craft beer’ in kegs isn’t going anywhere so CAMRAs decision to pull the plug seems a little short sighted, perhaps both parties just need to sit down properly and talk it over, this would be helped greatly by BrewDog who brew some fine beer indeed pulling their head down from the clouds, they’re not the messiahs they often claim to be, just rather good at marketing.
The ‘rebellious’ BrewDog (available in Tescos…) like to get busy with the fizzy, or busy wit’ fizzy if you prefer the Bo Selecta Craaaaig Daaavid approach. So what’s the big deal? well it all comes down to the definitions of ale, live yeast, filtering etc, yes I can hear the snores already but kegging dominance in short is what CAMRA was setup to stop happening; but more importantly it looks to me like a good old clashing of opinion. In Europe and America this practise of kegging is common, my co-writer Hoppkins is a huge fan of American craft beers and has sampled them many times on their home soil, I myself loved many of the beers we had in Amsterdam, again all kegged, in-fact some of the Flying Dog beers I had out there rank as the best I have ever had though I am massively curious as to what they taste like without kegging.
Is there room for both? I don’t think there’s a choice as both exist and both will continue to push forward but you can’t blame CAMRAs defensive approach with the taste destroying reputation kegging has, this can’t be helped by some of the UK brewers putting on some very poor shows, both BrewDogs- Punk IPA and Thornbridge – Jaipur are brilliant brews, but truly dreadful on keg, and I might point out at this point I have tried them both more than twice at different places and times so it wasn’t just a bad batch.
For now it seems a lot more toys are going to be chucked out the pram, but it seems a genuine shame to have beers specifically brewed for kegging as they do in the US and Europe snubbed because of this reason, for now this debate seems set to roar on.
Of much more importance is the Nottingham CAMRA branches confirmation that BrewDog will be at the 2011 Nottingham Beer Festival but as last year on cask, not keg!
Some good points in that post. I totally agree about the keg Jaipur, I tried it at the Organ Grinder and thought it was horrible.
I cannot understand why Brewdog would want to supply keg over cask for the GBBF other than to pick a fight with CAMRA and gain publicity. After all they are hardly the shy and retiring types.
I am sure that if they really wanted to appear, then they could have compromised in the seven extra weeks they were allowed over everybody else.
I used to really like Punk IPA, when it first appeared. Then it got popular, then it got inconsistent, then they dropped the abv, and then my local TESCO stopped stocking it.
I buy Sierra Nevada Pale ale instead now.
I have to totally disagree with the negative comments on the quality of keg Brewdog. As a CAMRA member, I too was dismayed to hear about Bredog’s intentions for the GBBF and beyond but after having blind tasted a cask and kegged Punk, me and three of my copains all agreed the kegged version was superior – by some considerable distance.
I have to admit I am now completely open minded as far as the cask v keg debate is concerned as ultimately the taste of beer is the most important element to this “tainted” soul.There are those who pontificate the magnificence of German and continental beer but appear to have short memories when it comes to admitting that even the Germans (and Czechs) almost 100% dispense their bier from kegs.