Unfined Beer to be debated

Having just read this article on the Moor beer news page I have to say I completely agree with everything Justin has said.

If you don't want to click the link here are the three motions that Justin has tabled for debate.

1. That SIBA recognises that historic beer styles and modern beer drinkers do not ALL require clarity in beer.
2. That SIBA removes clarity as a requirement for beer competitions.
3. That SIBA proactively markets to and educates the trade and consumers on the potential benefits of hazy beer including :

• Improved flavour
• Improved aroma
• Improved mouthfeel
• Vegan acceptance(where isinglass is not used)
• Reduced settling time
• Reduced wastage/ullage
• Increased demand from consumers for more natural products.

Now we all know that some cloudy beer is down to the fact that the beer isn't being kept properly but lots of brewers are now producing beer that has a natural haze and a lot of it is bloody good beer. I'm not saying that all unfined beer is great, I'm not saying that all hazy beer is good. But isn't it time that we started trying to educate the Great British public on just how good beer can be, haze or no haze?
We can certainly start by getting an industry body such as SIBA to recognise the above.

I look forward to tales of heated debate and murders from the SIBA AGM today!

Kernel Drives SIBA Nuts

This is just a quick shout out of Congratulations for Evin O'Riordan of the Kernel Brewery who won Best Bottled Porter and Beer Over 5% and Bronze and Gold in the Overall Bottled category at the SIBA South East competition today!
Top work sir! well done!
Great to see a small London brewer doing so well. Thoroughly nice chap too!

SIBA - Wales & The West

So as you'll see from my previous post I just spent Friday judging beers in Ludlow for SIBA's regional Wales and The West competition.
Having never been to a beer competition as a judge before I was a bit overwhelmed at the start of the day.
The first category I was judging was Speciality and at my table, amongst others were my mate Melissa Cole and Pete Brown, Influential Beer Writer! ;-)
The beers themselves were nothing 'special' let alone speciality! There were a couple that stood out more than the others but putting them in a speciality category seemed to be a bit of a cop-out as they should probably have been in another category.

The second round I judged was Premium Bitters, it was the second round for this category and therefore all the shite had been weeded out by the time we got to this table. What a transformation! Oh my God! The best beers on the table were the last two we had, Salopian Prohibiiton, which eventually came overall third in the competition, and The Mutts Nutts by Spinning Dog Brewery, lovely chocolatey, roasted nuts.

For the record, Overall winner was Darwins Origin by Salopian so well done to Wilf and Jake you're making some fantastic beers, keep it up!

Another highlight of the trip was one of the local pubs, The Church, so named because it has a church behind it. It was serving the local beers on cask and boy were they good, I woke up with a terrible hangover on friday morning having spent all thursday night watching the election until 2.30am drinking Ludlow Gold a marvellous beer that you have to drink if you ever make it to Ludlow!

All in all a good couple of days out of town, it helps to break up the week a bit and I hope to be asked back next year!

Paying Fr-homage to Pete Brown - Influential Beer Writer!

Pete Brown, Influential Beer Writer. And some git with a dodgy jacket.

Just got back to London from Ludlow where I was one of about 60-odd judges for the SIBA Wales and West regional beer competition.
It's only fair that in an election week we should take the time to celebrate a candidate that, whilst he didn't stand in this years election, probably should have. After all if you read his blog you'll know just how outspoken on licensing policy and the stupidity of the neo-prohibitionists.
He was another of those 60-odd judges at Ludlow this week and whilst I had to make do with Glyn Roberts, The Rake, Borough Market, Utobeer & Lovebeer on my name badge, He didn't, Pete Brown, Influential Beer Writer. Well that's what was printed on his name badge.
Is he really that influential? I personally happen to think so, Pete is one of those writers that helps give people inspiration, he has the sort of passion for beer that is infectious.
I've only read one of his 3 books on beer at this moment in time, that was Hops and Glory, a fantastic piece of writing about brewing an IPA and making the trip to India just like the old days.
To have the idea in the first place and then have the bollocks to follow it through was sheer genius, either that or insanity but the resulting book was clever, funny and informative.
Another thing to point out is that whilst Pete is at the top of the Wilkio rankings, it hasn't gone to his head, he may well be Pete Brown, Influential Beer Writer to them but he's also a jolly nice chap and it's always a pleasure to see Pete and Liz whenever they grace us with their presences.
One example of his 'jolly niceness' was me getting an email from himself and Liz inviting me to their Christmas party last year, I was honoured to be asked and also intrigued, I REALLY wanted to see his beer cellar! People send him beer for his opinion, how he's ever going to get through that amount of beer is beyond me, lets re-state, he gets SENT that beer, people want his opinion, people want his approval, a good word about a beer and a brewery could start selling loads, he has that much influence.
As I have said to various people in the past, I joined Wilkios rankings out of morbid curiosity and since then it has spurred me on to write more, I have aspirations, I want to be Pete Brown Influential Beer Writer(well Glyn Roberts, Influential Beer Writer) one day and I don't see anything wrong with that.

So here's to you Pete Brown, Influential Beer Writer! may you continue to, well, be you.

Oh and, for the record I know that my blog will never go to number one in Wilkios rankings but it's nice to dream.