Seeing Red

Occasionally, The Beer Revolution will drift off the topic of beer and into social and political areas of drinking in Ireland (but not too often - it's not much fun!).

Having previously lambasted the much loved pint, what is my target this time as the cause of 'binge drinking' and the alcohol fuelled breakdown of society? It is the monster that is Red Bull mixed with alcohol.

All joking aside, I do have serious misgivings with the common misuse of alcohol and energy drinks (primarily Red Bull). I'm not going to get into a food and drug discussion on taurine, caffeine or glucuronolactone (all active ingredients in Red Bull) but rather talk about my own observations and experiences regarding Red Bull and alcohol.

Now, I'm no fan of prohibition. Red Bull, drunk in moderation, is probably no more malign than coffee. In fact, Red Bull suggest a comparison to coffee as a usage guideline (one can of RB contains about the same caffeine as a cup of coffee) and a RB spokesperson has been quoted as saying "We have always recommended drinking one to two cans of Red Bull to have the optimum effect on performance in times of need." But despite the fact that in Canada and Sweden, it is expressly recommended that Red Bull is not mixed with alcohol, we, in Ireland, happily sell it by the case load from branded fridges in pubs.

What harm? You might say. Have you ever seen somebody after several double vodka and Red Bulls? I have and it's not a pretty sight. Alcohol is a depressant. If you drink too much of it, you will, eventually, fall asleep. Add a stimulant drink into the equation and the sleep part doesn't come into play. More and more alcohol can be consumed without the sleepy side effects. The result is an extremely inebriated, wound up ball of energy who either wants to fight you or be your friend (sometimes at the same time!). Both very unpleasant options. I know this from experience.

From one, ok two, first hand, long past, experiences, I know what the combination of Red Bull and alcohol is like. I know that it tasted horrible, cost a small fortune and left me with parts of my night missing on both occasions. As a younger man, I probably did indulge in alcohol more than was good for me, on occasion, but to loose my memory was a very, very rare thing. The only two times I mixed Red Bull with alcohol, memory loss was a factor. Not nice.

It is my personal theory that much of the violence on our streets which is blamed on cocaine use, is, in fact, the result of the abuse of alcohol and Red Bull type drinks. Please note that I use the term 'abuse'. Red Bull isn't in its own right a problem. The excessive consumption of it with alcohol is the problem.

Obviously, as a beer enthusiast, I'm not in favour of "sweety shots" and "alcopops" and feel that they don't give younger people a respect for alcoholic beverages but my problems with RB and alcohol are more fundamental.

To put it bluntly, I think Red Bull and similar stimulant drinks should be banned from sale where alcohol is sold. If, a few years down the line, the kids are getting completely out of control on espresso and vodka, we'll review that then!

Interestingly, Red Bull is banned in Norway, Uruguay, Denmark, and Iceland while Switzerland and Finland have lifted previous bans. Personally, it wouldn't affect me if it were to be banned here entirely but The Beer Revolution is all about choice and personal responsibility, therefore I only suggest that it is not sold with alcohol as that particular mix tends to diminish one's ability to be personally responsible.

I hope you like the picture of a red bull at the top.

Here's an interesting thread on the subject

My last drink was; Weihenstephaner Hefeweiss, 5.4%abv, 50cl

Hoppy Days

I think it might be time for another 'pure' beer post. A few things have brought the topic of hops to my mind today.

1. The recent arrival of Schneider Hopfenweiss
2. My recent visit to England and the purchase of an IPA
3. My ongoing love of Hommelbier

For those in the know, read on and criticise my unscientific, inexpert post and for those who want to know a little bit more about what goes into beer, I hope this helps.

I did a recent post on ale and yeast here which may be of interest too.

Nowadays, virtually all beer contains hops. It gives beer it's bitterness and aroma, makes the beer more stable and has preserving qualities. Prior to the 1400's, when the Belgians exported hopped beer to England, British beer was unhopped. It is unclear, exactly, when hops were first used in beer but they were grown in Bohemia and Bavaria as early as the 8th century where beer was also brewed.

Hops share a common parent with cannabis and is grown on high trellises. It is the hop cone or blossom that is used for it's oils and acids in beer making, while the shoots can be eaten and are much considered a seasonal delicacy in Belgium.

Today's brewer has so many choices to make when it comes to using hops that there is an almost infinite number of permutations available.

Firstly the brewer must choose the hop variety; from flowery Saaz from Bohemia - famously used for it's aromatic qualities in Pilsener-style lagers to the varieties more known for their bittering attributes such as Goulding from East Kent right through to the spicy, very aromatic US cultivated Cascade. The choice is almost endless with each variety having different characteristics, depending on where it is grown - much like gape varieties and, like the winemaker, the brewer can use several different hop varieties or limit their palette to just one.

Having chosen their variety(s) of hops, the brewer must decide whether to use simply dried hop cones, hop cones compacted into pellets or a jam-like hop extract. Different brewers have their own ideas about which work best.

When it comes to adding hops to the beer, the brewer has huge choice. All beer brews are boiled for one to one and a half hours and hops are added into into the beer during this boiling stage. Hops added at the start of the boil impart bitterness, while hops added towards the end of the boil impart aroma to the beer. Hops can be added several different times during the boil and different varieties are often used at different stages.

Sometimes the hot brew is pored over further hops as it is strained to give even more aroma and following fermentation, the beer may be matured in vats with more hops added - this technique is known as dry hopping.

To come back to what has brought hops to mind, Schneider Hopfenweiss is a dry hopped, strong weissbier which is a collaboration between Brooklyn Brewery in the US (known for their very hoppy Brooklyn Lager) and Schneider of Munich (world famous for their weissbier). The resultant 8.2% abv, pale, cloudy beer has a creaminess balanced by an assertive hop aroma and bitterness - a wonderful, powerful special edition beer.

IPA or India Pale Ale was a style of beer developed to survive the three month journey by ship to India for the troops in the 18th century. As it's name suggests, it was a pale ale but with a higher than usual alcohol content (up to 7.5%abv) and brewed with more hops than typically used in pale ales of the day. IPAs are strong, pale and bitter with big hop aromas.

American brewers have a fondness this style and have developed what is known as American IPA. These beers can be pale to quite dark (despite the name), almost always strong in alcohol with huge amounts of American hops. If you want to know what hops taste like, then an American IPA like Sierra Nevada, SnakeDog or Hercules will tell you straight away.

Britain, on the other hand, seems to have lost sight of what an IPA is. I've had IPAs in England that were neither pale, strong or hoppy that left me at a loss as to why they were called IPAs at all. Although, my recent visit did throw up Marston's Old Empire IPA. This was pale, 5.7%abv hoppy ale. So, while it did fulfil the conditions of it's name, it was a rather uninspiring beer, not bottle conditioned and presented in a clear bottle (not good for keeping beer in) with the rather odd label of "Official Beer of England" (what does that mean). I'm sure there are great English IPAs out there - I just haven't had them yet!

I have had a very good Swedish IPA called Nils Oscar India Ale 5.3%abv.

One couldn't talk about beer and hops without mentioning Popperings Hommelbier.
This is a 7.5% abv, golden ale from the hop growing region, Watou in Belgium. It is yeasty, hoppy in both flavour and aroma and strong. It is bottle conditioned and presents very fruity yeast and hop flavours. Just in case you didn't know what was inside the bottle, the label depicts a hop plantation and has hop cones decorating the label.This full-on beer is one of my favourites.

The next time you taste a beer, think of the humble hop and try to detect it's bitterness and grassy, citrus aroma (not an easy task with a mass produced, bland, yellow lager).

My last drink was; Leffe Vielle Cuvée, 8.2%abv, 33cl

Is the Grass Greener, Oh Yes!

The Beer Revolution has been away for the past number days but he hasn’t been idle. I’ve been in England and though it hasn’t been a beer trip (yes, I know the Cambridge beer festival was on while I was here) I have been observing and keeping notes while fulfilling family duties.

So, after many years of CAMRA being active in this land, what has been the result?

My first port of call was a manor garden café (dutiful husband). To go with their pork pies and lasagna they obviously had some beer and cider. This consisted of, unfortunately, only mainstream cider but among the small choice of industrial beer a local organic lager from the Hepworth Brewery stood out with its rather minimalist, slightly misleading label which suggested it as a blond beer. Not so. On opening, later that evening, it turned out to be a rather ordinary 5% lager. But top marks for putting an organic, local lager on the market. And minus marks for putting it in a clear bottle. (This is an issue that deserves a post all of its own.) And why make such a fuss about using local hops and wuss out on the quantities? Methinks the marketing people in Hepworth have more say than the brewers!

Next up, the local Sainsbury’s. Nothing very different from an Irish Tesco’s here; a few English ales, some Inbev Belgian beers and all the rest, but a short walk across the road to the small chain off-licence displays the earnest efforts that English ale producers have made to get their products into the mainstream. A high visibility display adorns every offie I’ve been in with a fair selection of English ales sold at three for £4. Maybe if we got them at that price here we’d drink more of them!

Surely Wagamama’s aren’t players in the beer game. In England they are. Among the usual Asian suspects nestles Asahai Dark Lager. I’ve never seen that in Waga’s in Cork. I just had to have a beer with lunch! Mmm smooth and black – not a million miles from a Pint Bottle.

Now, the local pub can be a very hit and miss affair in England but Badger umbrellas outside got one’s hopes up. One Tangle Foot later and I’m still not sure if I like cask conditioned ale but, hey, that’s my problem (and as long as I visit, I’ll keep trying to acquire the taste but, oh, for even a little fizz). As long as English pubs continue to reintroduce traditional beer there is hope for beer everywhere, especially when you consider the state of beer in England fifteen years ago.

Finally, today, bearing in mind the dutiful husband that I am, I had to endure a long, lingering lunch in an ancient manor house called Gravetye (pictured). Top-end hotels, restaurants, and houses in Ireland take note – yes, you should have an extensive wine list (and this was extensive), yes, you should stock a huge array of spirits, fortified wines and liqueurs (these guys had their own label Speyside 12 and 14 year single old malt) but, no, stocking a small selection of decent beers will not damage your business. I admit that their beer list wasn’t up to the standard of the rest of their drinks menu but it’s a start. Peroni, Beck’s, Budvar, Leffe (blond, I imagine), Duvel, Guinness (not sure what type), Fuller’s Honey Dew, Harvey’s Old Ale and Kaliber aint so bad. To me the list screamed out for Thomas Hardy Ale and something better than Kalibur (maybe Baltika 0) but I’ve never seen anything close in an Irish top-end restaurant (tell me if you have).

Just to support their list, I selflessly had a Harvey’s old ale. At only 3.7%, this dark, malty, old fashioned ale slips down after a sumptuous feed. Not being a fan of weaker beers, it surprised me with its complexity and a little carbonation from the bottle appealed to my philistine ways.

What have CAMRA done for England?

I was not seeking beer but look what I found.
Maybe there is hope.
Maybe?
Damn right there is.
Howl for good beer, you good people.

My last drink was; Harvey's Old English Ale, 3.7%abv, 33cl

What's in an Ale?

Let's get away from politics and bars and talk about beer on a purer level today. I want to try to clear up a very simple notion that causes much confusion amongst the casual beer consumer.

What is ale?

I am not a brewer or a microbiologist so, for some, my explanations may be oversimplified and a little unscientific but this isn't a brewing lecture - it is a (overly)simple explanation of beer types.

It's all in the yeast.

Most beer is made with one of two basic yeast types: Top Fermenting Yeast or Ale yeast, or Bottom Fermenting or Lager Yeast. Within these groups there are countless different beer styles but for the purpose of this exercise, I'm going to categorise all beer into one of the above two.

Lager is probably the easiest to understand as there are less commonly available variants to the style. Lager is usually a pale, golden brew fermented with a Bottom Fermenting Yeast which ferments at quite a low temperature (around 6- 9 degrees C.) and is stored (lagered) at around 0 degrees C. for one to three months to condition. The resultant brew should be clear with clean, crisp flavours and is usually served well chilled. There are, of course, variations on this. There are amber lagers, smoked lagers, dark and almost black lagers but all will have a Bottom Fermenting Yeast acting on them at low temperatures. The first single-cell, bottom fermenting yeast was isolated at the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen in 1883 by Emil Hansen. Bottom fermenting yeasts are hence known as Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis. Most people don't have a problem identifying a golden lager.

Ale, on the other hand, confuses people. Keeping in mind my oversimplification, all ales are fermented with Top Fermenting Yeasts (Saccaromyces cerevisiae) at a higher temperature of 15-25 degrees C. This type of fermentation produces fruity, spicy flavours and a far more aromatic beer which usually is served a little warmer than lager. Within the broad category of ale there are so many variants (ale,stout,abbey beer, porter, barley wine, red ale , blonde ale etc. etc.) that it is hard to group them together but they all share a common type of yeast. Bare in mind that while each brewer may use their own particular strain of yeast all ale yeasts will be of the same family (Saccaromyces cerevisiae).

So, it's that simple. The basic difference between ale and lager is the type of yeast. We can have pale, blonde ale (Duvel) or we can have dark lager (Budvar Dark). Stout usually uses a Top Fermenting yeast and there are even hybrids like Anchor Steam which uses a Bottom Fermenting yeast but manages to ferment it at the much higher temperatures associated with Top Fermenting.

For those of you still with me at this stage, it wouldn't be right to talk about yeast and fermentation without speaking of Bottle Conditioning . This is the practice of allowing the beer to ferment a second time in the bottle. This produces more alcohol and CO2 ( natural carbonation), preserves the freshness of the beer and produces complex, flowery flavours. It can be achieved by ensuring there is enough yeast in the beer prior to bottling to refermentation or by adding (pitching) fresh yeast to the beer. There may be enough sugars in the beer for refermentation or glucose or a portion of young fermenting beer may be added to feed the yeast. A different yeast may be used in this secondary fermentation than in the primary fermentation. It is usually Top Fermented beers which are bottle conditioned but there are exceptions.

Bottle conditioned beers will always have a sediment in the bottle which, depending on the style of beer and personal taste, will either be swirled into the beer or carefully left in the bottle. Weissbiers and Belgian Wit biers are usually served with the yeast sediment in suspension. Bottle conditioned beers are naturally fizzy as the CO2 produced in refermentation is trapped in the bottle and causes carbonation in the beer. Other beers are bottled under pressure with CO2 'injected' into the bottle. Bottle conditioned beers have more character than filtered, carbonated beers and will mature and develop over years in the bottle much like a fine wine. (Many bottle conditioned beer continue to improve long after their 'Best Before' date has expired)

Despite my oversimplification of beer into two distinct types, defined by yeast, I will also mention Spontaneously Fermented beer. These Belgian artisan beers called Lambics, are fermented by naturally occurring wild yeasts. These yeasts belong to a different family and these beers deserve a post all to themselves.

So there you have it. Ale doesn't mean warm, flat, red, watery tasting beer. But it can do!

Get out there and drink some ale ! It might not be what you thought.

Here's an interesting article by someone who really doesn't agree with my blunt division of beer into two categories .

My last drink was; Nils Oscar India Ale, 33cl, 5.3%abv

Drink Small, Stay Fresh

The Beer Revolution has been busy the last few days and hasn't updated the blog. Apologies.

Now here's a crazy idea and I've a feeling it won't be very popular but it kinda makes sense to me.

Nobody seems to disagree that we have a problem with alcohol in this country. This is a subject that TBR will discuss periodically. We have a problem with under age drinking and with binge drinking.

What people can't seem to agree on is what measures to take, if any, to tackle this problem.

It is my belief that what is needed is a paradigm shift in the relationship with alcohol and the manner in which it is consumed. There is no quick fix solution. You cannot change the habits of a large sector of the population overnight. No single measure will cure the problem. A somewhat more holistic approach is needed.

My, possibly unpopular, idea is not a cure for Ireland's drinking problems, it is simply one of many possible measures (I may discuss more in the future) which may help to slowly change the drinking culture.

Here goes; I want the standard, most commonly used measure for beer to be the half pint. I don't want the pint banned - I simply don't want the default measure to be the pint. It seems that the easiest way to influence people's behaviour is to hit their pockets.

Currently most bars charge more for two half pints than for one pint. I simply wish to reverse this trend. This could be done with a tax imposed on larger measures but as I suspect the unpopularity of this scheme of mine already, I don't wish to exacerbate the situation by adding more tax onto alcohol. Passing legislation that ensures a pint costs, for example, 20c more than two half pints would probably do the trick (let the publicans do the maths).

But why do this?
Because of our 'pint' culture, there seems to be a machoism associated with the larger measure - it's not considered 'manly' for a man to drink halves and conversely considered unladylike for women to drink pints. Let's move on from this place, folks.

If people habitually drank glasses, I believe, there would be a more social focus on drinking rather than a quantity focus. Rounds become cheaper and less intimidating and people would be more inclined to drop out if they've had enough, not having forked out a fortune for their round. The notion of 'one for the road' is less harmful. Something similar could be done with spirits.

I don't naively think this will reduce peoples drinking significantly - what I'm after is a subtle and gradual change to our habits. Most European countries typically serve beer in 25 - 30cl glasses. Anyone ever been to Cologne? Their local beer style, Kolsch is served in 20cl glasses - in Germany! Almost everyone looks to a more 'European' style of drinking.

Is there anything worse than a flat, dead pint of stout, than a warm, headless lager. Drink small, stay fresh! Have as many as you see fit, drink pints if you want to pay the difference - the choice would be yours. 'Can I buy you a glass?' That won't break the bank!

I tentatively publish this post awaiting the backlash.

P.S. I'm not crazy about the standard half pint glass, there are many other designs to choose from.

My last drink was; Maradsous Bruin 8%abv 33cl.

Is This Really The State of Play ?

I don't really plan for The Beer Revolution to become a bar review blog or even a beer review blog but a new bar has opened in Cork and their clear disregard for quality beer is possibly an indication of the disappointing position we're in as regards the revolution.

The Pavilion, once a cinema, which has traded for many years as a night club with a separate bar has changed hands, been refurbished and reopened as -you guessed it- The Pavilion. Again there is a separate downstairs bar and an upstairs club/gig venue.

The people behind the new Pavilion are, I believe, people who were involved in The Lobby bar and music venue and The Bodega. These guys and their compatriots have been up to all sorts of interesting club and music ventures in Cork for many years. One imagines the metaphorical finger on the slightly sluggish pulse of the Cork beautiful people set. What I mean is, these guys are not property developers, they are music/club enthusiasts with a lot of musician/DJ friends.

Evan Dando is, I think, the first gig scheduled. I haven't seen the venue yet but I have been to the bar. I dropped in during the quiet daytime hours (no food served).

The décor is clean and relatively neutral with a suitably modern feel. Understated and quite nice. I ordered a double espresso and a scone (even TBR keeps afternoon beer sipping for special occasions!). The very pleasant server duly served up a truly rank coffee in a dirty cup, on a dirty saucer and I scone which I suspect wasn't baked that morning - oh, and a glass of water which was fine.

Not great but what about the beer?

On draught were the usual suspects: Heineken, Miller, Coors Light, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Guinness, Murphy's, Beamish, Beamish Red and Bulmers. How come a contemporary, hip bar doesn't have Hoegaarden, Erdinger, Puallaner,Staropramen, Budvar or something from the local Franciscan Well brewery ? These may not be my favourite beers but at least they give some draught choice to the consumer. But no. The young and not so young clubbers and music fans will drink only mainstream industrial draught beer. I can't see Beamish Red selling anyway and I'm told Coors Lite is a hard sell too.

To bottles: Heineken, Miler, Budweiser, Coors Lite, Bulmers Light, Corona, Holsten pils. And for the connoisseur (tongue firmly in cheek): Tiger Beer, Budvar, Erdinger Hefe, Koppaberg (glorified alcopop) and .....wait for it......Hoegaarden 33cl.
So, we have 8 lagers, two of which might be considered premium, a light cider and a sweety pear 'cider', one weissbier and one (not bad) Belgian Witbier.

Wow.
Fuck me!
Is that the best the newest, trendiest, hippest, coolest, finger on the pulse bar can do with beer?

I guess so.
Shit coffee, mainstream beer and bottles of Hoegaarden!

Is there not a market for varied, interesting beer. Look at The Bierhaus. The Crane Lane has consistently sold a pretty good selection of varied bottled beer (not just lager and Erdinger) and local draught - they seem to be doing ok.

I had hopes for this bar but until they get some beer in, I won't be meeting any of my beautiful, affluent, hip friends there. We'll go where the beer is.

Apologies for the Cork Colloquial post.

P.S.

I'd like to note that on other forums, (interesting debate here) many people disagreed with my views on the coffee in The Pav. But mine was sour.

My last drink was; Glass of Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2006, 12.5%abv

And Then There Were Two?

This article may not be news to many readers but in conversation with people, I've found that there is much unawareness of what is happening in the mainstream brewing world.

For as long as I can remember the stout market in Ireland has been almost exclusively dominated by three brands; Guinness, Murphy's and Beamish.

Over the years Guinness sold out to Diagio, Murphy's to Heineken and Beamish to Scottish & Newcastle.

Now a rather worrisome development is about to take place.
Heineken and arch rivals Carlsberg have joined forces to take over Scottish & Newcastle in a €10.44 billion deal.

The effects of this will see Heineken take over S&N's operations in UK, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, USA and India. The result of this will be that Heineken will own Beamish.
ie Murphy's and Beamish having the same owner.

It seems that the Irish part of the deal has yet to be passed by the Irish Competition Authority.
There has been talk of a management buy out or, if the deal is blocked, then the Beamish brewery would be offered up for sale. But can we trust the Competition Authority to prevent the smaller two of the three big stout producers in Ireland being under the same owenership?

One can't but help speculate that one of the two brews will be axed. Which one? My bet is that Beamish will go. Murphy's is brewed in Heineken's modern Lady's Well brewery Cork, while Beamish is brewed across town on a city centre site I assume to be much more valuable. Take into account that stout sales are falling, will a corporate brewer keep two stouts that struggle to compete in a lager market.

What is interesting to note is that, should the deal go through, Heineken will be the brewers of six lagers: Heineken, Amstel, Fosters, Miller, Kronenburg 1664 and Coors. Will it keep all of them? Who cares?

Now, I'm not a huge lover of the modern draught stout. Over the years it has been tweaked to deliver a pint that is more about coldness and creaminess than flavour. This has happened all three of the big stouts and even the likes of O Hara's Stout, while having a bit more going on, still falls into the nitrogenated, cold, rather bland model of Irish stout. (Draught stout uses nitrogen to force the beer through a fine holed plate in the tap to produce the much loved creamy head.)

I do , however, have a fondness for Beamish. I went for the price and stayed cause I liked it. I would now pay more for Beamish over Guinness or Murphy's if I had to. Beamish is not my beer of choice but given the dismal choice of beer in so many Irish bars, it is my best option. Beamish and boiled bodice.....mmmmmm.

Will Murphy's be axed? Will Beamish be no more? Will the South Main St. brewery (pictured) which employs 160 staff be turned into apartments? Along with the news that Diagio could close St. James' Gate Guinness brewery, things look bleak for the future of what's left of the Irish Stout Industry.


On The Pint Bottle issue;
I was in the iconic Mc Carthy's Bar of Catsletownbere, made famous by the late Pete Mc Carthy's book Mc Carthy's Bar. Very nice bar with grocery section and friendly staff.
But did they have The Pint Bottle?
No.
But they did have Guinness Extra in 33cl bottles.
Now that's plain odd.

My last drink was; Glass of Cote Du Rhone 2006, 14%abv