Comment: Will Hawkes
Out with the new?
Award-winning beer writer Will Hawkes examines the much talked about revival of traditional beer styles…
“I don’t suppose I’m revealing anything earth-shattering when I say most press releases about beer are pretty humdrum. A standard weekly selection will include news that Brewery A is making a beer to celebrate an event that happens every year; Brewery B is now packaging in cans; and Brewery C is doing a collaboration (its eighth in six months). Once in a while, though, something of interest arrives - like a recent email about Standard Brew Co, a new subscription-based venture exclusively selling IPAs. The people behind it are responsible for some of London’s most successful craft-beer venues, from the Beer+Burger chain to Notting Hill’s delightful Mall Tavern, which suggests this is rather more than a hopeful punt. Going all-in on IPA is based on solid industry know-how. Again, it doesn't need special insight to say that IPA is popular, as it has been for the best part of a decade. Bars heave under the weight of ales made with New-World hops; bottle shops rely on them; and even supermarkets, for so long the wallflower at the orgy, wallow kneedeep in citrusy pale ales. Indeed, craft beer’s hop addiction is perhaps the one thing most ordinary people know about it (they also have opinions about Brewdog, but perhaps best not to go into that). We’re at the stage where it almost makes sense to talk about three main types of beer: ale, lager and IPA. A widespread passion for NewWorld hops is not going away, however much some might wish it would. Something more interesting is going on underneath the surface, though. For all IPA’s dominance, classical tastes are edging back into fashion. High-class lager, for example, is thriving, with breweries like Bristol’s Lost & Grounded expanding to fulfil demand while imports such as Munich’s Augustiner enjoy cult status.
Traditional British styles - bitter, mild, porter are following in lager’s wake. Some of the UK’s most switched-on operators, from Five Points to Moor Beer, have put these styles at the heart of their offering; one of London’s cult beers, Macintosh Ales’ Best, is a bitter made with Kentish hops and East Anglian Malt; and Marko Husak, co-owner of Bundobust, recently told me about his affection for mild and his aspiration that the restaurant’s new Manchester brewery would produce one to pair with its superb Gujarati grub.
In an age when flavour is everything, though, nothing can afford to be boring. If traditional styles are to make a comeback, they need to be bold and memorable, not safe and predictable. These are promising signs, but there are serious hurdles to clear. Many pubs have cut back on their cask offering post-Covid. Bitter still suffers from a reputational hangover, earned pre-Craft by beers that were often much worse than bland. (I still grimace as I recall the Russian Roulette of ordering Young’s Special at a pub I used to frequent in Putney, 15 or more years ago. It was either transcendent or undrinkable.) Mild as a term is meaningless to most people. Porter gets wheeled out when the temperature drops, but is largely forgotten when spring arrives. Cautious optimism is reasonable, though. The rise of direct-to-brewery hop sales, courtesy of Herefordshire’s Brook House and Kent’s Hukins, mean traditional varieties in peak condition are easily available. English malt remains world-beating. Beers like Harvey’s Best
and Timothy Taylor Landlord are increasingly in-demand amongst younger drinkers, who are more open to the possibility of a pint of bitter than at any time in the past 15 years. So can traditional British styles escape their well-worn niche as family-brewery staple and backbone of the original 1980s microbrewery movement? There’s a way to go. Five Points’ head brewer Greg Hobbs tells me that, since pubs re-opened post-Covid, 72 per cent of his sales have been accounted for by their hopforward pale ales - JUPA, XPA and Pale - while Lager makes up eight per cent and Best seven per cent. The key, if the relative success of Five Points’ Best is anything to go on, is flavour. This beer derives much of its moreish delight from handfuls of Kentish Fuggles, giving it a marvellous assertive bitterness. Bold flavour is also crucial to the classic beers now back into fashion: Harvey’s has a unique and complex character, largely down to the yeast variety, while Landlord is well-hopped and made with some of the best malt money can buy. When beer lovers talk about British styles, they often use terms like ‘restrained’ or ‘balanced’. Others, less inclined to euphemism, have branded it boring brown beer. In an age when flavour is everything, though, nothing can afford to be boring. If traditional styles are to make a comeback, they need to be bold and memorable, not safe and predictable. Like dull press releases, it’s hard to get excited by that.” Will Hawkes is a beer writer based in South London. He is the 2021 Fortnum and Mason Drink Writer of the Year.
www.siba.co.uk | SIBA Independent Brewer | Winter 2021
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