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Yes, here it is; the second edition of our Forum
newsletter! We have a real treat in store for you this month - an exclusive
interview with well-known writer, beer aficionado and CAMRA activist Roger Protz (see 'Over a
Swift Half'), and, yes, we asked him about cask breathers!
We'll be looking to do more celebrity interviews in future
newsletters, though obviously we need to find enough willing victims (I have
every faith in Reg's powers of persuasion!). Also, in future newsletters, we
want to feature brewery visits and some reader contributions.
A bit of site news; following our success with growing
membership and participation on the forum, the admin team took the decision to
buy the jimsbeerkit.com domain - this will prevent unscrupulous advertisers
cashing in on our success by intercepting traffic intended for our site.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this issue and that
I’ll see you around the forum. And if you haven't
signed up to our mailing list yet, now's the time to do it!
Sign up
here!
Cheers,
Jim
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 Jim's
Beer Kit talks to Roger Protz about 3 decades as ale aficionado, beer writer
and CAMRA activist.
Jim’s Beer Kit: Roger, you’ve been at the centre of the British real ale
scene for a long time. Could you give us a little background as to how this
came about?
Roger Protz: I’ve always enjoyed beer. I'd been a journalist from the
age of 16, worked in Fleet Street and knew many of the pubs in the area. In
the early 1970s, (the age of Watneys Red and Double Diamond), I stopped liking
beer. Why was it fizzy and sweet? By reading Richard Boston's beer column in
the Guardian, I began to understand what the big brewers were doing to beer. I
heard about CAMRA and applied to be Assistant Editor of Publications. Michael
Hardman, founder member of the campaign and Editor of Publications, was, like
me, ex-Evening Standard. Michael and I worked well together and I succeeded
him as editor of What's Brewing and the Good Beer Guide... The rest is
history!
JBK: There seems to be much more attention given on television and
radio to wine tasting, whereas beer is, after all, our national drink. What do
you think are the reasons behind this and would you like to see this situation
change?
RP: I believe the coverage of wine in the media is mostly snobbish. In
the 1970s and 80s, the media loved CAMRA and beer stories but now beer is seen
as a "park bench" drink with wine being regarded as more aspirational. It's
nonsense. As one of the world's great brewing nations, we consume four times
as much beer as wine. Things are slowly improving, with a few of the nationals
now covering beer from time to time, but both Michael Jackson and I no longer
have regular spots in the Independent and the Guardian respectively. Perhaps,
with wine sales static for the first time ever, the media may start to look at
beer more seriously. CAMRA continues to bombard the media with stories. I
think the British Guild of Beer Writers could be more proactive. When first
Barrie Pepper and then I were chairmen of the guild we held regular seminars
on such matters as malt, hops and yeast and I think the guild needs to do more
along those lines. There's been a tremendous resurgence of good beer with the
rise of the micros and this deserves media support.
JBK: Dave Line, the sadly-missed homebrewing writer and pioneer, once
said "If I had to select just one beer to drink for the rest of my days then
it would be 'London Pride', a classic example of a true English bitter beer".
What beer would you select and what pub would you choose to drink it in?
RP: There are so many more good beers around than when Dave Line wrote
those words. I couldn't plump for just one beer. I would go for Adnams Bitter,
Taylors Landlord, Harveys Sussex Best, Brakspear Bitter, Holt's Bitter,
Meantime IPA, or Dorothy Goodbody's Stout. Best pub? Old Gate Inn,
Brassington, Derbyshire or Red Lion in Southwold. I had my first pint of
Adnams in the Red Lion so it's dear to my heart (and liver).
JBK: Unlike many wine or food writers, you have engaged with the
"amateur" scene extensively, co-operating on a number of home-brewing books
with Graham
Wheeler. What is your opinion of homebrewing's contribution to the beer scene
in the UK; does homebrewing hinder CAMRA's fight to keep good pubs open in
anyway?
RP: I am not a home-brewer -- I'm hopeless. My books with Graham and
Clive la Pensee have been on the basis that they make the beer and I do the
writing. I have tremendous admiration for craft home-brewers and you have made
a great contribution to the appreciation of beer in Britain. Many of you have
"gone the extra mile" and become micro-brewers. The fact that we can now enjoy
proper porters, stouts, old ales, barley wines and IPAs is in no small measure
due to your efforts. No, you certainly do not stop people going to the pub for
a pint!
JBK: You have spent a lifetime tasting all kinds of domestic and
foreign beer. For our JBK readers who design their own recipes, what do you
think are the fundamentals of a good balanced brew?
RP: My advice to modern brewers, whether home-brewers or commercial, is
to use the best possible ingredients. The difference in costs is negligible.
Ken Don, former head brewer at Young's, used Maris Otter, even though it is
more expensive: Ken says using that grain only adds a fraction of a penny to
the price of a finished pint. And don't be afraid of hops! American craft
brewers pack their beers with hop aroma and flavour and are none the worse for
it. Too many British brewers are frightened of hops -- don't be!
JBK: How did you apply this approach to your time co-writing "Brew you
own real ale at home"? Were you at all tempted to change any of the recipes
slightly to improve on any flaws you saw in the original beer?
RP: We didn't change the recipes unless certain ingredients are no
longer available. Malts that were around in the 19th and 20th centuries no
longer exist, for example, and modern hops tend to be higher in alpha acids
than hops of yesteryear. Units of Bitterness weren't recorded when the first
IPAs were brewed so recreating such old styles is guesswork. But as far as
possible we have always attempted to stick to original recipes.
JBK: Following Scotland's lead, the smoking ban will roll out over the
rest of the UK this year. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the UK real
ale scene?
RP: I think the smoking ban is a tremendous opportunity for pubs. The
majority of people don't smoke and many are put off pubs because they are
smoky. The smoke ban means drinkers will be able to smell and taste beer
again, free from nicotine.
JBK: Would you like to see more time devoted to the homebrew and
microbrew scene in more mainstream publications like What's Brewing? How do
you think that could work?
RP: What's Brewing gives great coverage of the micro-brewing scene.
Beers of the World is a tremendous newcomer. I would certainly like to see WB
have a home-brewing column again.
JBK: CAMRA is strongly against using CO2 to keep beer fresh.
Homebrewers tend to take a more relaxed view, or face the risk of oxidised
beer. Where do you stand?
RP: CAMRA from its earliest day drew a line under CO2 and it can't
deviate from that, though I think there are some CAMRA members who think CO2
produced by fermentation is OK while CO2 from a cylinder is the sperm of the
devil. There's only one CO2! But there is no doubt that cask beer tastes best
when it is fresh and served with only its own natural gas. I have no problem
with home-brewers using top pressure or some type of applied gas as turnover
of beer is slower and you need to keep it in good condition.
JBK: Some of the large, multinational brewers have been accused of
having too much influence in the style of traditional beers such as Czech
Pilsners. There has even been a reaction in the US with a trend towards
homebrewers creating "extreme" dark beers. What's your take on the influence
of the multinational brands?
RP: I think the influence of the global brewers is malign. They simply
take aroma and flavour out of beer. They produce bland, cold and fizzy drinks
-- "beerade" might be a good name for them. Lagering times have been so
reduced that some giant lager brands are in the brewery for no longer than
ale. Budweiser Budvar shows how good lager beer can be as a result of a 90-day
cold maturation. Some American craft brewers may go over the top with
"extreme" tastes but in general they make great beers. Some American IPAs are
outstanding.
JBK: Where do you see the UK beer scene going?
RP: Despite all the problems, I am optimistic about beer's future.
Thanks to the emergence of small craft brewers, quality and choice have never
been better. Some micros are growing enormously as a result of demand. By the
middle of the year Moorhouse's will be brewing 600 barrels a week. Wye Valley
is not far behind. Hawkshead has only been going for a couple of years but has
had to move to bigger premises. Some so-called micros brew more beer than
long-standing family brewers. So be of good cheer -- and carry on brewing!
JBK: Finally, I'm sure all JBK readers are very keen to hear about your
current and future projects. What's in the pipeline for Roger Protz?
RP: I'm awaiting the arrival of the second reprint of 300 Beers To Try
Before You Die, which has been a great success. I'm writing one of the new
style, 4 inches square books, The Beer Taster's Notebook, which will be aimed
mainly at visitors to beer festivals. It will have a potted history of
brewing, how cask beer is brewed and served, the ingredients used, how to
appreciate beer and finally a break down of styles. With just 120 words per
page, it's very demanding but a great challenge. Then I start on the book I
suppose I have always been destined to write -- my travels and adventures as a
beer writer for 30 years. We want to call it One More For The Road but there's
already a book with that title so at the moment its code name Is One More For
The Toad -- but that may change!
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