Colour of Beers produced against Real Ale Almanac Recipes

[Graham]

I should hasten to add my comments weren't intended specifically as yank bashing, CAMRA and or the CBA are just as much to blame if not more so for allowing the BJCP dominate when it comes to style guidelines.
Mind you while we're at it, if Si and Bandit have already lit the tourches then i'm up for it, you don't often get a chance to join in with a good old fashioned lynch mob these days

Whoa! - Hang on a bit cowboy! Don't dig your spurs in that deeply. Our lot, the NGWBJ were just as bad, may be still are. The Americans took the idea from the NGWBJ and tried to do more with it. Okay they got it wrong as far as some British beers went, and they tried to do that from 3,000 miles distant; but they are guidelines, they are not set in stone. It is amusing that ESB is a style, according to them, when Brits know that it is a brand-name of one particular brewery given a name chosen to make it sound stronger than it really is. You can understand that an American seeing IPA on a pump and being told that it was a style, will assume that ESB on a pump meant the same thing.

I had a couple of narrow escapes from the NGWBJ, but when I saw their style guidelines, I laughed my head off and politely declined. At a slightly later date I was also asked to brew for a competition and was given the recipe, but it was a malt extract recipe with flaked maize, I tossed the recipe back and said, words to the effect of "And you are an effin beer judge - no wonder home brewing is in the state it is in".

As for the CAMRA thing; there is nothing wrong with CAMRA; it is just the members that are the problem. Bear in mind that without CAMRA, you would not have heard of Wheeler, whether that is a plus or minus is just opinion; without CAMRA and Wheeler, Brupaks may not of existed.

My classic phrase in one of my books (later removed), which said, something to the effect of: "I offer my family coat-of-arms, two digits rampant, to those wholesalers in the home brew industry that..." Yes, I was just as belligerent then as I am now. The trouble that phrase got me into is unbelievable. The things that were likely to happen to me! (no appropriate emoticon).

With the support of several shops (notably Di and Danny Green at Farnborough, amongst others [including Clive Donald] , who fought my corner for me) we beat the buggers, and the "Two Digits Rampant" phrase is almost as significant in home brewing as "Rivers of blood " is in politics - it was a turning point. It was the point when home brewers demanded what they wanted rather than the industry telling them. I probably would not have got away with it without that CAMRA logo.

We'd all be drinking two-fingers-of-foam, bland fizzy-pop, thinking that it was decent stuff, if it wasn't for CAMRA. Of course, there are some on JBK that think it is decent stuff, but everyone has taste - mostly bad.

[steve_flack]

I'm not sure anyone in the UK outside of homebrewing has heard of the BJCP. It's always CAMRA that gets asked for quotes by the media. I disagree that they are generally seen as the authority - by homebrewers perhaps but by no-one else.

I'm not going to comment on the relative merit of the various style guidelines. Not after the last time....

[Graham]

That's fair enough but why do we have to look to America for style guidelines on English beer? It must irk you as much as it does me that we are being dictated to from the land of ice cold, foamy fizzy pop.

It does, but they are not really dictating, they got on and did something practical for their own purposes, not ours. To be fair, by the time the BJCB was formed, our lot, the NGWBJ, were more interested in exactly how much foam ended up in the glass and how long it lasted than what the stuff actually tasted like. Even in the 1990's the NGWBJ had not progressed beyond the keg-beer, fizzy-pop, beer-kit mentality of the 1960s. The organisation was dominated by Northerners, and there was a distinct northern bias as to what was expected.

If it's accepted that they're not perfect why aren't we setting the standards for our own beers?

Sheer numbers. There aren't many home brewers in Britain, and even less that could be bothered. What styles are there these days in British pubs? Bitter or mass-market lagers. The only styles that could be applied are historic. Most of us take rigid beer styles with a pinch of salt anyway.

(imo)The three organisations (CAMRA,NGWBJ and the CBA) need to agree on a set of guidelines which we can all adopt, my reasoning being, who knows more about English beers than English organisations.

CAMRA doesn't really deal with styles. As long as it comes out of a cask and not a keg; isn't chilled, filtered or pasteurised; and is naturally conditioned, they are happy. As for the other two, it is again numbers and need. Is there any real need?

I can understand why people are protective of CAMRA but they can't keep reflecting on past glories while the BJCP are pushing on and becoming the authority on English beer.

All our major brewers are now owned by foreigners. Britain's biggest brewer is now owned by Coors. Draught Bass dropped from being Britain's best-selling beer to next to nothing; brewed in small quantities under contract. Coors are closing the Bass museum in a couple of weeks' time.

If it goes on like this for much longer, the BJCP will be the authority on English beer, because it'll all be the same stuff as Americans are forced to drink.

[steve_flack]

For some reason though I always assumed that the CBA would be full of people who not only knew the history of English ales but would be passionate enough about them to want to set a standard to be achieved in competitions. Apparently not.

There are style guidelines by which the CBA judges competitions. If the CBA website was up I could link to them... The guidelines are pretty reasonable for UK based styles and are as good as the BJCP styles for deliniating UK beers.

It has to be remembered that all the style guidelines are just that - guidelines

Going back to something Aleman said a few posts ago. What's wrong with non-UK hops in a UK summer ale? Commercially I would guess those summer ales using non-UK finishing hops would outnumber the UK hopped ones. Saaz and Styrian goldings are not British hops and yet are very widely used (as is cascade).

[steve_flack]

Luckily things haven't changed round here, every pub outside of the city will have at least 1 real ale on (usually Ringwood Best), and more likely 3 or 4, generally Ringwood, Fullers, Gales(Fullers) and another, Landlord, Bombadier and Spitfire seem popular at the moment.

You're lucky - round here it seems to Greene King IPA, Greene King Abbot and if you're lucky....London Pride.

Fortunately I'm off to Cambridge tomorrow on a pub crawl....

[steve_flack]

They were in the stuff related to the Derby festival that was on the site.

[prodigal2]

From the Derby entry form:

Code: Select all

A GUIDE TO BEER STYLES 
 
 
Descriptions provided below are examples for general guidance. Beers may vary from the specific features 
or have their own peculiar balances and still be classed as true to style. However, a beer, which is different 
in a number of criteria is likely to be best considered as a different style or as a speciality beer but please feel 
free to enter any beers you wish. When judging look for specific faults. Some of these such as the 
impression of wet cardboard are undesirable in any beer. Other ‘faults’ such as sulphur flavours may be 
permissible in some style such as Burton bitters but not in others. A spicy characteristic is generally 
unacceptable in most British styles but is expected in continental wheat beers.   These are examples of some 
of the more common beer styles. 
 
Bitter / Light Ale 
These beers are typically straw to amber coloured with low to medium bitterness and a light hop bouquet.  
The taste should be clean and dry with no flavour components too prominent.   
Original gravity 1.030 – 1.040    
 
Best Bitter / Pale Ale  
They range in colour from light gold to deep copper. The aroma of hops in the bouquet should lead to those 
of malt and grain.  The flavour should be full, malty and grainy with a hoppy, bitter finish and perhaps a 
little sweetness from residual dextrins. 
Original gravity 1.041 – 1.049 
 
I.P.A.  
I.P.A’s  have typically a golden to light copper colour, a moderate to high hop aroma with a medium malt 
flavour to balance the hops and a medium dry bitter finish. Astringency should not be present. 
Original gravity 1.050 – 1.075 
 
Dry Stout 
These have a jet black to dark brown colour, a coffee / roast malt aroma, a moderate roasted grainy flavour 
with possibly some sharpness balanced by a medium to high hop bitterness and a dry bitter finish. 
Original gravity 1.038 – 1.050 
 
Porter 
Porters typically have a dark brown to almost black colour, an aroma of roasted brown and chocolate malts 
and a full flavour with some residual sweetness to balance the hops and roast grain. 
Original gravity 1.060 – 1.070 
 
Brown Ales 
These vary from light to dark brown in colour and have a malty aroma and a full malt / caramel flavour with 
noticeable sweetness.  Hop flavour should be low although Northern examples may have a little balancing 
bitterness present.   
Original gravity 1.035 – 1.050 
 
Strong Ales 
Strong ales typically have a golden to garnet colour with a malty, fruity and hoppy aroma. The flavour 
should be full with a blend of malt, hops and alcohol with some residual sweetness. 
Original gravity 1.060 – 1.080   
 
Barley Wines 
These should be golden to brown in colour with a rich fruity, hoppy, vinous, alcoholic aroma. The flavour 
should be full and malty with a smooth and mature blend of sweetness, hop and alcohol. 
Original gravity 1.080 upwards