I’ve always stated that our unfined beers pour with a beautiful, natural haze.  And it’s true, with all those lovely yeast cells and hop oils floating around for you to enjoy.  The unfined movement has grown from a number of angles – breweries converting, awards being won, word being spread, barriers dropping, and most importantly – drinkers loving it!

The debate about unfined / cloudy beer was won so it’s time to move on.  No doubt we’ll continue to be sniped at by some vocal zealots, but that is to be expected and is really just noise.  You are on board, and that’s what matters.

The term ‘unfined’ can be a bit confusing.  It brings negativity to the debate, and introduces technical jargon which is superfluous.  It also isn’t the most appealing term we could use.  After a long beer naming session with some passionate pub managers we settled on the term ‘Natural’.  Not only does it sound great, it encapsulates the essence of what we are trying to achieve.  Going forward we are going to be talking about ‘natural beer’, with unfined being just one of its appealing attributes.  Also, we are launching Natural Beauty tomorrow to press in Nicholson’s pubs, so I expect the word to get spread further.

I heard one objection, that real ale was meant to be natural.  To me that actually meant ‘traditional’.  There will always be brewers serving fined, clear beer in the ‘traditional’ manner and consumers who want it that way.  That’s their choice.  I don’t think it is a good idea to create internal fighting and navel gazing amongst the industry.  We are offering a more ‘natural’ beer that is ‘naturally’ cloudy.  I would like to see the industry unite and send positive messages about both ‘traditional’ and ‘natural’ beer.  I hope you agree and would be willing to support that.  Please help spread the word, and let me know what you think.

Call it what you will, we hope you continue to enjoy drinking natural beer as much as we enjoy brewing it for you.  Spread the word, and get down to a Nicholson’s pub for some Natural Beauty.

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The cloudy beer motion we submitted at the SIBA AGM had three aims:  1) recognition that not all beer has to be clear; 2) update competitions accordingly; 3) market and educate accordingly.  A pragmatic amendment to our motion was entered at the last minute, keeping point 1 and remitting  points 2 and 3 to a committee (run by Eddie Gadd and me) to work with the national executive to help set policy.

I had to condense my impassioned speech quite a lot at the AGM, but must have gotten the message across.  I was followed by fellow supporters, and much to my amazement, there was not a single speaker against the motion.  A vote was taken and the amended motion was passed unanimously!  Many brewers approached me for the rest of the day and evening to express their pleasure at the motion passing, and sharing their experiences.  I firmly believe that there is no rational argument against cloudy / unfined beer, just lingering prejudice which is starting to diminish already.  I am thrilled that fellow brewers to a large extent agree.

So where did that leave us?  March being budget month turned SIBA’s gaze (rightfully) to making a rally against the beer duty escalator, and April was spent collaborating with other organisations such as CAMRA to generate more support for the ePetition against the insane tax rises.  If you haven’t signed it yet you can here.  How is it that people can rally for pasties, caravans, and cider, and successfully alter government plans, while the millions of beer and pub industry workers and consumers don’t seem bothered?  Raise your voices and let’s get some positive action happening!!!  Rant over – back to cloudy beer.

Another thing happened in April – the first SIBA beer competition of the year at Tucker’s Maltings (where we won a Gold & a Bronze!).  Any changes to SIBA competitions is going to have to go through a series of machinations over the course of the year, and take effect from the 2013 season.  So I was very pleasantly surprised when the SIBA Chief Executive laid out the rules to the judges, told them about the motion and upcoming changes, and gave them the option to vote as they liked with regards to clarity.  This was met with some applause and cheers from the judges, and a bit of muttering from some as well.  Again, many people came up to me after the competition to voice their support. I did also see a judge with a thermometer in his glass and a torch next to it – finally someone more anal than me, albeit a bit misdirected IMHO!

Work on the competition rules and marketing & education plans is ongoing.  In the interim, more brewers are starting to sell unfined beer, and we are selling more of it.  If you’ve tried it before, great – keep drinking it.  If you’ve not tried it before I’d encourage you to seek some out, and also to approach it with an open mind.  From recollection every award we’ve won in the last year has been for unfined beer – whether they knew it or not!  And every side-by-side trial that’s been done either by us or other breweries has put unfined on top.  Surely there must be something to it.  More hazy thoughts in my next post.

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Always advocates for action towards positive change, we submitted the following motion to be debated and voted on during the SIBA AGM on 7 March:

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 mouth feel
• Vegan acceptance (where Isinglass is not used)
• Reduced settling time
• Reduced wastage / ullage
• Increased demand from consumers for more natural products

The Brief Description is:

“Some haze components in beer, such as hop oils and yeast, can be beneficial to the quality, flavour, and perception of beer. All other beer producing nations have beer styles where cloudiness is an indicator of quality. Only in the UK do we actively dissuade consumers from drinking cloudy beer, primarily from a legacy of poor cellarmanship which resulted in an incorrect linkage between beer clarity and quality.

Modern consumers seek more natural products with stronger flavours and aromas. Examples outside the category include scrumpy cider, juice with bits, smoothies, etc. There is an increased perception of value when the product has goodness in it that consumers can see, taste, and feel. Beer is no different.

With large pub chains championing unfined beer, free houses increasing sales by switching to unfined beer, and CAMRA awarding medals to unfined beers over their fined counterparts, it is time that SIBA removes its traditional bias and embraces the opportunity that cloudy beer can bring.

We are not proposing that all beer is cloudy or that this is used as a measure to decrease brewing or cellaring standards. It is up to the brewery, the landlord, and the consumer to decide when cloudy beer is appropriate. But SIBA should remove its bars against cloudy beer (as it has done successfully with craft keg) and use this as a positive, proactive opportunity to engage modern drinkers, adding further excitement to the industry.”

We know there are other like minded brewers that would like to see these positive changes adopted.  It will not be an easy debate.  Strong old school opinions and prejudices are rife.  If you are a SIBA member, we passionately request that you attend the AGM to join the debate and hopefully support the motion.  If you are an eligible voting member of SIBA and can’t attend, you can nominate someone to proxy vote for you.  However, we are more likely to persuade people if we are all present and accounted for.  If you’ve got any questions or thoughts please contact me at justin@moorbeer.co.uk or 07887 556 521.  If not, I hope to see you on 7 March.

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The silent majority are starting to shout and we want the government to listen.  And if 100k people make their voices heard the government must listen.  This is truly democracy in action.  There are more than enough CAMRA members, let alone beer drinkers, to get this ridiculous tax repealed.

Thankfully someone has already lodged a formal government ePetition.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18346

It is simple to sign – no excuses!  Please pass it along & have everyone you know within six degrees of separation sign it.  Thanks!!!

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To up the ante even further, Alex Barlow of ALL BEER fame and I will present a panel on the new wave of British craft beer and cask ale.  The talk will begin at 1830 on Friday 21 October.  After the talk you’ll have the opportunity to talk and drink with us while we man the British stand and wave the flag for the best in cask ale.  And there will be some bottles, too.  Hope to meet you there.  Sante!

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The government has introduced High Strength Beer Duty (HSBD) for beer at 7.5% and above. It is not a small tax, and is designed to combat binge drinking. I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never seen anyone sat on a park bench necking bottles of Duvel, Lost Abbey, or JJJ and getting into trouble. The culprits are the usual suspects – alcopop, cider and vodka. Where was CAMRA when the tax was going through government? How is it that a proposed cider tax not long ago was abandoned due to public pressure, but beer is hammered yet again? I could go on about the anger that is reverberating around the industry but I am afraid it will do little good.

How does it impact us? Old Freddy Walker had a bottle strength of 7.5%. It will have a bottle strength of 7.4% going forward. That scraped by – just. Fusion – there are no barrels available this year anyway to produce a 2011 Vintage (hugely disappointing!), but in the future the price will go up – considerably. I expect a bottle will retail between £15 – £20 when the next vintage is released.  Sloe Walker – the sloes are picked, and you’d better drink it slowly when it’s released as a pint will put you back enough to leave you needing a drink.  Grockle Grog – it was nice knowing you.  JJJ IPA – many peoples’ favourite beer. We will suspend production of it for the UK market. We just released the last bottling run in September – most of which we sent for export where beer duty is not paid. Future beers -nothing above 7.4%, I’m afraid – at least not that you’ll get in the UK.  So much for that wonderful Imperial Stout we had lined up.

We will certainly not be the only brewery responding in this way.  I’ve already heard the same from others.  You can fully expect the fantastic momentum built up in the past few years with British craft brewing to come to a grinding halt.  And those simple luxury imports from Belgium, America, Denmark, Italy, etc. will need to be fit for a king because only royalty will be able to afford them.  How will this impact the binge drinking morons?  They will be unaffected, as they wouldn’t know what a quality beer was if it got given to them on a benefit-plated platter and will continue to remain ignorant trouble makers fueled with cheap cider, alcopops, wine and spirits.

Some may point to the 2.8% beer as the silver lining – most likely the same people that honestly believe a mild is the best Britain has to offer.  And before you go on the attack I love mild.  I just wouldn’t hold it up to the rest of the world as the best we can produce and consequently can’t fathom (apart from political posturing) how a mild can justifiably win Champion Beer of Britain – but that is another topic.

There are a multitude of reasons why 2.8%- beers won’t compensate for the loss of 7.5%+ beers.  I am not surprised that a super-regional brewer who tries to pass off a 3.6% beer as “IPA” jumped at another misled marketing opportunity.  I am very disappointed that CAMRA rolled over and took it, asking for more, rather than vigorously defending high strength beers.

If this makes you angry as well than do something about it. Lobby your MP. Protest. Drag CAMRA out of the 19th century and into the 21st or it will go the way of Society for Preservation of Beer From the Wood – out dated and irrelevant. There are splinter organisations being founded because many people feel that CAMRA has already hit the ropes. I would prefer a unified organisation CAMPAIGNING for quality BEER – not navel gazing about dispense method, cider, real fires, or some other antiquated fringe topic. These are of course my personal frustrations, but I am making them known as there are a number of drinkers, retailers, and brewers saying exactly the same thing. HSBD was the first real threat to beer drinking in the UK for decades, and frankly CAMRA watched it go past without a care in the world. SIBA did little better and needs an equally large kick up the backside.

Britain started the 21st century with phenomenal success in breweries, beer styles, events, etc. There is a real danger that it will fall as fast as it rose if we all don’t band together and tackle the real issues. You can either sit back in 10 years’ time enjoying a great beer and saying you helped make it happen, or you can reminisce about the good old days. The choice is yours.

As the song says, “If I offended you then maybe you needed to be offended.”  If not, this is your call to action.  Let’s unite and stop this!

You can read a bit more here.

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http://eatingisntcheating.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-britain-ready-for-cloudy-beer.html

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http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/offer/ipafestival/

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If you haven’t got a clue about what I mean by unfined, don’t worry about it.  You can read more on our About Us page.

If you are able to find unfined beer, have an open mind and try it.  It is supposed to look like that.  It’s why it smells and tastes so much better than ‘clear’ beer.

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