Although
we here at Whisky Dog Blog are primarily concerned with distilled beverages, I
feel it worthwhile to discuss the CAMRA Ale festival I recently attended in
Derby’s historic roundhouse; a wonderful building now used as part of Derby
College. I have previously been to one of these events held in Stoke-on-Trent,
accompanied by the two other writers on this blog and they will be unsurprised
to know that the clientele was much the same: middle aged men in CAMRA t-shirts
talking loudly about the superiority of their chosen tipple.
Upon
perusing the large selection of cask ales on sale, I noticed a far smaller
stand catering to those who wanted to taste U.S craft beers as well as beers
from Europe. I ignored this section at first, instead tucking into many a half
of fine English beer; admittedly focusing mainly on Pale Ales. Although the
beer was good, it just wasn’t hitting the spot. It was all quite samey and I
was dying for something to hit me and make me take notice. So I decided to wander over the aforementioned
stand.
Now
(and this is relatively important), I have long been of the opinion (as I
imagine many Englishmen have) that American beer is just mass produced, watery,
tasteless, shite that can only be drunk without risk of mockery when consuming
a pizza. It was with delight on this evening that I discovered something that
allows me to completely repudiate this view. I was first, however, confronted
with the spectacle of Scotsman aggressively yelling “your bein’ fuckn’ uncouth”
at a pretty inoffensive looking English student for swigging his beer straight
out of the bottle. When the guy enquired as to whether it was appropriate for a
member of CAMRA’s staff to speak to festival goers in this fashion (adding
quite rightly that once he had paid for the beer he could consume it in whatever way
he saw fit) and also adding that he was rather offended by the incident, the
Scotsman responded “Good! I meant to fuckn’ offend ya!”.
I
will first of all confess that the main reason for choosing to try Rogue breweries
‘Yellow Snow IPA’ was for two aesthetic reasons: firstly, the bottle looked
cool. Secondly, the name made me giggle. Be that as it may, I was quite
astounded upon tasting it. There is no doubting that it was the right
choice, this truly is a marvellous beer. It has everything you look for in a
quality IPA, it is hoppy and strong tasting, it doesn’t feel thin on the palate
and although a few bottles can make you feel a little worse for were the day
after, it truly is a beer that forces you to take notice of its quality. I was
quite astonished by how good this ale was and purchased a couple to take home.
I later began wishing and hadn’t consumed them straight away, but it really is
that tasty.
A
few days later I was in Tesco (of all places) and saw that they had a small
selection of American craft beers and I decided to try the only one I had never
seen before. It was Goose Island’s ‘India Pale Ale’ and again, it was utterly
fantastic. Not as strong tasting as the Rogue IPA, owing primarily to the fact
that it isn’t as well hopped, but a beer of great quality none the less. These
two beers genuinely are two of the tastiest beers I have drunk in a very long
time and have caused me to totally renounce the snobbish, elitist and, frankly,
quite ridiculous attitude I had towards American beers in the past.
I
have a theory as to why I possessed this attitude in the first place. It is not
untrue to claim that the overwhelming bulk of American ‘beer’ (if indeed it
deserves that title) sold in British pubs and supermarkets is complete and
utter garbage. Both cheaply produced and wildly overpriced it is sold to a
public who, while having very good access to modern British craft beer, have
very limited access to real American beers. Consequently we began to act as if
these big brands spoke for American brewing as a whole, rather like assuming
that certain fast food chains are the full international expression of American
cuisine. In the words of David Brent: “don’t assume, it makes an ass out of you
and me.”
Joe
