Hopulist issue 5

What has been your proudest
moment?
I’m not desperately keen on
bragging, but since you asked, it’s
always nice to win something. I have
a few awards under my belt. I also
felt a sort of ‘air punching’ type glee
when the WI (Women’s Institute)
magazine commissioned me to write
a big spread about beer. Helping
people choose beer (especially if
they are new to beer and learning all
about it) or discover beer also makes
me feel good.
What has changed the most in
the beer/craft beer industry since
you’ve been writing about it?
That’s quite a tough question. There’s
been an enormous increase in the
number of breweries – in the UK,
in the US, everywhere really. That
was starting when I began writing
about beer but it’s really exploded
since. The concept of craft beer has
gone from being a niche thing to
being quite mainstream - helped
in no small part by the success of
BrewDog. But it hasn’t spread as
far as it could. Away from cities,
big towns and areas where there’s
a conglomeration of interesting
breweries and/or pubs craft beer
might just as well never have
happened – as I found out recently
when I went to a pub in a town
where I used to drink as a teenager.
If I’d stayed there I might think the
biggest development in the beer
world was Guinness making a lager
and that cask beer had really gone
down hill. Sadly, the second point
isn’t a million miles from the truth.
THE WINNER
WAS PACKED
WITH FLAVOUR,
PRETTY HOPPY,
IN GOOD
CONDITION
AND KEPT ITS
CHARACTER EVEN
AFTER SITTING
ON THE TABLE
FOR A WHILE. IT
TURNED OUT TO
BE TINY REBEL’S
CWTCH.
What is it like to be a beer
judge? What do you look for
in a beer? Any notably very
impressive ones over the
years?
Never let anyone tell you judging
is just a jolly where people get
given free beer. It’s work and
it requires skills and focus. I
always learn something when
I’m beer judging, either from
fellow beer judges or from the
process itself. Sometimes it
can be disappointing though.
We’re in this incredible age of
beer, with so many talented and
creative brewers making some
delicious stuff, but the truth is
there’s also a lot of very mediocre
beer being made - and not always
by multinational beer factory
brewers. As a judge you have to
give the mediocre a fair tasting
alongside the better brews and
the outstanding beer. You can’t
simply condemn a beer because
you don’t like it. There can be an
enormous difference between a
beer one doesn’t like and a badly
made or faulty beer. Beer judging
is often about that difference.
What I look for in a beer
is balance, flavour - not just
something you could sip like
water without noticing what it
tastes like - and presentation, by
which I mean the beer needs to
be in tip top condition. It needs
to look appealing, have an aroma
which makes me want to drink it, a
flavour that makes me want more
and be in great condition - not too
fizzy, nor too flat.
Most of the competitions I
judge are blind tastings so I
don’t know what beer I’ve had.
I always think I will note the
sample number and find out
afterwards but I usually forget!
One time when I did find out
though was after judging the final
of CAMRA’s Champion Beer of
Britain. The winner was packed
with flavour, pretty hoppy, in
good condition and kept its
character even after sitting on
the table for a while. It turned
out to be Tiny Rebel’s Cwtch.I
suppose I could add that as a
proud moment, because a fellow
beer writer said to me after that
he wasn’t surprised to hear I’d
judged in the final ‘the year a cool
beer won’.
On the future of beer – what excites you the most? And
what worries you the most?
Sometimes I feel more worried than excited about the future of
beer. I worry that cask will die out. It’s depressing when a pub
doesn’t care about serving it properly and more depressing when
people write it off as fuddy duddy old twiggy stuff. But I also
wonder if there’s an element of some of the many, many breweries
in the UK thinking it’s easy to make beer and therefore turning
out a lot of dross in cask, selling it cheap so it turns up on lots of
bars and then when it’s crap people think all cask beer is rubbish.
Then there’s the fact that there’s a hell of a lot of really bland cask
beer around – those big brands that look and taste like caramel
flavoured water. I do think when it comes to pub closures and
declining beer sales it might have something to do with pubs selling
the wrong beer. The whole anti-alcohol lobby/new age temperance
movement is a huge concern too. Of course we need to be mindful
about how much we drink and be responsible, but as long as we do
that I don’t think drinking is the worst lifestyle choice. Consuming
tonnes of sugar in various drinks and food, not eating enough
vegetables and too much time sat on one’s backside is surely a
bigger risk than having a few drinks.