If you’re anywhere NW England, go visit a Booths Supermarket.
We have a running joke about the amount of time I spend in Keswick Booths staring at beer on our annual trip to The Lakes. Brilliant selection, but in the spirit of this thread, not many bargains to be had.
Many of the real craft breweries are tiny businesses owned and run by passionate beer lovers who have invested everything. While I also find the term annoying, it's far more annoying to see the big breweries try to mimic them and directly compete on the supermarket shelf. Often their beers are also rank too.
Small breweries have been hit very hard by the pandemic with pub closures etc taking away all of their wholesale business of kegs & casks. On top of that the government are increasing beer duty for small breweries and reducing it for the big guys (this alone will put many out of business).
The price is what it is, but if you love their beer then buy direct from the brewery as they will be getting a much better margin on it. If you think the brewery owners are swimming in gold coins you are wrong. Right now they need the cash more than Sainsbury's or Morrisons.
My personal 'local' faves, who all deliver nationwide:
Good Chemistry
Wiper & True
Lost & Grounded
Left Handed Giant
On the subject of cans, it's better in every way:
Better for freshness (due to no leakages or light penetration)
Lighter, more space efficient and less breakable
Better environmentally
Downsides
Some prefer drinking from a bottle
Customer perception of value (historically only the cheap stuff was in cans)
Less useful in a bar fight
(Haven't read the whole thread so apologies if already covered)
As for ‘Craft’ beer. I hate the term, it’s a marketing thing.
Also beware of fake craft – Beavertown is Heineken now and Magic Rock is owned by Lion
So you hate the term, but are happy to use it later in the same post?
I'm happy beer has become something we are interested in and the range is now more diverse than it once was. Personally a couple of cans on a weekend night of something that cost me £3-5 is not the end of the world and supporting smaller breweries (Burnt mill last night) and the small pub in the next village that can currently only do takeaway is ok with me.
If you can taste the difference between a bottle and a can, I'd suggest the beer you drink must be pretty bland in the first place.
Craft beers are a great choice to have, no one is forcing anyone to buy them, and they don't exactly take up much space in the beer aisle, still loads of choice available. The craft revolution has been great for non and low alcohol choice too, the big breweries played at it, and the real ale type did none.
And if you think it's expensive, then whisky.
If you’re anywhere NW England, go visit a Booths Supermarket.
They could kick Morrison’s into last week
Depends which booths you go in, PLF had gone right down hill, Lytham much better.
Tesco has a great selection at the moment, especially of big cans. Picked up the vocation imperial Kirsch stout (£5) and a tiramisu one last night 🤤
I'd much rather have one can of something nice and different (not necessarily stupidly strong either) in the fridge than 4 cans of standard lager.
I live within a short walk of here.
It's important to support your LBS (Local Beer Shop)
Beer is beer, the only difference is that ‘craft’ beers generally have more hops in.
Not sure about ‘craft’ beer being more hoppy, that seemed to be a fashion picked up by the entire brewing industry, much to my annoyance, because I’m not keen on really bitter, citrus flavoured beer, it all became much of a muchness, like the fad for extra cold lager, a disguise for anonymous, flavourless fizzy rubbish designed to be chucked down yer neck and get shitfaced a quickly as possible.
I much prefer more malty brews, which there seems to be something of a return to, thankfully, ‘cos there’s a greater range of flavour to them.
The other thing with the beers sold in supermarkets as ‘craft’ beers is they’re almost always 330ml, instead of 500, and cost more! Sod that, paying more for less, without much gain in flavour.
Regarding cans, I tend to buy bottles, because where I buy from that’s what’s generally more available, but a small local brewery, Kettlesmith, does small refillable kegs, which are really nice, problem is they’re situated in Bradford-on-Avon, so about a twenty mile round trip, maybe a bit more, not somewhere I generally go to.
They do an interesting range of beers, though, so maybe I should make a bit of an effort to get over there.
http://kettlesmithbrewing.co.uk/
An interesting thread.
At the end of the day value is in the eye (wallet) of the consumer.
Some would happily pay £20 for a bottle of wine. Some £50. Some a tenner and to some more than a fiver is ludicrous (imho great value to be had in the £6 - £9 range if you know what you're looking for).
So to with beer. In my experience I moved from lager to ales some years back. Always liked the range of golden ales, traditional IPAs, blondes etc. Also Doombar and Brown Ale. But always found them too heavy.
The revolution in craft beers has created a world of beer choice and discovery somewhat akin to that of wine. The range of styles and flavours available is incredible and I find they are lighter and easier to drink than traditional ales and ultimately for the most part taste amazing.
But it's a subjective thing. Just like some people will pay for expensive cars (or bikes for that matter).
As for the cost differential it's economies of scale + additional costs of ingredients (as attested to above). Hardly rocket science. Same reason why small bike brands are more expensive than Giant
