UK beer in the new era

My main beef to date with Cloudwater is how unbelievably expensive it is

I was just about to post exactly this

I’m assured the prices do accurately reflect the production costs of all their wacky adjuncts but idk man

I buy directly from them and pricing seems fair for what you're getting. There are certainly cheaper breweries, but I don't think it's a huge price difference and CW quality is top notch. £8 for one of their TIPAs is money very well spent for me. Are they expensive from other retailers?

Their Pales are £4-5, IPAs £5, DIPAs £6, TIPAs around £8 and Imperial Stouts £8-9. Barrel Aged stuff is £17-18 for 750ml. That's about par for the course, no? Very similar pricing structure at say Overtone, Neon Raptor, Verdant, Pollys etc etc etc.

Howling Hops has very comparable pale ales (imo) for much less money. I’ve stanned for them before here I think and they are local to me so I may be biased but they’ll do a mixed 12-pack for just north of £40.

Their 9.5ABV stout is £6.50.

I'm a self-confessed massive Cloudwater fan, so apologies if I'm too defensive, I am genuinely interested. Just don't want to have to get my "I <3 CW" tattoo removed. Other breweries are available...

Sorry, was out all day yesterday.

Cloudwater were already in some people's bad books for trying to move to an exclusively B2C model in the first waves of lockdown, but then in June last year Stacey brought messages into the big Facebook group (the one we're both in, Krakow) where Paul referred to him as an Uncle Tom. To be slightly generous to Paul it's not a view he appeared to have but one he ascribed to someone else (memory say it's Watt, as this was a squabble over BD and CW contract brews and where they happened) but using it was utterly needless.

Anyway, when called out on it Paul doubled down and made excuses rather than apologies and it drove wholesale admin change in the FB group and that was why the name of it changed too.

CW farm out all their supermarket line to Brewdog as contract brewing in Ellon, so if you're Watt-phobic then that's something else to consider.

As this thread has demonstrated though, it seems to have been largely forgotten.

I've been a real fan of CW over the years and although nothing touches the era of the V series DIPAs the New Zealand series in 2019 was brilliant. I sort of lost touch a bit when they changed their labelling so that you couldn't work out what things were without taking cans out of the fridge and reading the back (meaning putting glasses on, trivial I know but hey) and completely lost track of what they were putting out over lockdown so should probably take a look at some point.

I remember all that Aldo, but unless I'm mistaken it wasn't Paul from Cloudwater, it was an entirely different Paul in said group, one of the admins at the time. It was at the time of the Brewdog & Cloudwater controversy, hence them being at least mentioned in the fallout from it all, but I don't believe they were involved per se.

Rock Leopard continue to work with Cloudwater, as far as I see. Their collaboration Step Up was re-brewed and released again not long ago and Rock Leopard have released a bottled, barrel aged beer that Cloudwater seem to be the only place stocking and could perhaps have been picked from CWs barrel stock given the sound of it.

You know I've just done a search and you're right. I may have been besmirching Paul J unnecessarily in that case for which I apologise.

Yet another E London craft brewery, Pretty Decent Beer Co, has made some really nice oat/wheat/barley/hops beers. They all have stupid names. “You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Oat” NEIPA is fantastic. They do quantity discounts.

Just ordered another 12 pack from Pretty Decent.. less than £40

I'm on their monthly subscription, recommended.

There's an article in the Times this morning including news that Wild Beer Co. apparently called in administrators on Friday, which is pretty shocking and sad news if true.

The article in question, avoiding their sign-in requirements: https://archive.ph/Lr8CP

:/

Beavertown and Brewdog must die

(obv they can't and won't)

Shout out to Deviant & Dandy's No Figgity imperial stout while I'm here btw. Tonka bean in beer won't be for everyone and it definitely fits aldo's 'bloggable' description but it hit the spot for me

thought I saw the brewdog expose doc because it was linked in this thread, apparently not. if you want to hate brewdog even more then knock yourself out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XamxzvGm8YQ

aldo's 'bloggable' description

No recollection of what this is.

Tonka is fine but I've drunk far too many Low Key beers to get excited about it any more.

Had a lovely afternoon a couple of weeks ago with Roberto from Cult of Oak where we cracked open 6 (count 'em) of his near-impossible to find beers. Then he offered me a couple of bottles to take away, one of which was one of the last three in existence, which is when the afternoon got expensive.

Having been unable to buy Holy Goat releases after coming off the preference list, I'm prepping a Year One vertical at my local in January sometime including all the super rare ones like the Hanging Bat exclusives.

Tempted to do a Foehammer/Goblin Cleaver back-to-back tonight as iirc they were very similar and according to the can have less than 1% between them.

i like beer

D'you like coffee?

i don't like coffee beer

I'm supremely jealous aldo re. Cult of Oak, that sounds amazing. I want to come to your Holy Goat tasting. Where's your local?

For reference the beers were Lexington I and Ii, Cannae, Lysander, Mega Colab Rum & Raisin and Blood of the Golden Spurs ON KEG.

Beer In Hand in Hereford is bit far even for that kind of vertical. I also might be doing the only UK Rexday next year as me and Stu are the only people with bottles.

Speaking of which I am in Glasgow next weekend.FAP?

I can conclusively report Goblin Cleaver stomps all over Foehammer, which it makes taste thin even at 11%.

Sorry aldo, I left your question hanging there.

I'm buried in the midst of December retail servitude and can't really face any additional socialising this weekend, much as I'd love to. Just pretty exhausted, sorry.

No worries, it was pretty short notice and December is a busy month.

On the way back down the road dropping in to Top Out (in their second last week of trading) and Tempest to pick up their barley wine drops.

New Bristol Brewery have done some things with cinder toffee and stout that shouldn't be legal. Now I am about to go on a hike and I'm drunk! Hurray

Happy birthday imago!

Ty I'm about to do the THORNBRIDGE BREWERY TOUR BITCHES

^which ruled

Anyway, props to Little Earth Project for not only being the first brewery I've seen to name a beer after a Half Man Half Biscuit song, but to have said beer, In A Suffolk Ditch, be a fully credible and very barnyardy fruited wild red ale

Think Pomona Island had a HMHB beer but I can't remember what it was called. Their Songs About Fucking beer was their peak I think.

Lmao, someone at Pomona Island has very ILXy tastes, I was very impressed that they recently named a beer after a bit from Severance ("This Music Dance Experience Is Officially Cancelled"), although it was a drab-looking IPA so I didn't actually get it

enjoy your sourpatch kefir porters

observation based on being in glasgow for 1 day

scotland is way less obsessed with IPAs than england is

Where have you been beer-wise, for the purposes of this thread?

Drygate Brewery and West Brewery - so, two craft ale taprooms (although this one is def going for 'beerhall', shame Oktober isn't until tomorrow)

(my 'guess the city' was Cumbernauld btw. fuck me that central building is something eh)

I know this won't go down well on this thread, but I'm quite addicted to Brewdog "Lost Lager" in Blood Orange. It's on a three 8-packs for £23 offer at Morrisons and say no more!

they probably just add whatever chemical additive goes into vimto orange, yet it works.

to be fair there is probably a brewdog beer out there I'd enjoy, but it will always be a mystery which one

a Dill Pickle Gose at Pretty Decent Brewery/Taproom in Forest Gate.

they added dill and cucumbers to the brew apparently.

wasn't bad, but then again I had to psyche myself up before I took each sip.

that's increasingly the way with flavoured craft beer IMO.

Birmingham pubs in the new era:

"Do you have a hoegaarden or anything like that?"
"Sorry, no"
"No wheat beers or anything?"
"Sorry, you'll have to explain what a wheat beer is"

(We do have more knowledgeable establishments including an excellent european style bar with a wide ranging selection of lambics, trappist ales etc)

I guess wheat beers have gone out of fashion in the UK. I haven't seen Hoegaarden for years - is it still widely available?

leffe can be found but that's pretty rare these days. we live in ipa times

xxp Cherry Red's on John Bright St is somewhere I always visit when in Brum, what's the one you would recommend?

Blue Moon can sometimes be sighted

oh that's true