Thursday, 11 August 2016

Which are worse "real ale" or "craft beer" fans?

A recent tweet from the Morning Advertiser aroused my curiosity:
They are being rather sensationalist though as the article it leads to has a much more mundane headline:

"Real ale and craft beer 'more alike than you'd like to think'"

 And to be honest the article is really calling for peace rather than putting the boot in:

"Why do people on both sides (craft and real) dismiss the other? ...  [both are about] making really good-quality beer." 

I'm not really one for holding hands and singing Kumbaya myself but it did get me thinking. Which are worse for bad mouthing the other side: real ale or craft beer fans? Now it may be said I've got form for this one so I'm putting up a poll to see what the general feeling is. Feel free to add in the comments section what a bunch of wrong 'uns the other side are or why we should all just get along.
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12 comments:

  1. Curmudgeon12 August 2016 at 09:29

    It was the crafties who set themselves up as being against "boring brown beer" and "stick-in-the-mud attitudes". I'd say they deliberately provoked real ale enthusiasts.

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    1. Ed12 August 2016 at 13:22

      That's my general feeling, but then I am biased. Is it something that started with Brew Dog?

      Delete
    2. Curmudgeon12 August 2016 at 13:36

      I think the antagonism started with the "pale'n'hoppy" cask movement - see Gazza Prescott.

      Delete
  2. Neswulf12 August 2016 at 10:22

    Can't see the issue. If it's good tasty beer, whether cask or key keg, enjoy it, drink it. Often (but not the rule), the smaller the brewery the better.

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    1. Ed12 August 2016 at 13:23

      I think you're underestimating the ability of obsessive hobbyists to find things to row about here!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous12 August 2016 at 22:55

    I would think that most craft beer fans also drink cask as the good brewers often do cask and keykeg but the Camra flat earth society members wont drink any thing from a keg.Cant see why the crafties would need to bad mouth something they are quite happy drinking.

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    1. Curmudgeon13 August 2016 at 05:25

      That nicely illustrates the point. And, while most people who identify as "craft beer fans" will drink *some* cask, they are more than happy to diss *most* cask, especially the more popular beers.

      Delete
    2. Ed13 August 2016 at 08:13

      That is quite impressive: say there's no need for craft beer fans to bad mouth cask beer fans, but then do it anyway.

      Delete
    3. SLA23 August 2016 at 15:45

      There is, unfortunately, a direct correlation between the ubiquity of a cask ale and its quality, at least to my taste (and clearly I'm not alone). Probably something to do with brewers most aggressively pushing their lowest cost products.

      There are exceptions, TT Landlord and St Austell Tribute being obvious examples of popular yet exceptional quality beers.

      I don't think many people bad mouth cask beer fans, although they might bad mouth cask beer fans who bad mouth the beers they like on spurious and ill-informed pseudo-technical grounds.

      Delete
  4. StringersBeer13 August 2016 at 11:52

    That would be an ecumenical matter.

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  5. py23 August 2016 at 15:41

    Which came first, crafties dismissing "twiggy brown bitter" or real ale twats spouting on about "chemical fizz" and "zombeers"?

    I think the real ale twats win this one. Even the phrase "REAL ale" is intrinsically divisive.

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    Replies
    1. Curmudgeon23 August 2016 at 22:30

      There's a difference between dissing industrial brewers and dissing other artisanal brewers.

      Delete

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