This month’s edition of the Session, hosted by Eoghan at Brussels Beer City, asks us to consider ‘missing local beer styles’ and for us, still coming to grips with a new city, this has been rather heartening: Bristol has all the beer styles.
First, there are the standards. There are tons of bitters, best bitters and pale-and-hoppies — too many to mention. Brewpub Zero Degrees (of which more in a moment) has a decent pilsner while Lost & Grounded produces a widely available Keller Pils that has just a whiff of craft about it without being scary or weird.
Then there’s the second tier styles. To pick just one example, Moor brews a straight-up cask stout, called Stout, primarily for the Italian market, which we think is just wonderful. Bristol Beer Factory has its Milk Stout which is also bordering on ubiquitous, not only cask and keg in pubs but also bottled in delis, cafes and restaurants. And there are other local milk stouts available. Milk stout!
In fact, here’s a (no doubt incomplete) list of styles currently being produced on a regular basis by breweries in and around Bristol, and fairly easy to find:
- Barley Wine
- Black IPA
- Bock
- Brown Ale
- Brown Porter
- Double IPA
- Dubbel
- Dunkelweizen
- Eighty Shilling
- Farmhouse ale
- Gose
- Imperial stout
- Kölsch (terms and conditions apply)
- Kriek
- Porter
- Rauchbier
- Saison
- Stout
- Table Beer
- Tripel
- Weizen
- Wit
And remember, that’s just what’s being brewed here — once you get into specialist bars, BrewDog, the flagship Fuller’s pub or Wetherspoon’s, you can probably tick off every other style that might come to mind if you have a particular craving for, say, dubbel or altbier.
If there’s something we’d like to see more of (stuck records that we are) it’s mild, although we’ve managed a few pints of that here and there since arriving in town, too. And, of course, we’re keen for someone to explore Bristol Old Beer. But, really, what do we have to complain about with all that lot listed above to explore?
This post would be quite different if we didn’t live in a city although even Penzance, a short ride from Land’s End, where we lived until the summer, had its own porter, mild, imperial stout…
The point is, if you’re interested in the full range of beer styles — not everyone is — then 2017 is a hell of a time to be alive. It’s just not much of a time to be writing plaintive blog posts about missing beer styles.
6 replies on “Session #129: None of Our Beer Styles Are Missing”
That looks tremendous. Keller pils, mmm. Needs some altbier and ruby mild. Scotch Ale? Given the proximity to the growing areas, does anyone in Bristol brew an apple ale? Also, you prompted me to listen to A.C. Marias “One Of Our Girls Has Gone Missing”.
Would missing local beer styles for your location not be more indicative of the demise of styles like Boy’s Bitter?
Nobody’s using that descriptor that we’ve noticed but there are plenty of low ABV bitters around.
No Lambics in evidence… but expect some brewery in Brizzle area will invest in a coolship soon :-). Wild Beer (not too distant) would be my best guess as a brewery to be tempted down that route.
Craft beer Revolution, init. How many of these beer styles could you find in a mainstream pub, 20 years ago?
[…] #129 was about missing beer styles, which led us to the conclusion that every beer style under the sun appears to be in product in or near Bristol — what a time to be alive! (Eoghan Walsh’s round-up of all the contributions is […]