Every Saturday we share our favourite beer-related reading from the past week. This time we’ve got Kellerbier, booze-free beer, and pub renovations.
First, more stats on the health of the hospitality trade in the closing weeks of 2024, via CGA: pubs in particular saw a 4.7% growth in sales compared to the same period in 2023. Bars also saw growth, but less significant at only 1.3%. That says something interesting, doesn’t it, about consumer preferences?
At Craft Beer & Brewing editor Joe Stange has given himself space to explore one of his own obsessions: German Kellerbier. The article starts with a warning about the depth of this rabbit hole, then takes us way down into it:
In 1807, Joachim Heinrich Campe wrote what’s considered one of the most important German dictionaries of his era. It includes a definition for kellerbier (my translation): “beer that’s offered at a public keller and fetched from there, as opposed to bottled beer that’s kept in one’s own cellar.”… In its most essential form, kellerbier is simply beer from the keller… By tradition, it was the freshest beer you could get, right at the spot where it lagered in those tunnels. That tradition continues, in a way: While some German breweries still occasionally pour beer from a lined, spigoted barrel known as a Stichfass or Holzfass, that practice is entrenched in Franconia – even if, these days, they typically fill those barrels with finished beer from the lagering tanks… While you can find “kellerbier” almost anywhere in Germany, it’s usually a bottled, unfiltered version of a brewery’s flagship lager. Outside Franconia, “keller” became code for unfiltered or slightly cloudy.
Here’s an entire backlog of newsletters worth exploring: Hazel has taken on a “sprawling, traditional” pub on the outskirts of London and is keeping a diary of her experience. You’ll probably want to start at the beginning where she sets out her back story:
It’s quite tough trying to reboot your career from the bottom when you’re nearly 40. I’ve worked in pubs before 2023, of course but if you’d asked me what my actual job was I would’ve told you I was a journalist. I might’ve even tried to claim that until this summer. I was still doing bits, after all. Getting flown to Abu Dhabi to interview autonomous race cars and that sort of thing… I’d been fairly happy to climb the Spoons ladder for a bit, except that no one was offering me a rung. So when a different pub company came calling, via a very good friend who recommended me to them, I didn’t feel too bad about sneaking off to a pre-shift interview… It’s not gonna be like working for Spoons, they pointed out. You have to run your own business. You’re a publican not just a manager. Made me a bit nervous, if I’m honest.
For the Campaign for Real Ale’s What’s Brewing Matthew Curtis has written about the increasing popularity of low-alcohol beers, with some juicy intel alongside the opinion:
All alcoholic drinks in the UK are subject to duty. This is payable by the manufacturer per litre of alcohol produced, in accordance with the changes to duty introduced by the previous Conservative government in August 2023. As part of the update to these regulations all produced beverages rated at 1.2 per cent alcohol or lower were declared exempt from duty. In many instances there is little difference in retail price between modern alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, so producers are able to claw back larger margins on these products… This could be a reason why the category has seen so many new entrants over the past 18 months, and why so many small breweries are adding no and low beers to their existing portfolios. Just this month both Cornwall’s St Austell and Derbyshire’s Thornbridge have introduced 0.5 per cent alcohol versions of their respective flagship brands: Proper Job and Jaipur. Meanwhile Manchester’s Cloudwater brewery recently informed me that its Fresh AF 0.5 per cent IPA was one of its best-selling beers of 2024.
Scott Spencer from Micropub Adventures has been exploring again, this time in Skipton and Barnoldswick in North Yorkshire. And, once again, it makes us want to get on a train immediately. It also contains an interesting bit of trend spotting:
A quick walk brings me to my next visit. Wax and Taps is a cool record bar in Barnoldswick that mixes vinyl records with craft beer. It’s become a hit with both music lovers and locals, offering a chill spot to enjoy great tunes and a beer. This place is part of a growing trend where music and social drinking come together… Inside, the layout is pretty neat, with one side showcasing a collection of vinyl records, while the other side features a cosy seating area with wooden tables and benches that really set the vibe. The wooden bar in the corner catches your eye as soon as you walk in. Some great street food to match.
Let’s wrap up by visiting a couple of pubs. The first is in Dublin where Lisa Grimm is our guide:
Sometimes, just sometimes, a fantastic new(ish) pub pops up where you least expect it. Dublin’s Talbot Street has had a lot of publicity for the wrong reasons over the past few years, and it’s true that it’s neither the tidiest nor most well-kept part of town, despite a goodly number of lovely Georgian and Victorian buildings, often hidden under layers of plastic hoardings. Indeed, until quite recently, the mid-19th century building that houses The Morris Bar was trading as a barber shop/cafe and, before that, a cash-and-carry… but its current incarnation has returned it to its c. 1920s glory.
And then we’ll join Martin Taylor in another of his top 100 pubs (someone should commission the book) – The Eight Jolly Brewers in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire:
I can tell you exactly when I last visited the 8JB, as the Kidz would call it if they weren’t all in Spoons… 16 April 2005, heading to see Cambridge United relegated from the Football League, a not-quite 5 year old James dragged along, though we had stopped at Sundown Adventure Land first… Had it changed at all in 20 years?… Nope… Opening hours had become more unreliable, and it had just unexpectedly dropped out of the GBG for the first time since Canute rode a White Horse to Gainsborough Hall to defeat Sweyn Forkbeard on penalties in the LDV Trophy…
Finally, from BlueSky, an enticing looking pub…
Can't wait to find out what beers they serve
— Mark Johnson (@marknjohnson.bsky.social) January 18, 2025 at 6:00 PM
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For more good reading check out Stan Hieronymus’s round-up from Monday and Alan McLeod’s from Thursday.