When it comes to the great beer styles of the world, it seems like the real ales of the British Isles just can鈥檛 get any respect. Adoration for Belgian, German and North American styles is near universal. The Belgians are masters of flavourful yeast-forward beers. The Germans gave us crisp, clean lagers you can drink forever. Meanwhile, the American craft brewers (and to a lesser extent, our Canadian breweries) introduced the world to big, bold hop-forward beers and a penchant for experimentation.
But the British? Often their beers are the subject of ridicule and scorn: They鈥檙e boring! They鈥檙e flat! They鈥檙e weak! They鈥檙e warm!
Well, if that鈥檚 an opinion you happen share, you鈥檙e just plain wrong.
Boring? Try subtle and delicate. Flat? Real ales are cask-conditioned, meaning they aren鈥檛 artificially pumped full of carbon dioxide, and won鈥檛 leave you bloated as a result. Weak? British beers are designed to be 鈥渕oreish,鈥� so you can spend hours upon hours down at the pub draining pints. Warm? Cellar temperature is not warm, and these ales lose all their complexity at the icy cold temperatures reserved for tasteless lagers.
In fact, the staples of many North American craft breweries can trace their lineage to Mother England, particularly pale ales, IPAs, stouts and porters. The Canadian beer drinking public may be slow to embrace more traditional examples of these styles, but brewers Adam Chatburn of Real Cask Ales and Claire Wilson of Dogwood Brewing think we are all missing out (and I happen to agree).
Few other brewers in B.C. are as qualified as these two to discuss the beauty of the British ale. Originally from Blackburn, England, Chatburn first learned how to brew at Blackburn Brewing Company before emigrating to Canada. His frustration with the lack of real ales available in B.C. led him to start his own brewery, Real Cask Ales, part of the Callister Brewing collective.
Wilson was born and raised in Galway, Ireland and she, too, learned to brew in England. While Dogwood鈥檚 beers have a definite B.C.-focus in ingredients and flavours, she鈥檚 never forgotten her roots.
I gathered the pair of expats at East Vancouver鈥檚 WISE Hall (as in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England) to get the lowdown on the misunderstood ales of Britain.
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The Growler: Tell me a bit about what differentiates British brewing from, say, Belgian or German brewing? What makes it stand out and what makes it unique?
Adam Chatburn: Well, there was a chunk of German brewing that was stolen from the British brewing and there鈥檚 been a lot of cross-pollination over the years, even going back even a hundred years. Beers like the alts and the darker German beers were mostly porters and stouts originally, that were taken over there. But at the same time, British beers never had hops, that was a German thing. So we took the hops and planted our own varieties. Without the Germans we wouldn鈥檛 have hops, and without us they wouldn鈥檛 have their darker beers.
Claire Wilson: The strongest commonality between them is the respect for traditions. And each country has its own traditions. And that鈥檚 the main difference between Britain and these other schools of brewing thought, is the respect for British traditions, for the real ales, the bottle- and cask-carbonated beers. That is quintessentially the English style of beer. And it鈥檚 taken very seriously.
Chatburn: It鈥檚 true. The English style of drinker, if it鈥檚 a cloudy pint, if it鈥檚 got too much head, or if there鈥檚 anything wrong with it, they鈥檒l complain, quite audibly. It鈥檚 a combination of educated consumers and being moaning British bastards.
Wilson: It鈥檚 the respect for tradition and the respect for holding on to these things. But it can limit you as a brewer. When you come from a very traditional British school of training, there are some things you just don鈥檛 do. When I first came here, I was like, what鈥檚 with all these beers? Why are people putting these weird ingredients in their beer? You can鈥檛 do that!
Chatburn: This idea about looking back, and tradition, and making sure to hold on to that and not lose it, it鈥檚 important because a lot of styles have already been lost. But it can also be, in a way, a bit of a prison, it can stifle creativity. And this is true in Belgium and Germany, too. These places with strong traditions, people are very stuck to those and tied to those rules. Coming to Canada鈥攚e both got here about the same time, 10 years ago鈥攜ou can see those rules are out of the window.
Wilson: It鈥檚 funny, because traditional IPAs, like Deuchars and stuff, taste nothing like IPAs here. It went to North America, evolved into something else, and came back as this fully-formed beast.
Chatburn: It鈥檚 such a loaded term now, IPA. I could stamp my feet and say Flowers IPA at 3.8% is the quintessential IPA, but now it鈥檚 become such a byword for so many types of beer. Here in B.C., if you have something on your board that鈥檚 an IPA, that鈥檚 the one that鈥檚 going to sell the most, end of story. So it鈥檚 very likely that brewers will stick 鈥淚PA鈥� on something to bump up sales.
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Growler: What is it that characterizes British beer, what sets it apart from other styles?
Chatburn: In one word: sessionability. That鈥檚 the key thing with the British palate. It鈥檚 that idea that you can sit there at the pub for seven or eight hours, read the paper, have some dinner, and you will have six, or seven, or eight, or nine pints over the course of that period. And your palate will not be blown out by it. You鈥檒l be buzzed, but you won鈥檛 necessarily be falling down as if you鈥檇 had seven or eight Fat Tugs.
Wilson: And you drink the same beer the whole time. It鈥檚 delicious, so you have another one, and another one. And you never get the feeling like you need something else.
Chatburn: Very often the finishing gravity tends to be a bit higher, so there鈥檚 a that ever-so-slightly sweet finish鈥攂ut not sickly sweet鈥攖hat makes you want to have another.
Wilson: And that鈥檚 not something a lot of 麻豆传媒映画craft beer drinkers are looking for. They want their palates blown out. They want to taste something they鈥檝e never tasted before. British beer is beer that鈥檚 made to drink, as opposed to beer that鈥檚 meant to just be tasted.
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Growler: So how do you adapt that brewing philosophy to the B.C. market?
Chatburn: I do some beers that are 100% Adam, and some beers that aren鈥檛 Adam at all! I will always have a mild or a bitter on the tap, but I鈥檒l also just finished a West Coast double IPA.
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Growler: Why we don鈥檛 see a lot of proper cask ales here in North America? Especially here in B.C., there are not a lot of people doing them.
Wilson: One of the biggest differences is that bars in Britain have cellars, and lines, and engines. They have the infrastructure. The staff is trained, they know what they鈥檙e talking about, they know how to take care of it, so they鈥檙e ready to buy it. Whereas if you try to sell a cask to someone here, you have to supply them with an engine, a fridge to put it in, you have to train their staff鈥�
Chatburn: I鈥檝e had more then a few people who鈥檝e said, 鈥榃e want to have your casks,鈥� but I have to go to them and be like, what鈥檚 your cellar situation? How鈥檚 your engine? Do you actually take care of the casks? Are you going to have a cleaning regimen? So there are all these questions and if you answer no to any of these, I have to walk away. It requires so much work to get it right, and if I don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e going to do that, then it鈥檚 going to effect how my product hits the public.
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