Guest Blog: Ally McGilvray from Golden Ticket

It's a pleasure to welcome local legend Ally Mcgilvray from Golden Ticket to the hallowed virtual halls of the Pom's online press. He offers one brewer's views on the changing face and taste of craft beer and our expectations when we approach a pint of our favourite craft drop....

David Bowie told us  ‘Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strain)’but quite a lot of the time we complain if things do change, rather than embracing what’s changed and strained.

A good example of this behaviour can be found in the way that we choose our beer when we get to the pub. In my experience there are two kinds of drinker – the honest journeyman, who always has the same beer every single time and the obsessive complete-ist, who has to try every new beer that hits the market before moving onto the next one.  Wicked generalisations probably, but I think there are changes and strangeness that isn’t fully embraced by either category.  I flit between categories. I like to try the new beers and have old favourites I like to go back to when i can’t find anything new and expect to have them taste just like I remembered.  Sometimes they don’t.

I started thinking about my attitude to beer and variations after the new season Nelson Sauvin hop harvest started being used in beers and the tiny bit of commentary that attracted in the beer community backlash about some of the more pungent notes it was having and my reaction to that.

There are always going to be annual differences with the malt and hops, and batch differences based on a whole range of things. Three Boys Brewery encourages the drinker to embrace the changes that occur in their beers with each run. Each bottle has the batch number, so discerning drinkers can have fun spotting what’s different from one batch to the next.

So I always think that from the perspective of a brewer changes are a good thing. Speaking from experience I love tweaking my beers, brewing one then changing some of the grain bill, the hop varieties, the timing of the hop additions, the yeast, the fermentation temperature, what I’m wearing as I brew – the full whack. Part of the appeal is tasting the difference in the finished product.

With wine these things would be much easier. We expect there to be a difference. We enjoy the differences. There’s the opportunity to talk about terroir, the different weather, the different winemaking techniques and so on.  I like to put on my cravat and talk toss with the rest of them (mutation potential in Pinot Gris grapes anyone?) but c’mon.  They’re different alcoholic beverages, it doesn’t mean we should treat them differently.

So why doesn’t that attitude filter through to the beer drinker? I think part of it is due to the drinking education we have. A lot of the beer we consumed growing up was (and still is) brewed with consistency in mind. It’s meant to be consumed cold, with minimal flavour and most importantly taste the same from bottle to bottle. That brief was part of the inspiration behind Mr Coutts continuous fermentation process invented in the late 1950’s.

Continuous fermentation involves recycling part of the fermented beer back to the wort at
the start of the fermentation process and requires a continuous supply of wort into the system.
The result is a continuous flow of beer out the other end of the process. Whereas in a batch
fermentation system wort will be brewed then cooled to fermentation temperature then
pitched with yeast and fermented, the wort brewing stage in a continuous system may be
carried out at a time appropriate for the brewery...

...Because of the blending effect of the recycle{of the beer} ... there is
excellent product consistency.

(Paper by Sarah L. Campbell. Found on NZ Institute of Chemistry Website )

We get acquainted with drinking a product with excellent batch consistency and learn to dislike variation. Now, there’s a whole thing to be said about continuous fermentation and the beer that that process produces but whether it’s good or bad isn’t the point here. It’s the consistency that it provides the finished product.

I’m not advocating that beer variation is always good or even occasionally good – each batch runs the risk of being subject to the same brewing faults as any batch and if a beer is infected, or has any other of the vast array of faults that beer is heir to then it’s definitely to be avoided, but these aren’t batch variations as such. No, batch variation is usually more subtle but if you’re familiar enough with the beer you can spot the changes. I’ve tried first batches of beer where the balance hasn’t quite been there and then second and subsequent batches where the balance has been spot on. I’ve had other beers where I’ve felt an earlier version was more my cup of tea (so to speak). Is either of those a bad thing?

I’m not sure. I don’t think its binary like that – that variation is always good, and consistency always bad. So what’s the point then?

We’ve got to embrace variation.  So if the beer you’ve got in front of you isn’t exactly as you recall it appreciate the fact you’re tasting something new that you didn’t the last time. You might well go and order something else next but don’t let it get you down.  If it was wine you’d love the change, and you’d probably have spent more on the bottle than you did on your beer.  If it tastes exactly the same as the last one and the last one and the one before that it doesn’t make it a bad thing.

We’ve got to all be a little more open minded about beer. We don’t need to worship at the altar of wine but we should accept and enjoy changes that occur between batches and over time. Based on that philosophy, why not try something different the next time you have a beer. If you’ve never had it before then there’s a world of different beer to try. If you’re busy trying every new beer that’s available why not pause and try something you’ve had before but haven’t had in a while.

There are much worse places to be than in the pub and much worse things to drink than beer.
 

Follow Ally on Twitter, check out his website, and we regularly have Golden Ticket's releases on tap - this editor has a true passion for Black Emperor and it comes highly recommended to all you fans of this exciting world of "hybrid" styles...