The notion that British beer drinkers should have to pay higher prices as a result of rising costs of imported grain and hops (Finance, 31 January) is easily countered by suggesting brewers buy home-grown ingredients. It’s absurd to import grain when it’s widely acknowledged that maritime barley – as grown in Norfolk and Suffolk – delivers the finest flavour and the best sugars for fermentation. Traditional lager brewers in central Europe have to use a more exhaustive brewing regime to extract the sugars as a result of the poorer quality barley grown there. A number of American craft brewers import British grain – the Maris Otter variety in particular – as they feel it offers the best flavour for India Pale Ale and other ale styles.
Gavin Hogg, of Salcombe Brewery in Devon, says the UK doesn’t produce “good enough hops”, ignoring the fact that English Fuggles and Goldings are prized throughout the world for their distinctive aromas and flavours of pepper, spice, pine and orange. Is he unaware of such new English varieties as Endeavour and Jester developed in recent years that offer more of the rich citrus notes demanded by many craft brewers? If not, he should contact the British Hop Association without delay.
Mr Hogg and other British brewers who want to follow the American trend of brewing “hop bomb” beers will find that the latest trend in the US is “session beers” with less emphasis on extreme hop bitterness and a better balance of malt and hops. Not everyone wants to drink a pint of grapefruit when they go to the pub, which is the predominate flavour created by the likes of the American Citra hop.
And why does Andrew Paterson at Dark Star Brewery import yeast? May I point him in the direction of the National Collection of Yeast Cultures in Norwich. There’s plenty of it around.
Cheers to British beer!
Roger Protz
Editor, Camra Good Beer Guide
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