Beer changes but why, and how? There are numerous reasons with some positive and some much less so, explains John Keeling.
Does each generation rediscover beer and then in doing so, reinvent it? Certainly, beer has changed over time but why does this happen?
Obviously, consumer demand influences beer choice. But with the advent of marketing, are consumers now being influenced to drink beers they perhaps wouldn’t normally drink?
When I first started drinking, way back in the 1970s, you could argue that there were two types of young drinker. One type were those who were influenced by their dads and as a result, drank his drink of choice.
And on the other hand you ahd those who rebelled, did the opposite and wouldn’t drink what the old man drank.
Indeed, the term ‘Old man’s drink’ has often been something a of a derogatory criticism of beers like cask bitter.
I was definitely a member of the former category, however, and loved – almost from day one of my drinking career – to enjoy a pint of cask beer.
I remember one time in my early stages of that drinking career (i.e. underage). I was out with a bunch of friends and we bumped into one of my friends’ dads in the pub.
Instead of throwing us out he bought us a pint each and this reminds me of how civilised and inter-generational pubs were in those days.
“Instead of throwing us out he bought us a pint each and this reminds me of how civilised and inter-generational pubs were in those days,” John Keeling
All of my friends were cask beer drinkers and generally would not drink lager. British lager in those days was weak (often less than 3.4% ABV), cold (sometimes an advantage) and fizzy (making it harder to drink for me).
It did have the advantage of being propped up by massive marketing campaigns. It was served from a keg and also paid less duty.
This made it very attractive to brewery owners and not so attractive to certain consumers (CAMRA) who recognised that they were being duped.
If you look at the history of beer in Britain a number of beers have been popular for a period and then replaced.
Porter and stout was replaced by mild, mild was then replaced by bitter and bitter found itself replaced by lager.
All those were popular for a reason. In my opinion they were good beers and they were also easy to drink, which helped make them ideal for the pub environment. Only in the 1970s, following the change to the lager of the day, did breweries end up having the tools to influence the consumer.
The changes before the shift to lager were probably due to the improved brewing and malting technology available as well as fashion. And what is fashion but generational.
The reason beer did not change with each generation was there no alternative till a new style was enabled, and invented by the new technology available.
So, what happened in the 1970s? I think it was different then because the big companies wanted to change from cask to keg (for profit reasons through centralisation), from ale to lager (lower duty) and to produce national beers (again, a case of more profit).
They used the tools afforded them by marketing and advertising to help push their agenda. Unfortunately, they generally succeeded in this.
Unfortunately for them too, with rising duty and VAT costs, increased competition forcing greater and greater marketing spend and a slow down in drinking (Who wants to drink pish? Could have been a great CAMRA slogan). They had to exist on wafer-thin margins and were then prone themselves to takeover
So, these clever people at Watneys, Allied, Whitbread, Courage and Scottish and Newcastle ruined beer for the drinker and in doing so ruined themselves. You could say it was poetic justice of a sort.
All I can say is thank God for the next consumer-inspired change in the form the craft beer revolution and also the increased availability of fantastic lagers, too. But let’s leave that another story for another day.
Cheers!
Illustration: Rob Murray Cartoons
