"yarmot":3h6f1wjs wrote: Ah right.
[/quote:3h6f1wjs]
good luck to ya![/quote:3h6f1wjs]
Ach, I didn't want to cause a commotion here. My point was just that if there's such a massive demand for hoppy beers, then surely the existing micros would be brewing them?
Or, if the beers they brew to try and gain wide appeal and grow their business don't cut the mustard, why not start a brewery and do it yourself?
It just smacked a little of the CAMRA (sorry, them again) attitude - constantly complaining about a local brewery's beer; and then up in arms when Greene King come along and shut it. Sorry I got the wrong end of the stick.
Oh, and I quite enjoy hoppy beers, me. Metalman, Eight Degrees, Smithwicks Pale Ale, all magic stuff. 'Ridiculously' was just a poorly chosen superlative... read 'wonderfully' or 'stonkingly' instead.[/quote:3h6f1wjs]
Fair enough, and apologies if my reply came back as defensive, but that's how I felt after reading your posts. It was just that you seemed to be making a few assumptions which I didn't necessarily agree with, especially re fully supporting the local lads, as that is something most of us go out of our way to do in many ways. Personally I'd love to open a brewery, but I'd be mad to give up my current living at the moment, but you never know in the future! I also appreciate how much hard work and financial risk is undertaken in setting up a brewery, so wouldn't belittle anyone for that.
The catalyst for this post, was a good few lads talking at a festival, and not for the first time, about how we would really like to see more hoppy beers, and I wouldn't really put Smithwicks Pale Ale or some of the other beers that are described as hoppy in the hoppy bracket, but it is all taste subjective. I am hugely into hops, so am totally biased towards them, but appreciate that not everyone has my taste, and we are not asking for eveything to change.
A lot of people thought the Ales could do with more hopping or more variation of hop variety, so it wasn't just a small hand full. It seemed to be the talking point of the festival. As it was a F Well run festival only one of the brewers was there, and that was more of a personal capacity, so it was hard to give general feed back directly to the brewers. I think the breweries are catering more for the hoppy taste, but I want to see them push the boat out a bit more, especially for festivals. If it's not financially viable, and I think part of that may be due to the cost of the actual hops, as well as the size of available market, they I will still continue to source a good bit of beer from elsewhere, until the Irish market catch's up to what I want.
Best of luck!
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