Keg is the mp3, cask is the vinyl.

There has been quite a lot of talking about the Cloudwater blog post of few days ago about their decision on dropping the production of cask beer. I’ve got no claim of being an expert of any sort in the craft beer industry, but I do know a little. Mostly, I drink quite a lot.

This is just a sort of stream of consciousness from someone who loves beer and has the privilege to serve it everyday and have a glimpse of this industry from the inside.

The first thought I had is related to my obscure past as a failed sound engineer: “Keg is the mp3, cask is the vinyl”. I find the parallel quite right, and not necessary in terms of quality. I am a keg drinker as well, and I do appreciate a “cold, fizzy IPA” even more than I probably should. The symmetry of this equation find its reason in the motivated fear of losing a whole per se experience. In this case, the unique experience of a warm, complex taste given by the natural conditioning and continuing fermentation of British cask beer. Being Italian, and having moved to London right before the craft beer movement started to move its first steps in my country, I had never tasted any beer on cask. When I first got to try it, 2 years ago, I completely fell in love. It is something that simply doesn’t find any match with anything else I’ve ever tried. I’ve learn quite a lot since that first sip (and I still have to learn so much) and I realised in the eternal conflict between cask and keg beer it’s not a matter of having to choose a side where to stand. Some beer tastes better on keg, some on cask. Sometimes they’re quite the same. It’s a matter of having the possibility to choose.

The first issue brought up in the article is, of course, the cost. Sustaining the production of cask beer, as everyone who works in the industry gets to know quite soon, is not the most profitable choice in the business. It is indeed a type of beer usually sold for less than its real value; not to mention the cost of having to collect the empties. And, from a pub worker position, waiting for collection is definitely a storage issue (and I know it quite well, working in a small independent pub with a quite small cellar).

This seems to become a massive issue especially when the brewery decides to expand the production.

To me this point cannot be discussed without having a deep and honest chat about what exactly is and what exactly means craft beer today.

I understand the human desire of moving from a surviving situation to another one more safe and stable enough to guarantee some real profit.
But what I know is that, by economical law, increasing production means increasing costs. This is why, to maximise the profit, we usually assist to a consequent cut of costs of labour and costs of production in general, anywhere you can.

What I’m thinking is, after all, isn’t craft an idea of business completely opposite to industrial production?

Another issue was about the possibilities of experimenting with beer. It seems a quite popular idea that, even without considering the costs, the future of craft beer lies in kegs. All based on what the public demand is.

What is that people are asking for in terms of beer? Well, I work in a pub, so I know a little about it.

I can easily divide our customers in three categories:

• Middle aged / old customers, who like the safe, well known taste of a bitter on cask.
• Craft beer enthusiasts who are always looking for anything new, “weird” and possibly with a high ABV percentage, strictly on keg.
• Regular customers who used to drink Stella and has no idea of what we are selling.

This is the easiest way to categorise beer drinkers. It is also, in my opinion, a shame and a big mistake to simplify the public’s taste in this way.

The enormous, amazing gift that the craft beer movement brought to us in terms of innovation and quality, can’t just preclude the access to good beer to a huge part of the public who wants, and after all has the right, to enjoy an “easy drinking” beer. Investing everything on research of a more elaborate, exotic and complex taste can’t just remove what is a fundamental concept in this matter: being able to offer a GOOD beer. Even a mild, not juicy, bitter.

And now let’s move to the last bit of this rant. This is something that is running through my head often, and it’s the very reason why I am writing this in the first place.

So, another assumption made in the Cloudwater post is about the potential of cans and kegs to be shipped across the ocean, creating the chance for the breweries to export their beer all over the world. Good. This is cool. But why spend money and time trying to preserve the freshness of a product so we can ship it all over the world, even knowing that the best condition to enjoy it will always be to consume it in its original environment? And this concept can be applied to any kind of drink and food. We are spending more and more money on infrastructures made mostly or only to move things and we are doing almost nothing at all to promote and preserve and defend the right of people to move. We all know and we all get how expensive is to reach an acceptable level of production to satisfy the public demand, both regional/national and international. But by making of a craft product something easy to get from anyone anywhere in the world without even having to move from our sofas, aren’t we just missing the whole point? Aren’t we just forgetting what the whole experience is? Having the chance and the curiosity to travel and try both traditional and special things where they are made in the first place? Do we really consider moving things a priority to our right and desire to explore the world and what it has to offer?

An mp3 is still a good quality and easily accessible format. But sometimes we need vinyl too, to enjoy frequencies that would otherwise get lost forever.