At the time, I have to say I thought this was a rather odd decision. I wrote back in 2016 about how I felt, for a number of reasons, that CAMRA was wrong to draw an equivalence between bottle- and cask-conditioned beers. At least for everyday quaffing beers, bottle-conditioning in practice adds very little while introducing an extra element of complexity in storage and serving and something of a lottery of how it will turn out, as Seeing the Lizards, who has worked in the retail trade, pointed out:
Although the purists may not like it, it’s a fact of life that most buyers of Premium Bottled Ales tend to avoid ones that are bottle-conditioned, so it is a sensible business decision from Marston’s. Few consumers are going to do something out of principle if it gives them no discernible benefit.The perception of BC PBAs, is that one third will be flat, one third will be as intended and one third will be gushers.
— Seeing The Lizards (@seethelizards) June 18, 2023
Over the years, a number of other brewers have taken the same course including, for example, Hop Back Summer Lightning. Most bottle-conditioned beers now seem to have disappeared from the major supermarkets, including Fuller’s 1845 and Bengal Lancer, Worthington White Shield and Young’s Special London Ale, and the only ones I still see regularly are Shepherd Neame 1698 and St Austell Proper Job.
As I said in the conclusion to my post,
Yes, at the end of the day, bottle-conditioning, if done well, does add something to a beer. Bottle-conditioned beers can be regarded as the crème de la crème. But, because of the practical difficulties involved, and the fact that the process adds very little to lower-strength quaffing beers, it is best reserved for higher-strength specialities.
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I seem to remember that Pedigree used to smell a bit farty in the 00's so I assume they stopped burtonising the water too.
ReplyDeleteThey don't need to Burtonise the water in Burton on Trent! :). I think the lack of sulphur is because the liquor is now being treated to remove it. Can't have all those distinctive characteristics in mass market beer.
DeletePlastic BC beers sold as a gimmick. Brewery conditioned, filtered, soft carbonated and seeded with a yeast that gives a small amount of additional condition and flocculates quickly. Little different to cask beers that are brewery conditioned, racked almost bright and seeded with similar rapidly flocculating yeast to make sure the beer can be sold a couple of hours, if not minutes after delivery.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteBut even if the beer is filtered and then reseeded with yeast, it still meets the definition of enjoying a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Realistically, this is the only way to produce consistent BCAs. Bottling them straight off the racking line is a recipe for wild variations in quality.
DeleteIt's still not a true secondary fermentation because the beer has been brewery conditioned, and importantly, been carbonated to a degree. It's meeting the latter of the definition, but far from the spirit.
DeleteBottle Condition Beer is the one of the areas the CAMRAs take a faith based position rather than a reason based position.
ReplyDeleteYou're never wrong, Cookie.
DeleteBCA suck a**, PBA is the way to go for decent ale at home. CAMRA don't know squat about beer.
I was lucky enough when working in Adelaide to be introduced, by guys I was working with, to Coopers bottle conditioned beers. A very wide range of all types.
ReplyDeleteEvery bottle has a "Best after" date on the label.
Also had a chance to attend a brewery open day with my wife.
Done by the manager, it was very informative.
He explained something I had never realised before.
They could not put their beer into cans because before the fermentation can build up the pressure the cans can not be stacked. A can is as strong as a paper bag.
Lovely beer.
I think you'll find that Coopers is available in cans. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to add pictures to comments, but I have 2 photos of Coopers XPA in a can, taken earlier this year, where it definitely states 'can fermented' and on the back 'for our distinctive taste gently roll can'. The 'best after' date is on the base of the can.
DeleteThis takes me back. In the early 1970s my college bar, which held a substantial stock of bottle-conditioned Guinness, decided to install Guinness on draught. The immediate impact was that sales of the bottles collapsed and the stock was left to gather dust. Within months, those of us working in the cellar started to experience spontaneous detonation of these bottles when we were rolling kegs around the cellar, and the issue was rightly considered to be a significant safety issue. Eventuually, the old bottles were carefully removed from the cellar and lined up in the college grounds where, for a modest donation to charity, students could throw stones at them with predictably spectacular results! Happy days...
ReplyDeleteBack in the sixties, in Scotland, Guinness could be got in quart bottles with the internal thread stopper. The bottle was called a "screwtap" (screwtop). It had live yeast in the bottom. So you never shook the bottle of completely drained it. A few other beers were the same. The strength could be increased by adding sugar. The Guinness was good. Never better.
DeleteGreat grandfather was a barman loved his bottled Guinness.
DeleteOscar
Drinking bottles at home is a mortal sin, whether bottle conditioned or not.
ReplyDeletePedigree has been derided, just as Bass gets something of its reputation back, but some of the most enjoyable pints I've had in "ordinary" pubs has been Pedi, occasionally still with that sulphuric snatch.
[Sackerson] FYI - material for a post by you? https://www.devonlive.com/whats-on/food-drink/pub-explorer-finds-worlds-oldest-8550572
ReplyDeleteMost bottle-conditioned beers now seem to have disappeared from the major supermarkets, including Fuller’s 1845 and Bengal Lancer, Worthington White Shield and Young’s Special London Ale, and the only ones I still see regularly are Shepherd Neame 1698 and St Austell Proper Job.
ReplyDeletefullers Bengal Lancer has been de listed by fullers, no more :(
I stumbled across this interesting discussion when searching for reasons why bottle conditioned beers have become so rare. I bow to the superior technical knowledge of most contributors. However, while I understand that bottled beers will never meet the standard of well-served cask, I was surprised at the number of comments and the slant in the article that suggested bottle conditioning is not worthwhile. I strongly disagree. Non-bottle-conditioned bottled ales (apart, perhaps, from high strength dark ales) have a distinctive and common deadened flavour, that most bottle-conditioned beers thankfully don't. Bottle conditioned ales nearly always offer more depth of flavour and an element of freshness in the nose and on the tongue. The difference is quite striking. Smaller breweries are much more likely to sell bottle-conditioned ale and so these are the ones I constantly seek out. As a lifelong ale drinker it pains me to say this, but if I can't find them I will tend to choose a canned craft beer or Pilsener Urquell rather than pick up a bland-tasting Hobgoblin/Pedigree/Spitfire.
ReplyDelete