Chris claims that the British lager is dead. Maybe he’s right. But is there something more happening?

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) reports that UK beer sales have fallen through the five billion litre mark for the first time since 1975. This represents a decline of 1.7% for the year. And yes, the biggest decline was in the premium lager segment where sales fell 2%.

The volume of beer sold through pubs in the UK has hit its lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s – yep, the Great Depression. Sales in the whole of the UK beer market are down 22% since 1979.

What do those numbers mean? According to the BBPA, local pubs are hurting. They cite statistics that 27 pubs per week are closing – a total of more than 1200 over the past year (yes, their math is a bit fuzzy – I get 1404, but po-tay-toh, po-tah-toh).

Why this sharp downturn now? The BBPA blames a poor economy and the smoking ban in Britain’s pubs and brewers.

Which makes me think – what would it take for you to stop visiting your local bar? Has the economy affected your drinking habits? Or the smoking bans? Take our poll in the sidebar – and tell us what you think: are smoking bans killing our bars? Then, sound off below!

(Image: Newscom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Are Smoking Bans Killing the Beer Industry?

Last week I spent some time in London with a friend and, needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves a very nice pub crawl or two. Now, after years of drinking lager beers in Germany I’ve become accustomed to ales here in the US, so I am perfectly happy with either (most of the time, anyway). My friend, however, is German, and although he’s become more British than German in many respects, he’s still a resolute lager drinker.

That’s how I noticed that there are no more lagers from Britain, at least not on the taps of London. Lest you think I exaggerate, we went to at least seven different pubs and did not find a single lager on tap. Most of those pubs had at least four or five lagers on tap, from every country in Europe, but not a British lager. Kronenbourg was ubiquitous, as was Stella Artois, but we also saw Peroni, Staropramen, Foster’s, Becks, and a host of other continental lagers. Not one British lager. Even the first brewery of lagers in Britain is in danger of extinction, as reported by the BBC.

This article discusses the drop in lager sales, but it doesn’t really reflect the fact that the British consumer appears to be turning away from British lagers, not lagers as a whole. There are a few who are standing up for lagers in general and British lagers in particular, but it’s not making to the taps as yet. It’s a shame, because I’m sure there are some worthy British lagers out there.

image by me

Post from: EveryJoe

The Death of British Lager

Has anyone tried this?

Post from: EveryJoe

Lager hot sauce

I’ve written about glasses before, and at some point I’ll write about beer temperature, but it probably won’t come as a great surprise to anyone who has read this blog for any period of time that I don’t like frosted mugs. Frosted mugs result in a beer that’s too cold in the beginning followed by beer that’s cool but watered down. The plastic ones with the ice or insulating materials have similar problems, plus they are plastic, and I just hate to drink good beer out of plastic. That said, sometimes you’d like that lager to stay a little cooler, particularly during the summer for those of you in the southern hemisphere.

Luckily for you, there are at least two manufacturers of double-walled beer glasses. I’ve been eyeing the bodum double walled beer glasses for some time, which are handsome enough and, at $19.95 for two pricey but not unreasonable. They also come in a pilsner style glass. Japanese style house Muji also offers a double-walled beer glass through it’s Manhattan store and, presumably, somewhere on the internet. Those glasses, pictured above, feel like your basic pint glass to the hand, but preserve the aesthetic of a fluted beer glass.

image from Food & Wine, check out this article for other nifty (and some wildly extravagant) ideas for the beer and spirit drinker

Post from: EveryJoe

Avoiding warm beer

Now, I must confess to often choosing a big-bodied red wine with my favorite slice, but there are plenty of times I’ll enjoy a nice pilsner or other lager-style beer instead. The flavors in beer seem to compliment those in pizza, it’s as simple as that. Or perhaps not.

You see, someone has decided that if those two flavors go together, why not simply combine the two? So they have brewed – get this – pizza-flavored beer. According to the beer’s creator, they expect it to be used for cooking (which I can understand) as well as for drinking (which I can’t).

Post from: EveryJoe

Beer and pizza, pizza in beer