Neither of those beers would exist without the input of US brewers into beer culture.
Totally agree that the American craft brewing movement has been a hugely positive influence but unfortunately it is also responsible for inspiring an awful lot of shite beers (British and American) made by hipster wannabes who haven't got a fucking clue what they're doing.
Fashion, trends, bandwagons and marketing I'm afraid.
There are beer wars going on our there at the moment, it's all getting a bit heated in the streets!
[And no, not going there...not going to mention the C word!]
One thing that has to be mentioned that has changed though and been concurrent with the Craft Beer movement [meaningless phrase really] is the different way of dispensing beer - namely the preponderance of
k-keg and E-keg systems as well as the traditional cask conditioned system. Baring in mind a keg beer with probably last a good two weeks as opposed to a few days on cask, you can see the attraction from a business point of view. Cask is fine, but it takes plenty of looking after and you've got to shift it. With the keg stuff, you can have smaller quantities lasting longer so you can have different varieties available at the same time. I went to a craft beer palce the other day that had 20 beers on!!
Persoanally, I'll try anything [and often do] but with the best will in the world I just can't stand beers that are too carbonated, too citrasy [the hop] and too cold - which sadly rules out most of the newer beers styles for me. It's just not my bag. Getting hold of my own
personal Nivarna is getting increasing rare.
What is interesting is see, is a lot of guys who are lager drinkers, being very at home with a fashionable hopey, carbonated keg beer. Many more women are also drinking beer than have previously, and bottles are very in with the youngsters. So brewers are looking at much wider, diverse markets these days.
But I do wonder how significant the SBR [small brewers relief] is to the survival of many of these micro breweries. I was reading a while back that Batemans [trad ale brewery from Lincolnshire, XXXB lovely pint] actually cut their production back to come in under the threshold of a specific SBR tariff for tax purposes.
Another interesting paradox is the ever decreasing number of public houses in the country while on the other, the increasing number of micro breweries emerging. Brewing is one thing - selling the stuff is another. I do quite a lot of work for a local micro brewery, helping with the fit-out of their tasting bars/bottle shops. They have big [for them] expansioni plans, and are borrowing money all over the place. It's interesting to see it all unfolding. I really wish them well [hell I should do, I drink there]. But I do wonder about the longevity of what's going on at the moment. [Who was it who said 'If you see a band wagon, chances are it's too late?]
Going back to fashion, trends, bandwagons and marketing......all these things level out in the end and there has to be saturation point sooner or later, and the best stuff[well...what you can sell I suppose] will survive. In the Meantime....if you like beer - get drinking