I never knew there were two 6 o’clocks in a day, neither did the wife, but today is the day I found out when Denzil from Great Heck Brewery told us to meet him at just after 7…in the morning!

Pulling up outside what looked like just another house in the sleepy village of Great Heck, with the odd glance from a passing “local”, my beer companion and I had arrived, not knowing what to expect, on the dot of 07:15 for the start of our days brewing.

Denzil greeted us more like long lost friends rather than mere “internet acquaintances” and was obviously more used to getting up at dawn’s crack as he had already got the hot water tank up to temperature and had his brewing sheet in hand ready to guide us through the process of brewing Heck’s Angel, a golden ale normally around 3.9%.

Great Heck Brewery

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Somewhere amongst the craft beer revolution the mass produced lagers that line supermarket shelves were demonised, no thanks to A-B InBev and a dash of UK lout culture. It probably didn’t take much for some people to come to this conclusion, not least those who’ve read anything by Naomi Klein. I only drink mass produced lager at certain times, and I’m happy to tell people how much I prefer the wealth of beer styles beyond Carlsberg, Fosters and Carlsberg, but something about the portrayal of the big beer producers isn’t quite fair.

Part of the variance between attitudes to craft beer and beer produced on a much larger scale – and the clue is in the names of the former classification – is related to craftsmanship. Microbreweries are more hands on; they require the skill and ingenuity of a watchful brewer and they share the allure of slow food, local produce and a more traditional way of doing things.¹

What strikes me as strange though is the lack of respect for the workmanship involved in producing beers at an entirely different scale, the macro scale. At the risk of pissing off the realms of craft beer lovers I’ve met over the last 18 months there’s a – for want of a better word – hypocrisy at work when it comes to mass produced beer.^2,3

The LHC tunnel. Truly awesome. Photo: Maximilien Brice © CERN

I stand shoulder to shoulder with those who praise the magnitude and sheer audacity of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, a modern wonder of engineering and a monument to the unbounded elasticity of human thought. I’m not expecting that people start to compare such a feat of human endeavour with a few dazzling mash tuns or a shiny new bottling line, but take it as exaggerated example of the way that craft beer production is praised whilst mass produced beer is mocked, something which doesn’t necessarily happen in other areas of human pursuit. In Three Sheets To The Wind Pete Brown visits the Miller brewery in Milwaukee and scoffs at the statistic-heavy-copper-light tour (rightly so, I’m sure). But Miller’s statistics hint at something oft forgotten: the efficiency of economies of scale and the brain power that helped achieve that.

It’s so secret that micro brewing isn’t exactly the most environmentally sustainable pursuit one can follow. I’m sure there’s good reason why rainwater and wind power aren’t viable solutions for the average craft brewery, let alone a home brewer. And mass produced lager travels a long way as its owners desperately try to monopolise every corner of the earth with their brand logo. But at a pure production level I think there’s something marvellous (in the truest sense of the world) at the way beer is brewed to meet the huge demand of Lloyd’s No.1 Bar and Tesco.

Having visited the maltings of Coors in Burton (just the maltings, not even any of the brewing buildings) I can vouch that the scale of beer production at that level is a feat of engineering and science that deserves praise up there with the best craft brewers. To build such facilities and maintain them is not something they should be ashamed of, in the same way that smaller, independent brewers are unerringly proud of their facilities and production methods, however quirky and different.

LHC cryogenics in action. Perhaps inspired by... Photograph: Maximilien Brice © CERN

...the malt stores of industrial brewers. Ok, perhaps not, but both fine examples of engineering nonetheless (if not in the same division!)

Where mass production loses its charm is in the kitchens and back rooms of budding home brewers across the globe. Because craft brewing is accessible. Anyone can set up a brewery. Perhaps few will ever nurture the skills to make truly great beer, but perhaps fewer still possess the aptitude to design the systems of mass production that make beer and countless other commodities on a scale that we take for granted.

Don’t get me wrong, in the course of praising the economies of scales of larger breweries I in no way want to disparage the work of any of the craft brewers that make the beers that I would argue are the best in the world. But even if you don’t like the taste, the marketing or the general arrogance of the mass producing oligarchs of the beer world, I don’t think it’s fair to leverage that viewpoint against the technology and expertise that goes into making them as tasteless and bland as the majority of the population prefer. I would argue when you (and I) do so, we do because of preconceptions (some but certainly not all of which are misconceptions) about who drinks what and where. Carling might be the drink of stag doers in Blackpool, but that doesn’t mean there’s no wonder in how they make it taste so much like corn and piss, so deliberately and so consistently.

I’m all for reducing beer miles, improving the quality of beer and encouraging diversity (something to be discussed shortly) and I reckon that to project negative perceptions on the larger brewers may at times in fact be a backwards form of justice. However I argue the case that mass production itself is not necessarily bad, and is in fact necessary for the sustainability of some beers. Mass production in fact can be something that deserves a little of our awe and appreciation. I believe it is a disservice to the engineers and scientists of days gone by and those of days yet to come as the population of the earth increases steadily.

I apologies for the stereotypes (unfortunately necessary in an attempt at succinctness) and I welcome your arguments for and against, partly in the hope I’m wrong and I can carry on hating A-B InBev unabated. ⁴

This week saw the end of Newcastle Brown Ale production in the North-East, as Scottish & Newcastle Brewery, one of the largest brewing conglomerates in the UK, announced they are shifting production of ‘Newcy Broon’ to one of their other plants in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire.

This marks the end of over 90 years of a brewing tradition in the North East and ends an association that has become mutually synonymous for both the locality and the brand.

This couples with the current threat hanging over the Tetley’s brand, with a reported shift of the famous Leeds beer to Northampton when Carlsberg closes the Tetley’s brewery next year.

Here at Real Ale Reviews, we champion innovation and development in beers, and could possibly be expected to be pleased to witness the downfall of the larger brands as their multinational owners struggle to balance vast production and decreased sales (resulting from, I am sure,  the growth in desire for a quality pint of cask ale as opposed to a bland ‘Smooth’ brand). However, there is a strong argument in the defense of traditionalism in brewing culture.

Myself and Mark met at University and one of our close friends is a Geordie. One of the first drinking memories I have of our friend is his pride as he introduced us all to the joy of Newcastle Brown. He made sure we were drinking it at the correct temperature; in the correct half-pint glasses and told us of drunken adventures he had enjoyed growing up in the North-East.

The Geordie was by no means an ale drinker, preferring the cost of cheap lagers that dominated the Uni years. But this was one of the things that he could show off to his new companions – Newcastle had a recognisable brand to be proud of. (Predictably, his other pride was Newcastle United Football Club, but that’s another story!).

As certain household brands came under corporate ownership, they immediately lost that sense of belonging and connection to the local community. No matter what promises a large company might make about retaining an interest in the region, money talks and it soon becomes apparent that large companies such as N&S (themselves owned by the Carlsberg Group) didn’t get themselves into positions of international importance by remaining in one place.

Discussing this move on internet forums, one thought that came across was the idea that some of the large brands that are seriously struggling would benefit from a move away from the larger owners and start afresh in a smaller, dedicated operation that produces the ale for the sheer love of it, putting some pride and care back into the brewing procedure.

Of course, this is a pipedream and there is certainly no shortage of excellent breweries across the country doing this with their own brands. But there is a reason that certain ales have survived as long as they have, outliving their contemporaries and continuing throughout a world that has changed dramatically around it.

This is far from the end of Newcastle Brown in terms of a production beer, but taking it away from its hometown makes it just another beer.