Health fears over 'extreme beer' craze
Bottled bitters with mind-blowing alcohol contents are being marketed to young drinkers
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Independent Minds
With names like Punk IPA, Speed Ball and O8, a new generation of fuller-flavoured ales – part of what has been called the "extreme beer" movement – has been launched in an attempt to push back the boundaries of Britain's national drink.
The new breed of bitters, with their intense flavours and alcohol contents of up to 12 per cent, are the work of young brewing entrepreneurs trying capture the attention – and cash – of lager-guzzling twentysomethings.
Beer writers and aficionados have welcomed the speciality bottles, which can contain 10 times as much hops as a traditional pint, as a necessary revitalisation of a market dominated by corporate giants turning out similar 4 per cent brown bitters.
But alcohol campaigners have complained that drinkers may be unaware of the strength of the new products, a single 330ml bottle of which is enough to make an adult exceed their daily recommended alcohol intake.
In January the Portman Group, the alcohol industry watchdog, ruled the brashest exponent of the movement, BrewDog brewery in Aberdeen, had broken its code on responsible marketing for its Speed Ball beer, named after the cocktail of cocaine and heroin which killed the actor John Belushi, star of The Blues Brothers.
Despite the group rejecting complaints against three of BrewDog's other beers, Punk IPA, Rip Tide and Hop Rocker, its managing director, James Watt, accused Portman of being "outdated" and "out of touch". He did, however, concede that his company had been provocative. "We thought we would give them something worth banning us for," he said.
Founded two years ago by Mr Watt and a student friend, BrewDog has expanded rapidly and now produces 2.6 million bottles of beer a year, with alcohol contents of between 4 and 9 per cent, and is selling its 6 per cent Punk IPA in Tesco.
Another of its products, Hardcore IPA, contains 10 times more hops than a standard beer. The result is a drink that scores 150 on a scale of bitterness, compared to 15 for a standard lager. Next month the brewery is likely to attract fresh criticism with the launch of Divine Rebel – at 12.5 per cent beer, its most alcoholic product to date.
Other small regional brewers are also intensifying the strength and flavour of their bottles, although in a less controversial manner. Thornbridge brewery in Derbyshire has won 40 awards for its 5.9 per cent Jaipur pale ale, which uses pungent US hops. The Dark Star Brewery in West Sussex has a 6.5 per cent Six Hop Ale, while Otley in Pontypridd, Wales, makes the boldly marketed 8 per cent O8.
Adam Witherington, drink editor of The Publican newspaper, said: "In the US over the past five years there has been an explosion of craft brewing. Brewers have looked at the way beer is put together and thought, 'How can we do this bigger and crazier?' They're saying, 'Why don't we triple the hops?' Extreme is not so much about ABV, it's about taste and it's about pushing it beyond what beer drinkers are used to."
Alcohol Concern complained that BrewDog appeared to be targeting young people. "The marketing reminds me very much of alcopops," said its chief executive, Don Shenker. "It looks to me like they're going for the 18 to 25-year-old category. They should make prospective customers aware that it's a different type of beer by putting the alcohol units on the label. At 10 per cent, a 330ml bottle would be four units – the recommended daily amount for a man."
BrewDog's head brewer, Martin Dickie, denied encouraging irresponsible drinking, pointing out that some of his bottles cost £4 each. "There's no way someone can drink 20 a night. It's probably the least economic way of buying alcohol. You can get a bottle of vodka for £5."
His products were meant to be enjoyed by friends in their own homes, he added. "You can sit down with two or three friends and open two or three bottles. It's much more relaxed and you are able to savour the beer."
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Comments
Let's get real. If we tackle the root causes of alcohol abuse many of the cheap and nasty products will disappear. I suspect quality ales will survive; I will continue to drink them in moderation, but people like me don't make the headlines as I'm a middle-class fifty something!
I find it highly amusing that the Portman group and Alcohol Concern are helping out with BrewDog marketing by drawing attention. Go BrewDog, go for it.
Not only does there seem to be some misunderstanding about the relationship between hops and alcohol (there isn't one), but your correspondent is woefully out of touch with the whole notion of craft brewing, not only in the UK, but also on a global scale.
The vast majority of the beers that you refer to are prohibitively expensive. If you want to get drunk on them, good luck - not only are they hard to find, but they are also expensive. These beers emphasise flavour and quality above anything else. Singling out these beers is like complaining that there are some American boutique wines that tip the scales at 17%abv - ignoring the fact that they are beyond the means of most drinkers.
Furthermore, the figures quoted by Mr Shenker are incorrect; an alcoholic drink of 10% in a 330ml bottle contains 3.3 units - a 20% inaccuracy there. If I were a commissioning editor, I'd be disappointed with the accuracy of this claim, and might think twice before soliciting further comment from him.
But well done for managing to contact a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers to try and add a little balance - it's just a shame that your correspondent couldn't spell Mr. Withrington's name correctly.
In beer-fan circles (especially in the US) it's these beers that whip up the excitement, that get brewspapers & bloggers hot under the collar.
It's argued that these beers are the cutting edge of craft-brewing innovation, giving rise to new beer styles (Double Indian Brown Ale anyone?).
Do I think all of these beers are worth their weight in hops? - No - some are overblown, unbalanced undrinkable alco-hop-soups trading on their macho super-cool marketing; others are fantastic creations worthy of positive column inches.
Do I think they are always marketed responsibly? - No - BrewDog's combined protestations of innocence while naming a beer after a deadly drug concoction smacks (pun unintended) of only of extreme juvenility.
Do I think that extreme beers are a particularly worrying trend in terms of alcohol abuse? - No - as most seem to accept, these beers are one of the most expensive ways of getting 'merry' - no "minimum pricing" legislation would affect their sales, they are already way over the price bracket of the average problem-drinker-on-a-budget. Worry about the price of supermarket vodka, there's nothing of great concern here.
To me the world would be a far gloomier place were it not for pale ale, IPA, bitter, stout, porter, barley wine, wee heavy, heather ale, mild & brown ale, etc - all products of Britain's fine brewing tradition.
The best of Britain's craft-brewers (large & small brewers can fit this term) do justice to this proud tradition, often in cask beer, but also in bottle.
Not to your taste? - no problem, it's all personal taste.
Do I mean that all UK beer is great? - of course not, much of the mass-brewed stuff is deathly dull at best.
But to dismiss Britain's entire brewing tradition is just plain wrong.