Britain's extremists

American breweries coined the term ‘extreme’ more than a decade ago. Are British brewers starting to follow suit? Adrian Tierney Jones reports

Extreme beer is the current buzzword on the lips of United States craft brewers, as that country’s dynamic brewing community experiments with woodaging, triple amounts of hops, various combos of fruit and veg in the mash tun and the odd beer with peanut butter in the mix. These beers are the brewing equivalent of base-jumping or being flung from a medieval catapult, but are far safer, unless of course you drink several pints of a 20% alcohol by volume (ABV) porter.

Is it all punk rock gimmicky or pushing the boundaries of brewing? I opt for the latter and, given the constant transatlantic crossing of ideas in many aspects of life, it’s no surprise to discover that the extreme beer virus has affected a handful of British brewers.

First of all, what is an extreme beer and how does it fit into British brewing? Many are high in alcohol, such as Dogfish Head’s monumental World Wide Stout. But then we’ve had plenty of strong beers in this country for years: barley wines, stock ales and Arctic ales. Perhaps it’s beers brewed with fruit and the sort of yeasts that lambic makers use in Belgium. Hmm, see the fruity beers of Melbourne in Lincolnshire or the tradition of cherry beers in Kent. Then there’s Bruce Williams at Heather Ales, who has been noted for his eclectic ingredients, including heather, gooseberries, pine sprigs and spruce shoots, for ages. Are all these to be lumped under the title of extreme beer?

When it comes down to it, the term extreme beer seems hard to pin dow.....

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By Adrian Tierney-Jones

Section : Beer Trends

Page number : 32