Brewery closures continue apace, and there may be more to come

Not surprisingly 2022 has been a bad year for the UK’s brewing industry, with the combination of sky-high energy prices, high inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain difficulties all contributing to the closure of over 60 breweries. The number is still rising, and includes some pretty big and well-respected names, and at the moment we don’t know where or how, it’s all going to end.  As I've written before this wasn't how we were supposed to have come out of COVID, in fact many pundits forecast a booming economy against a background, of “bright sunlit uplands.”

Now we've heard these promises of a sunny future before, most noticeably from the opportunists, political careerists, and spiv hedge-fund managers, who brought us the failed experiment that is Brexit. Now, after dismissing very real concerns from those who could see the very real dangers from us cutting ties with our closest neighbours, in the world’s largest trading block, the UK economy has tanked, trade and investment are down, whilst company failures and bankruptcies are up. “Project Fear” has definitely become, “Project Reality!”

Aside from Brexit, one of the main driving forces behind these negative events has been the illegal, and totally unwarranted, invasion of a peaceful country (Ukraine), by its larger neighbour – Russia. Led by gangster, war criminal and former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin, a man who thinks he’s Peter the Great - Ivan the Terrible, would be a much more appropriate moniker, the war in Ukraine has been responsible for rocketing energy bills, supply chain disruption, destruction of property and infrastructure on a massive scale, plus the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people. (I am including the deaths of combatants, on both sides here, as a large proportion of the Russian forces will have been unwilling participants in this debacle).

Ten months on, and the conflict shows no signs of ending, despite Ukrainian forces having given Putin and his rag-bag army a well-deserved kicking. It seems that we never learn the lessons from history, because once again, a crazed dictator (think Hitler, Stalin and all the others), has been allowed to wage war, on a peaceful country, bringing misery and destruction on its inhabitants. One man is responsible for this and, as history has shown, it always is a man, because women have far more sense.

The repercussions from both these events, continue to exert their negative influence on the UK economy, but the situation has been made far worse, by one of the most inept governments in living memory. Can you imagine any other responsible western administration crashing its own economy for some warped economic fantasy centred around massive tax cuts for the super-rich, financed by massively increased borrowing? The reputation the Conservative Party once had for careful management of the nation’s finances and responsible government, went out the window with the reckless budget of Liz Truss, and her hapless chancellor, Kwazi Kwarteng.  

Britain today is not a happy place, and it is against this background of rising prices, broken supply chains, falling demand caused by consumers tightening their belts, that we are witnessing this round of bankruptcies and brewery closures. Some of these involve large and long-established companies, but most concern small and often quite recent start-ups. It’s got to the stage that hardly a week goes by without news another closure or two.

I thought it would be interesting to discover exactly how many breweries have closed this year, and fortunately the good people at Beer Nouveau, have done the research, and published the full list, here on their website. There are some real surprise, including Truman’s (the re-launched company), Box Steam, Slater's, and Linfit, to name but a few, but there are also much larger concerns, such as Jennings, Caledonian and Dark Star, where breweries have been closed by larger, parent companies intent on making cost savings.

The closure of Jennings and Caledonian is particularly sad, given their long pedigree and 19^th Century origins. The same also applies to Truman’s who, at one time, were one of the largest, and most famous breweries in Victorian London. Their Brick Lane Brewery, in London’s East End, closed in 1989, but in 2010, a new start-up acquired the rights to the Truman name, and brought back some of the beers. Unfortunately, the revived brewery closed in June 2022, as a result of the pandemic.

The closure of the other, mainly much smaller breweries is also sad, especially as many are start-ups, where people have poured their hearts, souls and very often their life savings as well, into getting these new ventures off the ground. It’s true to say that not all of these companies operated from a sound financial basis, and some may have been living on borrowed time. It’s also true that for the last decade or so, industry observers have been predicting a fallout in what was seen as a very overcrowded small brewery sector.

Some of these closures then, should not come as a total surprise, but what was unforeseen was Putin’s warmongering and reckless gamble in Ukraine, which has compounded the weakness of the UK economy. I don't think anyone is sure how this is going to play out, although the best short-term outcome would be a defeat, and total collapse of Putin’s Russia, followed by the return of peace and stability to Ukraine. However, even if the war ended tomorrow, there is a massive task ahead in trying to rebuild Ukraine’s shattered infrastructure, housing stock and economic base.

In the meantime, it's a case of the rest of us sitting tight and offering as much help and assistance to the Ukrainian people as we can. As for the closed breweries, some of these will be missed more than others, but each closure represents a lost opportunity, a lost dream, and a sense of failure for the people involved. The only crumb of comfort, is this cull, may have thrown a lifeline to those breweries that are still trading.

They are said to number over 2,000, a figure that would have been unimaginable, back in the 1970s, when the Campaign for Real Ale first set out it stall. I’m sure that many of you will have treasured favourites amongst the rich portfolios of the remaining breweries, so until better times arrive, not just for the brewing industry and hospitality trade, but for the world in general, let us raise a glass or two to the brave and hardworking souls behind all brewing companies, both past and present, who have given their all in making the lot of the beer drinker a better one.

What Price the Best Beer in the World?

In a previous article, about last month’s cruise and the all too brief stop-over we had in Amsterdam, I mentioned a rather good bottle shop, called Bierkonig. It is located in the heart of Amsterdam, close to Dam Square, and just a short hop from the Dutch Royal Palace. According to most guide books, and online review sites, it is consistently regarded as the best bottle shop in Amsterdam and has achieved legendary status among craft beer fans.

It must be doing something right, as it has been serving a huge range of international beers since 1985, so as I was in the area, it would have been rude not to have paid a visit to Bierkonig. The business occupies a rather unassuming shop, just a short distance from Dam Square – a location that seems to be a popular meeting place. It was quite easy to find, and not as far from the cruise terminal as I first thought. This quite often happens when I'm exploring new places, but it's better when it’s this way around then finding one has under estimated the distance, and the time taken to reach a place I was looking for.

I arrived at Bierkonig, with a completely open mind as to what I would buy, basically because I had absolutely no idea what I would find there. I had already read that this small store boasts an impressive, and somewhat overwhelming selection of bottles, so with this in mind I decided to take a look and see what took my fancy. Apart from two members of staff, one of whom was busy re-stocking, there was just a couple of customers in the shop.  I hadn't been there long before they’d finished their browsing and were ready to pay for their goods, so I then had the store to myself.

The shelves, which extend around most internal walls, were well-stocked, and there is also a raised area at the rear of the premises, with a section below. I thought that I’d taken more photos that I actually did, but you will get the picture from those posted below. 

There were quite a few strong Winter and Christmas Bock beers from Germany, but as I was in the Low Countries, I stuck to mainly Dutch varieties, with the occasional Belgian offering for good measure. I was also mindful that I would have to carry my purchases back to the cruise ship, and whilst I came equipped with a sturdy and reasonably sized rucksack, I didn’t want to overdo it.

I had thought of going for some of the more obscure Trappist Beers, and I did pick up a few of these, including Achel Bruin, Zundert 8, and Orval - not that obscure I know, but equally not that common in the UK either. I also found a beer with a pale blue label, from Westmalle, that I had never seen before, called “Extra.” With a strength of just 4.8%, this golden beer is one of the weakest Trappist beers I have come across, but apparently this is the table beer served to the monks and their guests, at the Belgian abbey of the same name.

In addition, and because I'd already seen it advertised on shop’s website, I was determined to buy a bottle or maybe two of Westvleteren 12, the beer ranked by the site RateBeer.com, as the best in the world, and therefore, because of limited production, one of the most sought-after beers as well.  I had already decided that no matter how expensive was beer was, I would still buy at least one bottle, due to its rarity value. After all, it’s not that often the one gets the opportunity to purchase the “Best Beer in the World.”

However, more or less as soon as I walked into Bierkonig, I noticed a prominent display of Westvleteren beers, on sale for €17.50 per bottle – yes, that’s seventeen Euros and fifty cents, for a 330 ml bottle! Now it’s said that every man has his price, and those bottles of Westvleteren were just too expensive, despite my earlier decision, but before going back on it, there was one final arbiter - more about that in a minute.

I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t shocked, although a wise-man would say I should have done my homework first. Looking back, there are plenty of pointers on line which would have told me that €17.50 was not unreasonable under the circumstances, but whilst I was quite prepared to fork out €10.00, an extra 75% on top of that was just too expensive. I resolved to ask Bierkonig’s proprietor what his thoughts were on the matter, so I began by asking him whether in his opinion a bottle of Westvleteren 12, a beer touted as the best in the world, was worth that exorbitant price.

His answer, that it wasn’t, told me what I already knew in my heart of hearts, because whilst owner Jelle Hultink stated that Westvleteren 12 was an extremely good beer, he said there were plenty of others, equally as good. He told me that he had to charge that amount, because of the price he has to pay, but he also qualified that statement by saying there are plenty of buyers out there, willing to pay considerably more than what he is charging. My mention of the RateBeer ranking brought a wry smile to his face which prompted the admission that the majority of these cash rich buyers were American.

As he totalled up my purchases at the till, he said for the price of just one Westvleteren, there were five or six bottles amongst my selection, so in terms of variety and quantity, I obviously had the better deal. I thanked him for his honest and frankness, which went a long way in reinforcing my preconceptions about that particular beer, as well as raising a lot of questions about the marketing of these hard to get hold of Trappist beers, so I want to end by linking to an article I wrote seven years ago, which basically asked the same thing.

Back in August 2015, whilst in Belgium for the European Beer Bloggers’ Conference, I was fortunate to visit Westvleteren. I didn’t get to see the brewery; no-one ever does as St Sixtus is the Willy Wonka chocolate factory of breweries. But if you think the monks occasionally hide "golden tickets" in amongst their packs of beer, then think again, as the closest anyone gets is to either visit the modern and spacious In de Vrede café, located just across from the abbey in the Donkerstraat 13, or to try their luck at the drive-thru pick-up gate.

So, what is it about Westvleteren beer which makes it so hard to get hold of, and why are supplies so limited? The situation dates back to 2005 when the beer-information website RateBeer.com rated Westvleteren 12° as the best beer in the world. The monks at Saint Sixtus who brew this dark, quadrupel-style beer were not at all pleased by the ensuing publicity, despite this award being an achievement that most brewers can only dream of. The problem is they are not in the business of brewing beer in order to win awards; neither are they in it for the money. They brew beer only in sufficient quantities to support themselves and their abbey.

You can read the rest of the article here, but when I arrived back at the cruise ship, I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps I had missed a golden opportunity. A work colleague certainly thought I had, and it wasn’t as though I couldn’t afford the price asked at Bierkonig. So, was it a case of buyers regret, or did I make the right choice. I’m sure there will be other opportunities to try Westvleteren 12°, including a return visit to the In de Vrede café, located just across from the abbey of St Sixtus, as mentioned above. We shall see!!