Unless we are very much mistaken, the world of beer appears to be changing quite dramatically. Some well preserved myths surrounding our national drink are being given a right royal kicking, the latest being that clear beer is good beer. Should we use finings in our cask beer, or should we leave it 'au naturelle'?
The unfined Yellowhammer pump clip. See, it says 'unfined'. It's a dead giveaway.
We've always liked unfined beer and David used to serve unfined Black Isle brews in his pub, but such progression (or regression, depending on how you look at it) was often met with suspicion. Now however, unfined beer is of the time as the drinker becomes more open to education and flavour and more brewers are willing to take perceived 'risks'. It may seem ridiculous that getting more flavour and mouth feel from your beer could be seen as a risk, but it is.
Our friend Justin at the excellent Moor Brewery in Somerset has been vocally fighting this fight for quite some time, which has given a few other brewers, ourselves and Summer Wine to name two, the confidence to have another crack at this consumer 'challenge'.
Finings are not a dirty secret however, and they are not a new addition to cask beer production, they have been used for centuries and by the vast majority of cask producing breweries in the UK.
So what are finings and what are they for? Over to our Beermaker-in-chief, Sir Colin of Stronge.
Not only is Colin a world class brewer, he is also the UK Hide and Seek championship runner up. If he'd closed the door he might have won.
"Finings are used to make cask beer clear, there are many different types of finings, but by far the most commonly used in beer production are Isinglass finings. Beer, given time will clear naturally but with the demands of the pub cellar for time and beer turn-over, the use of finings rose to allow this to happen more quickly and thus beer to take up less time and space on the cellar floor. Finings are usually added in cask.
Now for the geeky part. Ahem, science part.
"Prepared Isinglass forms a colourless jelly like liquid which is composed mostly of collagen which is a highly ordered helical polymer of positively charged particles which attract negatively charged yeast particles and beer proteins to gather together and drop out of suspension in the liquid (for the laymen, it pulls bits and stuff to the bottom of the cask)"
All hugely fascinating, but what are the benefits/downsides, Captain Colin?
"Well, for the publican this is a boon as it means the customer, who is concerned with appearance as much as they are with taste, gets what they desire, a perfectly clear pint of ale. However, this preoccupation with clarity comes at a cost. The finings remove yeast but also some floating hop compounds and oil held in the beer proteins, which are taste molecules which can improve the flavour, mouth feel and overall character of the beer. The clarity is not an indicator of quality as is assumed. In many countries clarity is an indicator that something has gone wrong with the brew and is lacking in flavour compounds which are expected to precipitate as haze in the final product. In the UK an obsession with the clarity of beer somehow lost this view around the time glass replaced traditional metal or clay tankards and the draw of the aesthetically pleasing qualities of a clear pint of ale began to outweigh the vastly more pleasing improvements in flavour brought by a correctly served beer which can carry a haze. In recent times brewers have moved more towards centrifuging beers as a way of meeting the customer in the middle, so that yeast and potential haze forming compounds are reduced in the final product and use of finings is minimised. This is an enormously costly undertaking and available only to larger breweries"
So there you go, a brief education on the origins and usage of finings. Interesting stuff, no?
Recently we conducted some taste tests in the Stockbridge Tap in Edinburgh, putting our core beers on the bar in two formats, fined and unfined. In both cases the unfined proved infinitely more popular. Happily the next fined/unfined test the Tap are running is for Moor's 'Revival'.
The Stockbridge Tap, a haven for great beer and tasty food... and we're not just saying that to be nice, it's a great pub.
Still unconvinced? Go and seek out an unfined beer, ignore your predisposed objection to hazy ale and taste with your mouth not with your eyes. You'll be rewarded, we promise.
If you want to help push for unfined beer through SIBA, Justin presents his case most eloquently Here .
Evolution not Revolution. Exciting times ahead.
