As I welcome in the New Year here at Kraft Werks I also welcome in our New Manager Josh Smith. We we’re all sad to see Luke leave and thank him for his steadfast and professional work over the last couple of years. Luke is heading down to London to see if he can make his fortune and we wish him good luck.
Josh takes over the reins of Kraft Werks Sherwood as general manager and has been promoted from team member. You’ll recognize him as the even hairier one!
So, in this edition we will be covering alcohol free and low abv beers, Tryanuary and both our event and brewery special is Sam Smiths.
Tryanuary is an event that Kraft Werks has been involved with for a few years now. For those of you that are unsure here is a little run down of what the campaign stands for.
Tryanuary is a nationwide campaign, founded in 2015 and supported by the likes of Camra and SIBA (The Society of Independent Brewers), and run by volunteers to encourage support for the beer industry throughout January.
December is a month of beer indulgence and celebration. So, come 1st January, many people in the UK set New Year’s Resolutions around health, fitness and saving money. What’s one of the first things people look to do to achieve this? Reduce how much time they spend going out and on beer. For the beer and pub industry, that makes January a challenging month. So, their campaign is targeting the continued support for the industry. Like a puppy, beer, breweries, pubs, clubs and bottle shops aren’t just for Christmas! Even if you are taking part in dry January you can still support local pubs and bars by dropping in for a soft drink, low alcohol beers or food in places which serve it. They also entertain the ideas which I have outlined in my other posts about dry January, not suggesting that you should drink 10 pints a day to support it, but what we’re all suggesting is to continue to enjoy beer in moderation as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Low alcohol beers now and a history
Low alcohol beers (usually categorised as under 3.5% abv) have been overlooked in the past in the craft beer scene. Hype beers such as Double IPA’s and Imperial Stouts regularly push the boundaries in terms of alcohol content in their respective styles upwards of whatever thought was possible around 10-15 years ago.
Table beers started its beginnings in medieval times where poor sanitation led to many diseases through drinking water, a fermented beverage was less likely to cause illness through the addition of hops and boiling. So fast forward 500 years and factor in the advances in water sanitation then surely this style of beer will surely be obsolete? Well the answer is actually no... up until the 1960’s the traditional ‘mild’ beer was the most popular style of beer in Britain. Deceptively full in flavour often without the alcoholic content that would make you fall over after a good session; this style of beer was a firm favourite with the thirsty working class.
Even in Germany with its famed brew houses, now over 500 of the 1500 breweries sell no or low alcohol beers as customers want to ditch the hangover and focus more on healthy alternatives.
Recently we were talking to a representative from Duvel Moorgat one of Belgium’s biggest brewing groups and even they are looking to introduce low abv beers this from the land of Quads and Trippel’s.
Here in the UK The Kernel still create the perfect Table Beer, generally under the 3% mark. Fewer beers have lower gravity in the craft scene than the Table Beer. And we’ll leave you with a great quote from the owner and head brewer of The Kernel “we drink a lot of beer and we’ll probably live longer if we don’t drink strong beers all the time”.
Samuel Smiths Pub take over.
Samuel Smith is one of Britain’s oldest breweries and have been brewing beer on the same sight in Tadcaster since 1758.
Sam Smiths beers are brewed in stone Yorkshire Squares with water drawn from a well under the brewery and use their own yeast strain which has been in use in since 1900. Sam Smiths beers are even delivered by horse & cart 5 days a week to local pubs.
Many of Sam Smith beers are often revered by the craft beer world, due their high quality and traditional authenticity. And anyone who has stepped into a Sam Smith pub has felt the charming old-world delight of one of their pubs.
So, to celebrate this fantastic and slightly curmudgeonly old brewery and what we dub proper beer. Kraft Werks will be having a pub take over starting from Friday the 31st January all our kegs lines will be serving Sam Smiths beers.
We have:
Organic Wheat Beer
Organic Pure Brewed Lager
Extra Stout
Sovereign Bitter
Light Mild
We look to see you at Kraft Works and feel free to use your mobile phone!
Cheers
Josh, James and Os