Let’s start with the basics- what even is craft beer?

 

Well, actually that’s harder than it seems. You can’t define it by size, because there are some big craft brewers out there.

 

Or ingredients, because craft brewing is about experimentation and they’re a bunch of rule breakers.

 

Or region. By this point in the debate, we got bored. It’s just really good beer. But if you do care, here’s a definition.

 

Anyway, here are a bunch more facts about craft beer. Because nothing sounds cooler than the words of a true connoisseur.

 

• Its rise in the UK was due to a backlash against fizzy, mass-produced imported beer. A group called Camra, the Campaign for Real Ale got together in 1971, probably at the pub and started making a bit of noise.

 

• We’ve also got Gordon Brown to thank. He offered tax incentives for breweries making fewer than 3m litres of beer per year, giving the smaller guys a leg up.

 

• And Michael Jackson. No, not that MJ,  the late British beer writer Michael Jackson, who left his job as a magazine editor and started writing awesome things about beer around the world.

 

• So what started in the kitchens and garages of people with an intense passion for beer, became a revolution. Now, Britain  has about 1,500 breweries, more per head than anywhere else in the world.

 

• It’s said that the worst way to drink craft beer is from a straight-sided pint glass as it doesn’t bring out the flavour. Ours come in beer bottles for maximum taste.

 

• The term “rule of thumb” originates from brewers who would stick their thumb into the mix to see when the temperature was right for adding the yeast.

 

•  Beer is good for you ( kind of) as the silicon promotes strong bones.

 

• Belgian craft beer is said to be the best in the world, apparently because of the yeast used. That’s why Vedett Blond, White and IPA, Leffe, Chimay and Duvel all made it onto our menu.

 

• The USA has the most craft breweries in the world. If you want to see what the top dog is made of, give Boulevard Single-Wide IPA or Brooklyn a go, both available in bar.

 

The challenge, should you choose to accept it , is to see how many of these facts you can get into a conversation before your mates tell you to bore off.

 

But if your mates aren’t interested in craft beer facts, then you probably shouldn’t be hanging out with such sad people in the first place. Just book a table with us and make friends with our huge range of awesome beers and ciders.