No posts for two weeks (ok, maybe a bit longer than that!) and then come two corkers in a row. I think the fumes got to me from filling the Fusion barrels. But that’s a story for sometime in the future.
I’ve always stated that our unfined beers pour with a beautiful, natural haze. And it’s true, with all those lovely yeast cells and hop oils floating around for you to enjoy. The unfined movement has grown from a number of angles – breweries converting, awards being won, word being spread, barriers dropping, and most importantly – drinkers loving it!
The debate about unfined / cloudy beer was won so it’s time to move on. No doubt we’ll continue to be sniped at by some vocal zealots, but that is to be expected and is really just noise. You are on board, and that’s what matters.
The term ‘unfined’ can be a bit confusing. It brings negativity to the debate, and introduces technical jargon which is superfluous. It also isn’t the most appealing term we could use. After a long beer naming session with some passionate pub managers we settled on the term ‘Natural’. Not only does it sound great, it encapsulates the essence of what we are trying to achieve. Going forward we are going to be talking about ‘natural beer’, with unfined being just one of its appealing attributes. Also, we are launching Natural Beauty tomorrow to press in Nicholson’s pubs, so I expect the word to get spread further.
I heard one objection, that real ale was meant to be natural. To me that actually meant ‘traditional’. There will always be brewers serving fined, clear beer in the ‘traditional’ manner and consumers who want it that way. That’s their choice. I don’t think it is a good idea to create internal fighting and navel gazing amongst the industry. We are offering a more ‘natural’ beer that is ‘naturally’ cloudy. I would like to see the industry unite and send positive messages about both ‘traditional’ and ‘natural’ beer. I hope you agree and would be willing to support that. Please help spread the word, and let me know what you think.
Call it what you will, we hope you continue to enjoy drinking natural beer as much as we enjoy brewing it for you. Spread the word, and get down to a Nicholson’s pub for some Natural Beauty.