In session...with Ben McFarland
Beer Writer of the Year Ben McFarland on caffeine-infused beers and their coverage in the tabloids.
You have to hand it to the Daily Star, that most revered of red-top organs.
It's got its knockers, on nearly every page last time I looked. But given a slow news day and half an opportunity to wag its finger at a besieged drinks trade and you can bet your bottom (it's got a fair few of those too) dollar it'll get stuck in.
"BUZZ BEER KEEPS YOU WIDE-EYED 'N LEGLESS" screamed a recent headline. The story was that Be, a new beer "spiked with caffeine" from Anheuser-Busch, is set to pick away at the social fabric of our once-great nation.
The "wakey-wakey brew", the Daily Star would have one believe, has been specifically designed to stoke the fire of city centre violence and transform upstanding pillars of the community into drunken, wide-eyed lunatics who "will be able to go all the way".
Far be it for me to let the truth get in the way of a sensationalist and meaningless scoop, but there were just a few things the hackneyed hacks neglected to mention.
Firstly, Anheuser-Busch insists there are currently no plans to launch Be on this side of the pond. Secondly, if it does ever make it here it won't be doing anything that the prevalent combination of Red Bull and vodka doesn't do already.
Thirdly, and most importantly, a caffeine-infused beer has been brewing on these fair shores for quite some time courtesy of the much-revered Meantime Brewery in Greenwich.
Not that the synthetic Be and Meantime's lush Coffee Beer are even comparable. In fact, it's a momentous mistake to even mention them in the same column.
Meantime's head brewer Alastair Hook launched his Coffee Beer last year after joining forces with Union Coffee Roasters - an artisan coffee company from East London which specialises in high quality single estate and responsibly-sourced arabica coffees. Until a chance conversation Meantime was unaware of the existence of Union Coffee Roasters, even though a north-westerly wind would carry coffee aromas across the river to the brewery yard. An affinity rapidly developed between the two firms. Alastair had been inspired by the microbrewery revolution on US West Coast in the early 1980s while Jeremy Torz, roastmaster at Union, had been inspired by the can-do attitude of the micro-roasteries that were springing up in San Francisco at about the same time.
Both companies vowed to take time out from blazing an innovative trail in their respective brewing scenes to launch the UK's first ever fair trade beer. Despite the roasting connection, it didn't get a mention in the Daily Star but then again good news, especially when beer's involved, rarely does.
Good news for Britain's budding craft brewing scene, good news for discerning and adventurous drinkers that yearn for great tasting, flavour-packed and interesting beers and great news for the Abahuzamugambi Bakawa tribe in Rwanda. Its coffee beans are responsible for Meantime Coffee's fantastic flavours and aroma. Coffee from Rwanda may be unfamiliar to most, but two-thirds of the country's population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, and depend on its sale for survival.
Prior to the interest of Union, the Abahuzamugambi Bakawa was selling its thrillingly sensuous arabica bourbon coffee beans to dubious middlemen for just a few cents per pound. Union pays them much more than that now - about three times the market rate. And thanks to Union's involvement, three years of NGO smallholder education, investment and development of the coffee processing infrastructure at the co-operative level, the tribe is back on its feet. "More than 9,000 people have seen dramatic improvements to their lives thanks to the close relationships we have developed and premium price we pay," says Jeremy.
The Abahuzamugambi coffee was picked out as the ideal ingredient for Alastair Hook's revolutionary beer. Coffee from Brazil and Columbia was blind-tasted but it was Rwanda that came out on top.
Best drunk chilled, it's a truly unique, rich, smooth and velvety brew capable of tickling the tastebuds of stout and porter devotees, urban types who proudly order a "venti-decaf-skinny-macchiato" with a straight face, all coffee drinkers with a conscience and, of course, tabloid reporters who should know better.
Ben was awarded the title of Beer Writer of the year for 2004 by the British Guild of Beer Writers. |
Related articles:
No plans for caffeine-laced beer in UK yet (11 February 2005)
