Craft Beers: The American way

Specialist beer importer Nigel Stevenson turns down his Jarvis Cocker album and says: "The people who make American craft beers are quite engaging really. They wear shorts and T-shirts rather than tweedy suits… I shouldn't be saying this should I?"

He's right. Two countries, two very different ways of doing things. If you're fond of a good bit of quasi-racist stereotyping, then Americans love our heritage, our accents, that our ice cream vans are called Mr Whippy and that we call elevators lifts. And they love our beer too. However, while our traditions, especially in brewing, may be rich and may be envied, they've also proved to be limiting.

Since the 1970s, when a dedicated pack of US beer-lovers were spurred by their travels to Europe and countless sessions on the local tipple to attempt to brew their own back home, a vibrant and innovative craft brewing scene has developed.

A lack of brewing heritage, caused largely by Prohibition, has set US brewers free to experiment and play with traditional styles borrowed from the UK and Europe. The result is a bizarre and fantastic range of beers that in some cases are hoppier than the Easter bunny on acid and boast ABV levels that would make the British Medical Association weep.

The point is, this is nothing new. US craft beers have been available in the UK for more than 10 years. But the growth of the scene shows no sign of slowing.

Robert Pease is chief operating officer of the Brewers Association (BA), America's answer to SIBA. Based in Boulder, Colorado, the BA represents America's small and craft brewers and promotes and protects American craft brewing through government lobbying, research and consumer-facing promotions.

"In 1978 there were 42 breweries in the US. Now there are 1,625," says Pease. "So in 32 years an entire brewing industry has been created, and it keeps growing like wildfire.

"The biggest thing is experimentation. American craft brewers have taken the traditional styles of UK, Germany and Belgium and put their unique American twist on that. American is bigger, better, right? American craft brewers use 12 times the amount of hops as opposed to industrial light lager."

UK drinkers are now demanding more unusual brews, in many cases, specifically American. The staggering presence of them at the Great British Beer Festival seems to indicate that now is their moment to shine. That there were 157 American beers at this year's festival, more than double the number there were last year, is testament to how adventurous and knowledgeable drinkers are getting.

And issues of supply, of actually getting the beer over here, are easing too. So far only a handful of the thousands of brewers, such as , Goose Island, Brooklyn Brewery, Flying Dog, Anchor Brewing and founding father of US craft brewing Odell are represented here. And these only through specialist importers and distributors such as James Clay and Vertical Drinks, the UK importer and distributor for one of the most innovative of US breweries, Sierra Nevada.

Pease visited the UK in August as part of the BA's export development programme, which is partially funded by the US government. Its aim is to increase distribution to target markets and top of the list are Sweden and the UK. The craft scene counts for just five per cent of the US beer market, so sales are still comparatively low. Though the focus is on the home market, Pease says the aim is to grow market share to 10 per cent as soon as possible.

"It's a challenge," says Pease. "ABV for export markets is a key element because American craft beers are not pasteurised, so they're very fresh. They have don't have a super-long shelf life. The ones that travel the best are the more challenging styles, the ones with the higher ABV. Which are the ones with the higher hop content.

"We're over here to investigate and try to learn about the importers and distributors. For example, Vertical Drinks, a company we work closely with, has just brought in beers from 12 new breweries in the States. They pre-sold it all. It's already sold the minute it hits the docks right to the retail outlet. That goes a long way to assuring our members that people will have a quality experience."

Such developments couldn't come soon enough, according to Nigel Stevenson, speciality beer consultant at James Clay. He believes that US craft beers are on the cusp of a popularity explosion among UK drinkers.

"It's just a hunch I'm getting," he says. "Ten years ago when we started to seriously look at some Belgian breweries, generally the buzz was that something big was going to happen with them. There was a sense of the new and interesting. It feels that way with US beers now.

"Before Belgian beers, people were not used to having beers at eight per cent, or beer that had coriander in it. The US beers seem a lot more exciting. Belgium is all very traditional. There's no real innovation there. What the American beers do is shout that they've got lots of flavour and are exciting and they've got a certain irreverence to them.

"And I suppose, they make a lot of the English beers look a little bit ordinary."

Indeed, US craft beers certainly tap into consumer trends for all things niche, hand-crafted and authentic. Though of course they stamp with one huge carbon foot over the trend for buying locally.

"One of the other hallmarks is authenticity," says Pease. "The people who own these breweries, the people I work for, all 1,600 small brewers, are all down-to-earth people who are authentic and they're doing this because they love it, not to make money.

"Odell, Boston Beer, Sierra Nevada - they were home brewers. Now a lot of them are making money, but that's not how they got into it."

It seems the only things arresting the growth of these beers are issues of distribution.

But the range of styles currently available, from wheat beers infused with citrus and coffee-infused stouts to Belgian styles blended with hibiscus, is pretty staggering. Plus, with some ABVs heading up to around nine or 10 per cent, it's perhaps wise to let your drinkers experiment slowly with them anyway.

'Sour is the new hoppy

US craft brewers put themselves on the map with their high ABVs and hop content, but where is the scene going next? A lot of brewers are experimenting with ageing their beers in whisky or wine casks. Session beers are emerging too, recognising that not everybody wants a 6.5 per cent beer. Fruit flavours, especially berry, are popular, such as Chicago-based Goose Island's Madame Rose, a crimson-coloured brown ale aged with whole cherries in wine barrels.

Tony Bowker, chief operating officer at Goose Island, says that sour is the new hoppy. "A couple of years ago the disruption in the hop market, where prices suddenly increased 400 per cent on some varieties, interrupted the trend to 'more is more' hops in beer.

"Brewers were motivated by economics, or by simple unavailability of their favourite hops, to experiment with other styles and there followed an explosion in wood-aged beers that can range from the slight tartness of wine to full-on sour lambics," he says.

"The growing availability of these beers and the 'buzz' around them has led people to discover them, and chefs are quickly catching on that they can make superb accompaniments to foods that were once naturally paired only with wine."

Odell Brewing Company founder Doug Odell says: "The trend in US craft brewing currently is 'let's try anything'. Anything goes these days, with unusual ingredients, barrel ageing, and high-alcohol monsters. 

"Currently we have out a double pilsner, a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout, a curry weizen, a double marzen dosed with brettanomyces yeast for a second fermentation, a black, very hoppy black ale we call

India Black Ale, Woodcut 4 - a double marzen aged in virgin American oak barrels - and a Belgian-style strong golden ale. Coming soon are a helles bock, a sour cherry and raspberry beer we call Friek, and an imperia