I’ve been rather lazy on the beer blogging front since getting back from Tenerife at the end of October, I know. That goes double for beerblogosphere link-harvesting, but I’ve finally pulled my finger out and pulled the latest batch of links-of-interest together. But this first post-holiday round-up of beer-related blog-posts is going to be a bit of a monster so why not crack open a bottle of your favourite ale while you settle in for a skim-read?

Oh, incidentally, the big buzz while I was away was obviously all around the launch of Brewdog’s Equity For Punks share scheme, but I’m hoping to round that one up in a separate post as there’s a tonne of material to digest and I think it rather deserves a stand-alone.

Right then, without further ado…

We’ll start with more good news from Tyson’s Beer Blog: this year’s Bury Beer Festival is back on at The Met / Malt Bar! That’s our evening out for Friday November 20th sorted, then. And I have to say I’m deeply intrigued by mention of “an emphasis on live music throughout both days” given that The Met is one of my absolute favourite venues and a key node on the UK folk circuit…

Boak and Bailey have been on their travels again and spent an evening in Malaga sampling a few Spanish premium beers (absolutely none of which are anywhere to be found in the Canary Islands, in my experience at least). Back in the UK, Boak and Bailey also report on the first in a new range of experimental brews from Suffolk-based Adnams, which will be on sale in selected London pubs this month.

Impy Malting highlighted some new “beer is good for you” research. Low calories, b-vitamins, lower risk of hypertension and heart disease, plus sedative, anti-anxiety properties from the hops? Adrian Tierney-Jones provided corroborating additional material as well. Someone call the head buyer at Holland & Barrett…

The decision by Scottish & Newcastle Heineken UK to relocate production of Newcastle Brown from Gateshead to Tadcaster had Jeffo musing on the importance of provenance. It’s a topic that Pete Brown got quite grumpy about as well.

Pete Brown wasn’t happy with mainstream media reporting on the issue of binge-drinking, either. Meanwhile, he posted a very interesting piece on beer marketing: how to sell barley wine. He’s absolutely right, you know, it’s all about the story. And speaking of stories, Pete has also posted a ‘lost chapter‘ that was edited out of his book Hops and Glory prior to publication.

More great beer-pics from Beer Lens: giant bottles of beer, and a couple more likely-looking candidates for my list of London pubs to visit in the shape of the White Horse on Parson’s Green and The Old Doctor Butler’s Head in The City.

Quite a few bloggers seem to have had nothing but good things to say about mybrewerytap.com‘s first 52 Week Beer Club selection. I think our very own Ed has been signed up as well, so he’ll be bringing you the low-down in due course.

Zythophile’s posts are generally rather fascinating, and speaking as something of a medieval history geek, I thought his post on how to brew like an Anglo-Norman Knight was just top-notch and I enjoyed his beer-history debunking piece – beer: NOT the oldest drink in the world – and Kieve, Tierce and Bub post as well.

Woolpack Dave reports from the presentation of the International Beer Challenge 2009 awards, but wasn’t all that impressed with the overall winner: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier.

Dave also mused on the question of just how small does a brewery have to be to be a microbrewery?

Steve Williams, a.k.a. The Beer Justice, reckons he’s found his perfect pub – The Old Poet’s Corner (and after reading the piece, I think we might have to move to Ashover).

Steve was also asked to judge the Beer category at The National Honey Show and had a damn good time in the process by the sounds of things.

Tandleman informs us that the Punch Bowl – the Yorkshire pub bought by Neil Morrissey and Richard Fox and immortalised in the Channel Four series Neil Morrissey’s Risky Business – has gone out of business. According to The Publican the two entrepreneurs are now looking for another freehouse in the Yorkshire area (and, at a guess, a follow-up series with Channel Four..?)

One of the many contributors to The BeerCast has taste-tested a couple of canned beers from the US and has come to the conclusion that “canned beer is absolutely no different to its glass-dwelling cousins” as a result.

Barm sings the praises of 5 Great Organic Breweries, including Manchester’s own Marble, over at I Might Have a Glass of Beer.

Zythophile again, this time with a few thoughts on the mystery of sessionability. And Woolpack Dave also speaks out on the subject, declaring himself to be firmly in favour of session beer. And Tandleman reminds us that ordinary beer is what the majority of the pub-going public want and that breweries would be mad not to give it to them. (For the record: I agree, nothing wrong with a nice session ale – or even a smoothflow if that’s genuinely what you prefer. I just wish more ‘real ale’ pubs would offer something stronger / more interesting alongside their core session range, rather than just a selection of identikit session pale ales and bitters, is all.)

Various beer-blogging types are supporting the Movember mens’ health campaign: BrewDog have released a Movember brew with a portion of the price going to the campaign, whilst The Reluctant Scooper and Ms Impy Malting are going the whole, mo-growing, hairy-faced hog. Mark Dredge is definitely with them all in spirit, if not in ‘tache.

Mark Dredge has also declared: Beer Blogging is Cool. And who am I to disagree?

And to finish off, a few more reviews / tasting notes of superb-sounding beers for the ‘must-try’ wishlist: St Austell’s Smuggler’s Ale (via The BeerCast), new brewery Steel City Brewing‘s Hop Manifesto (via The Reluctant Scooper) and Fuller’s 2009 Vintage Ale, one to keep and mature for a few years, (via The Beer Justice).

Right, that’s your lot for this instalment. I’ll try to get the next round-up out in much better time. This one has been exhausting… I don’t know about you, but I could do with a pint.

I read a very interesting post over on Tandleman‘s Beer Blog earlier today and it sparked off a train of thought that ended with the question in this post’s title.

Tandleman was commenting on an interview with James Watt, Head of Stuff at BrewDog, posted by US-based craft beer ‘zine TheFullPint.com. Tandleman picked up on Watt’s comments about CAMRA and the impact of the campaign on innovation in brewing, to whit: “I blame CAMRA for single-handedly holding back innovation in British brewing by focusing too much emphasis on too few beer styles” and made the point that BrewDog and CAMRA a) have never really gotten on all that well and b) aren’t actually preaching to the same choirs, with CAMRA members being mainly pub-going, cask-ale drinkers, whereas BrewDog are primarily a bottled-beer focused brewery. Although there have been an increasing number of sightings of cask BrewDog in the wild in recent months, if the beerblogosphere is to be believed.

Tandleman then finds himself in agreement with James Watt, when he in turn says: “Going back to innovation, British brewers by and large are the most staid and conservative bunch you could ever meet – with of course, honourable exceptions” and it’s this point that’s got me thinking: who are the leading examples of Tandleman’s honourable exception? When it comes to the UK brewing industry, in whose hallowed mash tuns and fermentation vessels does the genuine spirit of innovation reside?

In my own (still novice) opinion, some good suggestions might be:

BrewDog – The media darlings / demons of the UK brewing industry are obvious contenders for the ‘most innovative’ label. With the likes of their strongest-beer-in-Britain Tokyo* Imperial Stout (second edition), smoked Paradox Stout (in various whisky-cask finishes, including Rake Raspberry), insanely uber-hopped How to Disappear Completely Imperial Mild (and the frankly rather poor piss-take that is Nanny State), their Dogma (formerly ‘Speedball’) poppy-guarana brew, numerous takes on historic IPA-styles including Hardcore IPA, Punk IPA, Chaos Theory and the limited editions Atlantic IPA and Zephyr, as well as many more, they’re surely the last brewer in Britain you could accuse of churning out boring session bitters.

Thornbridge – Whilst not so attention-hungry as BrewDog, Thornbridge have been steadily and confidently pushing the quality-innovation curve in new and interesting directions and have been garnering praise, accolades and awards at an impressive rate as a result. I haven’t tried anywhere near as many Thornbridge brews as I’d like to, but multi award-winning Jaipur, Halcyon and Ashford (a session-strength bitter but one that’s far from dull or ordinary) were all excellent, and I’m desperate to get my hands (and taste buds) on some of their Bracia stout. But then – playing devil’s advocate for a moment – hasn’t the majority of Thornbridge’s quite considerable brewing talent actually been imported from overseas? New Zealand, Italy, places like that? So although Thornbridge are clearly one of the best brewers in Britain, bar none, can they truly be said to be ‘British’ innovators, if their knowledge and passion comes from abroad?

Marble – One of Manchester’s very finest, with some superb beers in their roster, from their Pint and JP Best session beers through to the tonsil-tingling Big Ginger, sublime Chocolate and punch-packing Dobber. But then again… can they be considered a truly innovative brewer? Marble brew a wide range of superb beers that I’d happily drink all evening, any evening, but aren’t they mainly variations on existing, classic beer styles: IPA, stout, pale ale, best bitter?

Outstanding – One of my favourite local breweries, based up the road in Bury who once again produce some truly stellar brews – Outstanding Stout has to be one of my very favourite session stouts and the like of their Pushing Out (an excellent IPA in all but name) and Outstanding Blonde are truly excellent as well – but once again, does brewing high-quality versions of common beer styles count as being innovative per se or would Outstanding have to go further than that to be considered true innovators?

All of which raises another couple of questions: firstly, what does constitute ‘innovation’, anyhow? Is it enough to call yourself ‘innovative’ if you brew a beer that stands head-and-shoulders above similar examples of the style, or do you have to really push the weird ingredient / unusual flavour envelope? In which case, does Badger’s River Cottage Stinger (brewed with Dorset stinging nettles) count as an innovative beer? Or Sharps Chalky’s Bite, a strong, Belgian-style beer that’s delicately flavoured with wild English fennel? Or Fraoch Scottish Heather Ale from Williams Bros? What about Innis & Gunn Rum Cask oak-aged? Or Boggart Hole Clough’s Rum Porter? Does chucking in another, strongly-flavoured spirit, or maturing in a liquor cask count as ‘innovative’ or is it just, again, a case of varying an established theme?

And is it actually important to be an innovator? Or is a traditional approach to brewing, coupled with a passion for maximising quality, a more sure key to long-term success?

Me, I’m something of a self-confessed variety-junkie, always on the look-out for the more interesting, extreme beers, but I’m genuinely interested to hear what everyone else thinks. So, I’d like to throw the following questions open to the floor:

1. How important is ‘innovation’ to you as a beer drinker? In general – bearing in mind that this is always going to be a subjective, mood-related question – would you rather try something new and interesting, stick to an old favourite, or a new version of a preferred style?
2. What exactly constitutes ‘innovation’ in brewing anyway? What does a brewer have to do to qualify as ‘innovative’ in your book?
3. Which UK brewers or breweries do you think are the most innovative and why?

Answers on a comment-shaped postcard, if you please: