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: