A New Wave of Brewing

Are we in a New Wave of brewing? A period of transgressive and innovative beer making, breaking from traditions but still looking back to traditional brewing, producing impressive and experimental beers, pushing new boundaries and attempting new techniques in terms of the making and the marketing of beer, all done with a wide and deep knowledge of world beer.

The innovation of the extremely knowledgeable French Nouvelle Vague auteurs massively influenced Hollywood cinema in the 1960s and early 1970s, creating what’s now known as New Hollywood. The Nouvelle Vague was a small group of filmmakers, producing, writing and directing their own films, using new techniques, breaking the traditions of Classical Hollywood and having their own stamp of authorship. Now, in brewing terms, it’s the go-ahead US craft beer market which are the leaders of this movement and they are influencing Europe (although the US took the traditions of European beer and made it their own to begin), but the ideas are still the same: small groups of brewers, pushing each other forward, exciting and exuberant, articulate and literate in the language of beer, each with their own authoritative stamp which makes the drinker know that they’ve just enjoyed a beer by that particular brewery, whether it’s the taste alone or the combination of taste, concept and packaging/marketing.

Dogfish Head are at the forefront of this ‘movement’ in the US and always have been – they are the Jean-Luc Godard of beer. The beer itself, the brand, the marketing, it all points towards a New Wave. Their 60, 90 and 120 Minute IPAs use the innovative technique of continual hopping (see: Godard’s jump cuts). They use fruit, they use ingredients from all over the world and they recreate old styles and recipes, using the old and bringing it right up to date with a postmodern twist (see: Godard’s A bout de souffle). You watch a Godard film and you know it’s a Godard film; you drink a Dogfish Head beer and you know it’s a Dogfish Head beer (see: Pierrot le Fou, drink: 90 Minute IPA). BrewDog and Thornbridge are the UK equivalent, pushing boundaries, innovating (see: Dennis Hopper, Quentin Tarantino, drink: Punk IPA, Jaipur).

In Britain - and beyond - Brat Packs of brewers are coming up and they are getting more aware of what is going on around the world. For the British Brat Pack, gone are the days of a best bitter, pale ale and stout plus a few seasonals. Gone, that is, but not forgotten. The beers are still there, it’s just that they are different now - better, new and improved upon; strengthening the core range of beers and adding exciting seasonals and one-offs, packing flavor and punch and drinkablility. These younger brewers are beer-literate and know exactly what is going on around the world; they drink beers from all over the world, they are aware of styles and new techniques and they use this knowledge to create new brews. The beers are creations of their maker; their authorship is written throughout the beer, it’s made by them, the realisation of an idea, a piece of fluid, consumable art.

The actual brewing process is an intrinsic part of this New Wave, where new techniques break from traditions or norms, or old techniques are used in new ways: mash hopping and adding hops at different stages of the brew, different types of barrel aging, exotic ingredients, new ingredients (hop varieties, etc), high strength, high bitterness. And this transcends beer styles too, where new styles are ‘created’ and old styles recreated: ‘imperial’ this and that, doubles and triples, porters and IPAs, wild ales, milds, bitters… It’s taking something old and pushing it into the now, changing its appeal or increasing its appeal to those who already know about it.

This year, I think, has seen a great increase in quality and range of British beer (71 new breweries opening, for starters), particularly from a few smaller, edgy younger breweries, all of whom are very knowledgeable about world beer, eager to try new things and create new beers in the mould of the US craft beer market. This British New Wave includes Thornbridge, BrewDog, Ramsgate, Marble, DarkStar and Oakham, among others. What marks these out is their range and variety. They don’t just brew me-too bitters and limp pale ales. They also don’t just go all-out and brew a range of tongue-thumping 7% IPAs and barrel-aged whatevers; they have a distinctly British slant to their beers, whether it’s wonderful 4% hoppy session ales, punchy-fruity bitters or full-bodied and rich 5% stouts, they fit the pub market and the craft beer market. Then beyond the pub it transforms: it’s the wicked imperial porters aged in Islay whisky casks or double IPAs or strong ales aged in oak barrels which used to hold rum or cider or brandy or sherry. It’s a happy collusion of British reserve and balls-out American super-sizing (and the Americans, in turn, are creating session ales and low-ABV brews to satisfy the drinker who doesn’t like to go 100mph all the time).

Then there’s Europe. Belgian brewers have discovered C-hops. Denmark, led by Mikkeller, is blazing a funky trail of hops and monster stouts. Italy is quietly busy creating some awesomely good beers using different ingredients and adding their own sense of style and flair (and in the same way that the Italian Neo-Realist period influenced the Nouvelle Vague, so it is that the craft beer market in Italy is one of the most interesting and innovative in the world). The New Wave is lapping and crashing at the shores of the brewing world and it’s a very exciting time to be a beer drinker.

The thing with being in a movement is that we often don’t realise until it’s over and can look at it retrospectively. If this is the case, and we are at the ends of the ‘movement’, then what happens next? Will we see a simplification of beer (small ranges of excellent beers, simple, effective)? Or, like Hollywood cinema at that time, will we see a period of huge Blockbusters following the burst of creativity and innovation that was the Nouvelle Vague (in other words, will Bud create a pale ale with 60IBUs for the mass market, following the commercial successes of breweries like Sierra Nevada, Dogfish Head and Stone, and/or, will the craft brewers try to get into the mainstream market by brewing simple, quality lagers – BrewDog’s 77 in Tesco, for example)? Are we in a New Wave of British and world brewing? Or is this whole thing just the natural progression of brewing along its own course?

I knew writing my undergraduate dissertation on the early films of Jean-Luc Godard and the Nouvelle Vague would come in useful one day, and here it is.