A report from Wales suggests that sales of wine in pubs across the country will be higher than those of beer by 2039. I am very sceptical about this, and CAMRA have laughed the results off also.
Wales has seen a good increase in new microbreweries over the last decade, producing some marvellous ales. Unfortunately though the best Welsh beer I have tasted over the last few years Bragdyr Bryn Bitter is no longer around as its brewery has gone out of business. Current favourite Welsh breweries are Jacobi, Cwmbran, Otley and Purple Moose, all of which have started production since 1999 and seem to be doing very ell for themselves. Added to this are some fantastic cider producers like Gwynt y Ddraig and Troggi.
Reading between the lines there are lots of flaws with this report. Firstly it was commissioned by The French Wines Report. They are hardly likely to create a survey saying wine is in decline. Then we see that 82% of men surveyed didn't like the gassy feeling beer gives them. It seems therefore that the audience wasn't the real ale lovers, but people who seem ambivalent about beer in the first place, drinking nasty fizzy lagers. I firmly believe that a lot of real ale drinkers like wine as well and will drink either depending on the situation. As long as decent beer remains available they will drink it. I drink wine in pubs sometimes and also at home, but never to the detriment of decent beer.
If this survey was done in the poncey wine bars of London then I would give it some credence, but not in Welsh Wales.
1 comment:
I know it's late to comment on this but I've just seen it in a hospitality trade mag and to be honest it doesn't deserve being published. As you point out it's one sided, and annoying French Wines is able to employ a big PR machine and the wine industry as a whole has the TV world wrapped up. When are Camra going ot actually get us good TV coverage? Probably never from what I've been hearing recently. Back to the report; firstly I'm not sure which gassy beer these men are drinking but it seems to suggest lager (okay it does fall under the generic beer tag), but even odder is that men are willing to have a couple of pints of beer then swap to wine. As we all know, never mix your drinks, and bear in mind "wine after beer, oh dear". I can honestly say I don't know anyone that who has beer then goes on to wine. That my, erm, whine over with. Richard (blueskypr.biz)
Post a Comment