Greene King strike gold as Chinese demand soars after Xi Jinping pint

[T_i_B]

I don't know what's worse, David Cameron introducing the Chinese president to one of the worst beers in Britain, the upsurge in demand for said terrible beer, or the fact that it's a company like Greedy Kerching who are benefiting from this.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/09/greene-king-hits-gold-as-chinese-demand-soars-after-xi-jinping-pint

Xi Jinping’s trip to the prime minister’s local pub had an unexpected consequence: it transformed China’s red emperor into an unlikely poster boy for British brewery Greene King.

Sales of Greene King IPA, a pint of which Xi was pictured sipping during his recent visit to The Plough at Cadsden pub in Buckinghamshire, have reportedly soared in China following last month’s state visit to Britain.

“It has just gone berserk. It’s unbelievable,” said Peter Bloxham, a Beijing-based British businessman who imports Greene King beers into China. Within two days of the great bar scene … people from all over China were ringing: agents, restaurants, bars, hotels. They wanted this beer.”

“You couldn’t pay for the promotion. It would cost you a fortune,” added Bloxham, who said orders were now coming in “from north, south, east and west. We are now completely out of stock in our warehouse in Beijing of everything to do with Greene King,” he said.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. While Abbot is quite a good beer, I agree GK IPA was a poor choice to offer a guest

It was what I drank to save money on a round. And I can't think why anyone would think it's worth buying extra of because Cameron forced one on the unfortunate Chinese president. I hope it doesn't become a diplomatic incident when they find out its quality (unless he asked for a weak one with little taste).

[T_i_B]

2. Let's just say that Greedy Kerching are top of my personal "boycott list"

There are other companies who I choose to boycott, but as an active CAMRA member and beer geek I have a number of issues with Greedy Kerching.

Closing down breweries and then ruining previously good beers like Old Speckled Hen, having a beer range that is quite poor with the possible exception of XX Mild, having a flagship IPA that is in no way a proper IPA, their treatment of tenants in their pubs, not putting their name to their recent "craft" keg offerings.

Happily, with there being so much great beer around these days it's an easy boycott for me.

[Denzil_DC]

3. Yeah, I'm an IPA fan.

I've made the mistake of buying GK IPA in bottles (sacrilege to some, I know, but I can't run to a home cellar and pumps) when shopping absent-mindedly. I don't make that mistake again until the lapse of time (or maybe it's the beer intake) wipes my memory.

It's not so much the hopping I object to as the overwhelmingly dark, sickly malt.

I think I have a case under the Trade Descriptions Act.

[T_i_B]

4. I love IPA's

Trouble is, Greedy Kerching "IPA" is not a proper IPA. The whole point of India Pale Ale is that it was heavily hopped (and often stronger) in order to withstand the voyage to India. The stuff GK produce is not heavily hopped at all, but a cheaply made insipid bitter.

Happily there are loads of other breweries all over the country making good quality IPA's. And I'm fortunate to live in an area that's awash with excellent beer. So much so that it can give rise to some very odd behaviour...

[Denzil_DC]

5. Indeed, my understanding is that the (over-)hopping

was originally to act as a preservative on the long voyage to India, but I also believe IPA was originally brewed strong (maybe 6-8% alcohol), largely for the same reason, but also to conserve ship space, the idea being that it would be diluted before consumption (which would moderate the hopping), but the troops it was served to generally ignored that and drank it neat!

Yeah, GK IPA to me drinks like a bog-standard "heavy", and not a particularly pleasant one.

I go through phases of having favourite IPAs. My palate's changed over the years, and bottled ones I used to enjoy are sometimes too sweet nowadays, or I'm more sensitive to unpleasant arabic gum-like notes in the malting.

Temperature makes an incredible difference to the balance of flavours in a beer, as I've proven to wine-drinking friends a number of times. Chill a decent flavoursome beer down (sacrilege!) and it drinks more like a good-quality lager, which is sometimes what I'm after. Then it warms up in the glass in hand anyway unless you knock it back, so all is not lost.

Scotland's also become home to quite a few micro- (and not so micro-) breweries. My current favourite bottled tipples are two Williams Bros ones: Joker IPA (what it says on the bottle, just 4.5%, though) and Caesar Augustus (a beer/lager hybrid). They're rarely available on draught around here, unfortunately.

I'm not wild about some of the more gimmicky brands, like Brewdog. I read that in the USA there's a backlash against outlandishly hopped IPAs. I hope that trend doesn't take hold here - it's all about the balance and craft.

[T_i_B]

6. Williams Bros can be very good

Tryst, Fyne Ales and Loch Ness are 3 other Scottish breweries I rate.

The trend for beer stuffed with new world hops took hold over here a few years ago, although currently the trend seems to be just to copy whatever Wild Beer Co and Siren Craft are doing.

As to Brewpooch, I like a lot of their beers, but I don't like their marketing / publicity stunts at all, and I'm not fond of their bars either. There are much nicer places than Brewpooch bars to drink that sort of beer.

[Denzil_DC]

7. Our village has a very successful annual real ale festival, a thoroughly civilized occasion.

It's built up to featuring a dozen or more firkins from around the UK, along with some real ciders. The star for me this year was Lomond Brewery's Southern Summit, which ticked all the boxes.

We had a disaster a year or two ago (or the the brewery did, as they bore the cost) when Lomond's brewmistress tried to tweak the recipe for one of their porters which featured a trace of chilli (not something I'd relish, but it was reportedly quite popular in the pubs). She got her percentages wrong. I've never drunk liquid curry before, and along with just about everybody else at that festival, I'm not keen to repeat the experience!

[T_i_B]

8. One big beery event near me is this

3 Valleys beer festival. Lots of pubs near to each other holding beer festivals on the same day, with a free bus service linking everything up. If anything it's started to become a bit too popular!

http://www.sheffieldcamra.org.uk/3valleys/

And over the border in Sheffield, the Kelham Island area is home to a number of outstanding pubs with huge cask ale ranges

http://sabotagetimes.com/travel/little-shef-big-beer

As to chilli beer, that's something that a number of breweries have done in recent times, and something I actively avoid. There's a time and place for chilli and it's not in beer.

[Denzil_DC]

9. I could see that done right,

the chilli might blend in as a bit of a gingery note, only cleaner. This was definitely not done right! Most of it ended up being tipped down the toilet sinks accompanied by expletives.

I'm off porters and stouts anyway nowadays, having enjoyed them years ago. I don't like finishing a session more thirsty than I started (sometimes an issue with highly hopped beers, but it helps to moderate my consumption - I switch to a decent cordial later of an evening), and funnily enough, don't enjoy being drunk! Taking the edge off is enough for me, so the lower-alcohol session IPA styles suit me fine.

[T_i_B]

10. David Cameron's local pub sold to Chinese investor

http://mobile.bighospitality.co.uk/Business/Prime-Minister-s-local-pub-sold-to-Chinese-investor

A pub made famous when it was visited by David Cameron and the president of China has been sold to a Chinese company which aims to turn it into an international brand.

The Plough at Cadsden hit the headlines last year when the former prime minister and president XI Jinping dropped in for fish and chips and ale.

It is also famously the address where Cameron accidentally left his then eight-year-old daughter Nancy behind after going for a drink in 2012.

Since the president's visit The Plough, which is the nearest pub to the prime minister’s country residence Chequers, has become a tourist attraction for Chinese travellers keen to sample traditional British food. Now Chinese firm SinoFortune Investment has purchased the famous address, with the aim of taking the pub brand overseas.