I’m often asked what I think about the ‘evil twins’ of brewing here in Sweden, Spendrups and Carlsberg.
The question is normally followed by a comment such as: “I bet you wouldn’t touch the stuff would you. After all you know what fish do in water (etc etc)”.
Well guess what? I do touch the stuff now and again, and you know what, I don’t think it’s that bad at all.
It’s very easy to put the hate on S&G (and any other brewery for that matter perceived to have exceeded the ever-shifting definition of ‘microbrewery’). Like gangs forming in the playground during a school break it’s tempting to side with the beer bullies who dismiss any brewery that doesn’t oak-age, over-hop, triple ferment, double, imperial or Americanize their beers.
Spendrup's brewery and head offices in Vårby
I suspect just like being at school peer pressure leads some people to unilaterally bash the bigger breweries, often labeling them nothing more than factories and the nemesis of all that craft beer stands for.
But as with most things in life I don’t think things are that black or white. I think we need big breweries like Spendrups and Carlsberg. Whether you like it or not they are responsible for switching millions of people onto drinking beer every year. They have the means and the muscle to create huge demand for beer in a way micros, by their very nature, never can.
We need them to help swell the ranks of beer drinkers, because its from them that we recruit drinkers of craft beer.
And lets be honest here. Are their beers really that bad? There’s a very interesting book I recommend you read (not only to underline this particular point, but because of its fascinating coverage of beer contra wine in general) called Grape vs Grain by Charles Bamforth.
Now Charles really knows his beers. He’s the Chair of the Department of Food Science, Editor in Chef of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists among a long list of other professional merits. In short he’s considered one of the top three brewing scientists of his generation.
He’s also an Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at the University of California (I can almost hear the hissing from here) and explores in depth the attitudes of beer drinkers towards the major breweries in the US.
He writes that it is the micros that “have captured the consumers’ imagination by touting a perceived sophistication that belongs in the same class at that engendered by wines”.
The famous entrance to Carlsberg's original brewery
He goes on to defend the big breweries, calling them “places of sophistication and excellence….hygienic, airy, busy and highly productive…..often highly automated but always using time-honoured brewing techniques”.
His point is that it’s no mean feat to consistently produce a beverage at thousands of bottles an hour to the same level of quality 24 hours a day, day in, day out. It may not conjure up romantic images of beer being brewed say, in a barn, but it’s an impressive accomplishment none the less.
Mr Bamforth presents a strong case from a refreshingly different perspective.
Personally I know several people who work for both Spendrups and Carlsberg and they are as professional, engaged, proud and passionate about their brands as anyone I’ve met in the trade.
So coming back to the question I was posed in the opening paragraph on this now rather long-winded blog post, my answer is that I believe the big brewers are every bit as important to the future success of craft beer in this country as the microbreweries themselves.
After all every story needs a villain – it makes the tale of craft beer all the better in the telling, don’t you think?
The Swedish micros are particularly well represented this time round, with beers from Nynäshamn, Oppigårds. Sigtuna and Dugges hitting the shelves. Big brother brewery Spendrups is also there with it’s eye-catching and quirkily named Pistonhead Hot Roddin’ Lager.
