WEEK 29-- UK's "Newer waves"---chit chat with GEOFF QUINN

对英国酒吧文化有认识的朋友都知道，喝啤酒这件事在英伦是家常事，也是社交事。

只是，让英国朋友有点“漏气”的是，长期以来，市场一直被单调口味大厂啤酒占据，让很多人说起英国啤酒印象就是一句概括--“BORING”。

当然，因为CRAFT BEER的浪潮，还有苏格兰“酿狗”的出现，过去几年的英伦啤酒市场开始起变化，喜欢CRAFT 的朋友开始发现更多“酿狗”之外的新酿酒师，新品牌，新选择。。

这期专栏以2014哥本哈根啤酒庆典（CBC 2014）受邀英国撞意啤酒新品牌为指标，跟英伦新浪潮其中一个品牌BUXTON的创办人/主创酿酒师GEOFF QUINN聊聊一些啤酒事。

身为撞意啤酒新市场的吉隆坡，最近开始可以喝到不同类型的BUXTON啤酒，包括上了啤酒泵和瓶子选择。个人来说，最喜欢的有IMPERIAL BLACK（黑色IPA)，JAW GATE（APA）, STRONGE STOUT（黑啤）以及AXE EDGE（金黄IPA）。

期待近期有更多其他英伦新品牌酿品出现。

UK certainly is known for pub culture.

Ironically, UK beers has also been long known as "booooring".

That's until few years back when the "newer waves" of craft brewers started to emerge---after Brewdog got the ball rolling earlier.

This week's newspaper column is a little chit chat with Geoff Quinn of BUXTON---1 of 7 new waves brewers invited to the ever popular Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2014( CBC 2014).

QUOTES:-
on being invited to CBC 2014--"comparing notes" with other brewers 
"It's a great privilege to be invited to such festivals, but they also bring a unique kind of pressure to us. We are being compared alongside the best of the best, so it's essential that the beers we present are of the highest quality."
 "We're proud that we stand alongside these other world-class outfits and enjoy getting to taste their brews too, and chat and party with the folks that make them. We always come away from these events exhausted, but highly motivated to try new things we may have learned, we also usually organise a collaboration brew or two off the back of them."

on UK beer scene
"The UK scene is still very much a traditional ale culture, with the vast majority of breweries making perfectly nice, if a little pedestrian beer - what could be described as dull, or boring. There has been a proliferation of modernistic craft breweries recently, not all of which are making particularly high quality beer."
" Things are moving at a very fast pace, and this is where the challenges in UK craft brewing lie in the near future; maintaining a high level of quality whilst attempting very challenging (to brew) beers. "

on Buxton's motivation factor/s?( some brewers started because they want to brew better beers to please own palate)
"Similar -I was frustrated by a lack of interesting, tasty beer. But equally, a large motivation was business related - I saw an opportunity and took it."\
"Sometimes it seems that people forget that although breweries tend to be a "lifestyle choice" for the owners/partners, they are still a business and the model is a tough one to make work. This in itself is as much of an (enjoyable) challenge as making great beer."

on beer styles influence

"I guess it's true to say that we are somewhat influenced by the US brewing scene, whilst maintaining an essentially British outlook. We like to use a lot of hops in our beers, and the US (and NZ) varieties give us the kind of character we are looking for in a beer."

on providing constant supply or to brew as and when you like

"We have our business targets like any brewery - we need to pay wages and building costs, taxes etc. One of our major challenges is to ensure that the economic constraints of running the brewery don't get in the way of making brilliant, interesting beer."

any rituals when brewing?

"Simply -Do it right."

to newbie
"Welcome to the party :-)"

to (yet to be) newbie
"We just gently suggest they give it a go, the beer will speak for itself if they try it. We wouldn't want to push anyone onto craft beer, they'll get there eventually..."

NOT included in newspaper column"-
on ASIA
"Only to Singapore a long time ago on a 24hr stopover. Now that more of our beer is getting into the region, we're very excited about visiting and experiencing the Asian beer scene."
"Unfortunately, we don't have any connections with Asia base brewers - something we'd love to change!"

on near future plan
"We don't have a style to concentrate on for the next 1 to 2 months, let alone years. Our plan is continue innovating, making the kinds of beers we enjoy and to collaborate with other like-minded breweries. At the moment we are enjoying making a lot of sour beers, but also stouts - big ones and little ones!"

your 3 cities for beers
"Edinburgh - great beer scene with some fantastic bars and breweries in a compact city area. Barcelona - again a great scene with some excellent bars. San Diego for the brewery tap rooms and great bars."

NEXT WEEK--chit chat with NEIL---LAMBIC--more than just SOUR