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Last week the most important beer blogs around the world dealt with a very interesting topic: innovation in beer. The subject has been raised by Ron Pattison on his Shut up about Barclay Perkins, where he hurled himself towards the concept of innovation connected to beers. These are some passages from his post:

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t want innovative beer. I want tasty, refreshing beer. Beer I want to drink more than a mouthful of. Beer that’s a joy to drink rather than an exercise in endurance. I don’t want to think “what a clever brewer, how ever did he come up with adding a slight apricot flavour to a Pale Ale?”. […]I want something to drink, something that lifts my spirits and makes my heart soar. And, in sufficient quantities, will get me pissed. It’s really not complicated.

A debate risen from these considerations, involving some of the most renowned signatures of the international beer scenario. Pattison’s idea has soon been integrated with more wider considerations, involving the real nature of innovation in the beer scene. And the discussion has subsequently been fed by the news of the last Brewdog beer, the Nuclear Tactical Penguin, that has offered new sprouts for the debate.

Let’s then start from the new creation of the Scottish brewery, that has been announced with an exhilarating video that reveals its main characteristic: being the most alcoholic beer of the world. The Penguin in fact will be a 32% ABV Ale, thanks to a peculiar productive process. The base is an Imperial Stout, that after a 16 month aging in whiskey casks (both Arran and Islay), it is allowed to rest for three weeks at -20° C. This treatment causes the freezing of the water allowing the alcohol to remain liquid; eliminating the ice, it’s possible to obtain a beer with an higher alcohol concentration.

The brewery has set great emphasis on the innovation at the base of this brewing technique, but many disagreed. This process in fact is definitely inspired from the Eisbocks, that are realized with the same principle – the suffix eis meaning ice. Besides the lack of originality, many referred to the Penguin to demonstrate that the concept of innovation connected to the beer is often misleading.

What could be defined innovative then? Probably it’s easier to determine what is not. In my opinion, the use of uncommon ingredients is not innovative in brewing. To use a particular root or an exotic spice or an ingredient that has nothing  to do with the beer doesn’t mean to innovate. It sounds more like experimentation, but it’s a different thing. Innovative is an idea that leads to a new efficient path, repeatable and with some advantages for both brewers and consumers. To add a beer the grains of the rarest coffee of the world (any reference is casual ) doesn’t have anything to do with this definition: this is the central concept of the Pattison argumentation.

The technology that allows revolutions in the brewing process deserve a different perspective. In the history of beer the novelties of this kind are many:  pasteurization, the bottom fermenting yeast, the densimeter, the thermometer, and so on.

These innovations have not only changed the brewing techniques, but have modified even the traditional concept of beer. The Lambics and the Rauchbiers today are considered regional specialties, but once were “the beer”, the same that is happening today to Ales in the world of industrial Lagers. Some innovations have permitted to offer better products to the consumers, others are just been used to pursue the aim of mass marketing. As always, the goodness of an instrument depends on how you decide to use it.

Innovations that regard serving beers have been several too, inasmuch today a beer can be served from the traditional English pump, with the aid of the CO2, or with nitrogen. One of the most recent innovations concern disposable kegs, that recently appeared in Italy for the Brewdog beers: nevertheless they did not seem the best tool to replace old metal kegs.

A question to conclude: could micros introduce brewing innovations? In other words: thinking back to the history of great technological novelties, you must recognize that they are tightly tied to the industrial production. It’s difficult to think that some small producers have the abilities (or even just the interest) to discover revolutionary solutions. Here it’s where perhaps is worth distinguish revolutions from innovations, considering the latter of a more limited significance. In this sense it is possible that some micros have interesting ideas and define a new path for the respective colleagues. It’s plain that in reference to a similar sense the line between fashion and innovation can be fleeting, but I think it’s not difficult to distinguish the two concepts.

Tracking back the last months I believe there are two more innovative brewers among others in Italy. The first one is the Birrificio Italiano, that with its Musa series brushed up and modified the second runnings technique. The second is the newborn Revelation Cat, that has tried to verify the effect of different woods in aging the same beer with its Woodwork Series. Two interesting ideas, although the latter sounds more like an experimentation than a real innovation.

Broadly speaking I believe that the more interesting innovation in brewing is the rediscovery of the cans as alternative vessel to the glass. Many Americans micros, above all, decided to use aluminum, thanks to new can producing process.

Which is the most interesting innovation in brewing in your opinion? Room for your considerations…