A Nice Sett of Bottles

I like Badger. I like what they do. Based in Blandford Forum, Dorset, Hall and Woodhouse produce a core range of beers with a simple selection of seasonals. Unlike most British breweries, Badger’s focus is more on their bottle range ahead of their cask selection (since 2000 the bottled beer market has increased 184% whereas cask has declined, only now seeing it level out and begin to increase). Their bottled beers are in supermarkets across the country, so they have a broad reach to beer drinkers (although you can only buy their cask beers in their tied pubs). For me, it’s their labelling which I like the most.

Through research into the beer market and branding (which they do very well) they found that most people thought the brewery was synonymous with the countryside, which is reflected in their labelling - earthy colours, outdoorsy, uncomplicated, that Badger peering around curiously. But it’s the back of the labels where I think they have the most success. An interesting blurb, simple and concise, with a little information and story about the beer which seamlessly blends into a suggested food pairing for the beer. It’s very much in the wine-style of label, just on a 500ml beer bottle – it’s ideal for the casual shopper to pick up, read and understand, while the food suggestion gives a handy point of reference as to what this might be like (even without any idea of the beer, if it says it works with spicy food then we get an expectation of flavour profile). Beneath this blurb are two visual representations of flavour: the Cyclops and the taste chart (like the one for Lemony Cricket, their summer seasonal, below). Cyclops is an industry-wide visualisation (although it’s fair to say that not everyone uses it) of sight, smell and taste suggested by the eye, nose and mouth symbols, which gives two or three descriptions for each. The taste chart is Badger’s own creation, something they added to their labels a number of years ago. This lists Bitter, Sweet, Hoppy, Fruity and Malty and ranks each out of five, offering a suggestion of the taste sensations to be expected, while introducing the concept of malt and hops as ingredients. The success of the labels is that they can encourage new drinkers by giving a number of different hints as to what the beer might be like, something which few others achieve in such a small window of space.

It’s no surprise that the Badger bottles sell well – they give the consumer information which others often don’t. They also work because they stand out well on the shelves, they are consistent, interesting, broad in their reach and flavours and they are largely unchallenging to their market. Their importance is that they are a great gateway brewery: they are good for people who don’t know much about the spectrum of beer flavours because they offer the clues of what they can expect and they present it in a neat way. Some may go no further than happily ferreting through the Badger range, while for others it may be the start of something more. I’m sure most people reading this would’ve had a Badger beer soon after they got the taste for ale and I’m sure there are readers who still have Badger beers in their fridge now (I’ve got some Blandford Fly and Golden Champion in mine).

Are they a good gateway brewery to introduce new drinkers to different flavours? Are the labels successful? Do you like these visual clues to beers? Should others follow the Badger lead with their labelling information?

Sainsbury's Beer Competition

I don’t buy many beers in the supermarket anymore. There are a few which I pick up whenever I see them, the others I get when I want a specific beer. The supermarket is now the place for me to get those everyday drinking beers, just like it’s the place where I get my everyday eating stuff. But how can I resist a beer competition, eh?

Part of me wanted to buy a bottle of each beer in Sainsbury’s competition, part of me didn’t. The part that did wanted to do so out of pure thirsty curiosity, for the tick and the scoop. The part that didn’t feared a line-up of average beers. In the end I didn’t buy them all. What I did do, of course, was stock up on BrewDog’s, happy to see 7% and 9% uber-hoppy beers on the supermarket shelf for a little as £1.29, significantly reduced if it’s 3 for 2 (I also saw it for £1.59 and on a 4 for 3).

Williams Bros did pretty well in the competition, getting four beers out there. It seems that every other blogger got sent free bottles to review. I didn’t. I paid for mine. To be honest, I found an underlying earthy smokiness (the water, perhaps) which wasn't quite to my taste and left me a little disappointed overall, which was a real shame. These are not bad beers at all, it’s just that I’d heard a lot about them recently and they didn’t live up to my expectation. The 80/- was a little unsatisfying but I’d definitely try the lager again though and I should've picked up an IPA (Midnight Sun is a cracker and I want to try some more of their historical beers). Williams are definitely a brewery to keep an eye on, I think.

I thought Wood’s Shropshire Lass, hopped with Fuggles and Cascades and dressed in a decidedly effeminate yellow and lilac outfit, was pretty good - fruity and very drinkable - and I’d like to try it on cask. I also had a couple of darker beers too. Wolf’s Woild Moild was decent enough and Allgates' Porteresque was roasty but I thought it was a little too thin and sharp, nice earthy bitterness though. For me, the best beer in the festival – by a long way - was Chaos Theory. It’s a fabulous beer and when it’s opened as fresh as a daisy it’s a real bitter-fruity bomb. I like it a lot.

I hope the competition was a success for Sainsbury’s and I hope that it made people buy and try new beers. I hope this opened a few minds to the different craft beers being brewed in the UK and I hope it will encourage them to drink differently. I hope that the BrewDog’s didn’t scare too many normal people and I hope that Chaos Theory gets a year long run. I hope that more supermarkets attempt a similar thing and I hope that in the future the Sainsbury’s beer competition will run and that the supermarkets will be able to put the bottles on the beer aisle, rather than with the barbeques or the tins of Christmas chocolates, which are almost impossible to find.

While we’re on supermarket beer, I found 77 lager, zeitgeist, Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale and Gonzo Imperial Porter in Tesco at last. I’m very happy to see all of these in the supermarket, especially if the Tesco also stocks Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, some Chimays and Orval. The Classic Pale Ale was one of the nicest bottles of everyday drinking beer I’ve had in a while and the Gonzo was really very good indeed (bold, smooth, chocolatey, rich, nibbling hops) – I just need to find a Tesco near me which sells them because they are ones to keep in the fridge.

I’ve written about supermarket beer before, here and here. Oh, and that image at the top is Brewdog's from the post I linked to above.