Why craft beer is the tipple of choice for a bon vivant bored of bubbly

IT MIGHT be conventional to take a bottle of expensive champagne to a party, but those wishing to really push the boat out could turn up with a bottle of beer.

Sales of craft ales and lagers in the UK – propelled by a “hipster” boom – have almost doubled since 2016. The more expensive varieties now cost as much, if not more than, supermarket bought champagne.

Consumer spend on craft beer in Britain has risen from £64.9 million in 2016 to £128.3 million in 2018, according to analysis from Kantar Worldpanel, a consumer research company.

A perusal of craft beer websites and shops shows a whole range of beers, many brewed abroad, costing more than champagne. While supermarkets typically sell champagne for as little as £14, Clapton Craft, a specialist beer chain, is now selling a 750ml bottle of Belgian 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze for £17.

One craft beer website is advertising a 650ml bottle of Cigar City Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Stout for £30.99 while a sour beer from the Netherlands – 750ml De Cam Lambiek Framboise – is priced at £26.99. “Beer can be just as complex as wine,” insisted Tom Mckim, co-founder of Clapton Craft in London. “It’s certainly more acceptable now to bring beer to a dinner party.”

Majestic Wine, the specialist wine and champagne retail chain, has branched out into craft beer, which often has arresting flavours and bespoke brewing methods. It has seen sales of craft lagers and ales rise by 20 per cent in five years. Beth Pearce, a beer buyer for Majestic Wine, said: “We used many of the same techniques we would use to introduce our customers into the world of fine wines for beers – from tasting events to detailed product notes with their receipts.

“Knowing your beers, being able to pair them with food and turning up to a friend’s house with something unique is all part of the theatre which now surrounds the category.”