Is being serious about beer a bad thing? Does it mean you can't have fun? Siren Craft Brew don't think so.
This is incorrect... Beer drinkers disappeared up their own arse decades ago.
...and proudly so.
When people rail against how po-faced the craft beer scene appears to be, they forget that for 45 years or so real ale drinking CAMRA supporting types have been mocked for being beardy, snobby and far too serious to share a drink with. Sound familiar?
So, having a dig at beer drinkers is not exactly a new thing. It's merely the product of commercial decisions from major brewers to market their mass-produced lagers during the 80s and 90s at a lowest common denominator that never actually existed. Next to the colourfully marketed if bland tasting pilsners of the time, real ale and its consumers of course seemed less appealing. People who appreciated good beer were expected to stop talking about it and merely down 10 pints of it instead.
But there's the key word... appreciation. This was like people who only drink Bells Whisky having a sly pop at those that appreciate an 18 yr old single malt. It wouldn't happen. Yet beer drinkers are often made to feel like they should apologise for appreciating good beer.
Since starting in 2012, Siren Craft Brew haven't apologised for being serious about beer. In fact they've revelled in it. Likening their beer to the sirens of Greek Mythology that enticed the unwary to their doom, Siren decided to have fun with their own serious endeavours.
"Our desire is to discover ways to excite people’s curiosity..." they said, rather grandiosely. It worked, I'm curious.
They liken premium beers to fine wines and use words like artisanal to describe the brewing process. In many respects they embody many of the clichés thrown at craft brewers, it's just... they don't care. So yeah, beer drinkers can get a bit pompous at times, but so can those who drink wine and whisky. Stop complaining, just enjoy.
Siren have a core of great beers, but they don't mind playing around with them, producing a number of variants of their better known drinks.
Siren Craft Brew |
Among some people there is a view that beer drinkers have pretentiously disappeared up their own arse, becoming hipster clichés of themselves in the process. All beards, delusions of grandeur and craft brew snobbiness.
This is incorrect... Beer drinkers disappeared up their own arse decades ago.
...and proudly so.
When people rail against how po-faced the craft beer scene appears to be, they forget that for 45 years or so real ale drinking CAMRA supporting types have been mocked for being beardy, snobby and far too serious to share a drink with. Sound familiar?
So, having a dig at beer drinkers is not exactly a new thing. It's merely the product of commercial decisions from major brewers to market their mass-produced lagers during the 80s and 90s at a lowest common denominator that never actually existed. Next to the colourfully marketed if bland tasting pilsners of the time, real ale and its consumers of course seemed less appealing. People who appreciated good beer were expected to stop talking about it and merely down 10 pints of it instead.
But there's the key word... appreciation. This was like people who only drink Bells Whisky having a sly pop at those that appreciate an 18 yr old single malt. It wouldn't happen. Yet beer drinkers are often made to feel like they should apologise for appreciating good beer.
"Our desire is to discover ways to excite people’s curiosity..." they said, rather grandiosely. It worked, I'm curious.
They liken premium beers to fine wines and use words like artisanal to describe the brewing process. In many respects they embody many of the clichés thrown at craft brewers, it's just... they don't care. So yeah, beer drinkers can get a bit pompous at times, but so can those who drink wine and whisky. Stop complaining, just enjoy.
Siren have a core of great beers, but they don't mind playing around with them, producing a number of variants of their better known drinks.
Bourbon Coffee Broken Dream is a take on their Broken Dream breakfast stout, which is a lovely rich stout combining coffee and chocolate flavours with a hint of smokiness. The bourbon coffee special edition takes the practice of ageing to add flavour and tweaks it by ageing actual coffee beans in bourbon barrels before creating the coffee used in the beer. It creates a rich, toffeeish accent to the beer, with a powerful coffee hit. At 6.5% it's a flavoursome, though not overly "chewy" stout, and quite moreish. So, OK, yeah... perfect for breakfast. Though remember, beer isn't just a breakfast drink, kids.
Siren Craft Brew beers, like many of the UK brewers that are imported into Malaysia, tend to come waves to our shores. Sometimes they're in stock, sometimes not. But it's worth asking around because Siren are at the forefront of great craft beer.
Siren Craft Brew beers, like many of the UK brewers that are imported into Malaysia, tend to come waves to our shores. Sometimes they're in stock, sometimes not. But it's worth asking around because Siren are at the forefront of great craft beer.
2022 EDIT: This article was originally written in 2017 and since then Siren have stopped production of the limited edition Bourbon Coffee Broken Dream. However, the original and legendary Broken Dream is still going strong with a number of other variants and experiments based on it. Many of which have made their way to Malaysia in the the years since.
Like I noted in the original piece, Siren continues to arrive in waves, however if you head to Farmers Bar or any of the bars they stock (Ales and Lagers, Great beer Bar etc...) Siren beers are currently available.
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