Hop stars

Restaurateurs, listen up - beer is not just beer. There's a whole world of beer styles out there that will liven up your drinks lists, says Adrian Tierney-Jones.

Let's start with a story. A beer connoisseur goes into a restaurant and orders a beer. He gets a standard, mass-produced lager and grimaces as he takes a sip. He then asks for the wine list. After studying it for a few moments, he asks for a bottle of Thunderbird. The waiter looks aghast and replies: "We don't do that sort of wine here, sir." "Then why," asks the diner, holding up his pint of fizz, "do you do this sort of beer?"

Specialist ales

This supposedly true tale exemplifies the attitude of many restaurants and bars toward beer. Every effort is made to ensure that the wine list is as comprehensive as possible, but beer… ? Well, it's just beer, isn't it - Fosters, Heineken and the odd barrel of Wadworth's 6X? However, times are changing and, if you want to get the discerning beer drinker on side, now is the time to investigate the growing volume of specialist ales. Beer is no longer just beer.

Bitter remains the mainstay of British brewers, both regional and micro, but they are also making beers flavoured with ginger, spices, coriander, spruce, elderflower and berries, passion fruit and even heather. There are beers inspired by Bavarian Weissbier and even the odd smoked beer, which may delight the palate of the single malt whisky lover. Organic beers are also making a strong showing, helped by the Singhboulton organic-only pubs in London. Europe's stars include Bavaria's Schneider and Erdinger weiss beers, Belgian abbey ales from Leffe, Liefman's fruit beers flavoured with raspberry or cherry, and rare birds such as Kolsch and Alt. Incidentally, these all go well with food.

"People are interested in different beers, but the problem has been that brewers in this country have been slow to innovate," says George Wortley of Suffolk brewer St Peter's, which produces beers flavoured with lemon and ginger, nettles, elderberries and grapefruit, to name but a few. The brewery also bottles its beers in distinctive green glassware based on 18th-century gin containers. "The design of the bottle was important for us," admits Wortley. "The new generation of beer drinkers shy away from the brown beer bottle, so something stylish looks right to them."

One of the catalysts for the change in beer drinkers' tastes was the success of Interbrew's Belgian wheat beer, Hoegaarden. Nowadays, this splendidly aromatic and refreshing beer, with its striking bar font and chunky glasses, is a fixture in many British bars. However, in the early 1990s, Belgian beer for most people meant a reassuringly expensive pint of Stella. Besides, who could have predicted that a cloudy, pale beer whose ingredients included coriander and orange peel would have been such a hit? "Hoegaarden succeeded because of its beautiful aroma, crisp acidity and refreshing taste," states Alastair Hook at London's Meantime Brewery, which is launching a range of five Continental-style beers which it hopes will repeat Hoegaarden's success. "And," he adds, "it was served in a startling way in places where women feel comfortable."

Given the success of Hoegaarden, there are other reasons why the time is right for beer to come out of its bitter straitjacket. Drinkers are used to increasingly different flavours in their food; the knock-on effect is that they should be willing to try a beer infused with honey, port or lemon grass. There are also the relentless rise of bars and the feminisation of pubs, with beer sold in environments which encourage women drinkers.

Interesting brews

Apparently, women are perceived to be more open to interesting brews. One head brewer I spoke to was cagey, but didn't deny that his passion fruit beer was aimed at women. Brewers have also realised that people will be interested if you educate them about the beer they are drinking - put beer on a par with wine. We all know about oaked Chardonnay and noble rot; now it's the turn for beer's culture to get an airing.

This could explain the success of a beer like Fraoch, made with heather instead of hops. Brewer Heather Ales also produces a gooseberry wheat beer and a delicious beer made with spruce. These are not novelties but genuine styles of Scottish beer from the past. Fraoch has a pedigree going back 2,000 years to the Picts.

Given all these factors, there must be a few people out there keen to know what the next Hoegaarden will be. Will London barflies be quaffing cases of Clouded Yellow, an enticing wheat beer from St Austell? Or will it be Meantime's forthcoming range, including a raspberry wheat beer and an organic chocolate beer, described by its makers as the first "comfort beer"?

"The Bavarian Hefe-Weizen beers could get popular," predicts Mark Dorber at the famous White Horse in Parsons Green, SW6, "especially as you can get both clear and cloudy ones. Fruit beer styles are in, and I've also noticed the popularity of the Belgian abbey styles. Carlsberg has developed a strong abbey beer in Copenhagen, which goes really well with food. If any beers are going to move into the mass market, it will be the ones which go well with food."

At beer importer James Clay and Sons, Nigel Stevenson agrees about the strength of the Bavarian weisses. "We supply both Schneider and Erdinger," he says. "There are steady sales of Schneider, but Erdinger is increasing faster. In the past couple of years we have gone from zero accounts for draught to 60. In at least 10 to 15 outlets where Hoegaarden has been replaced by Erdinger, it has sold more." There's also the question of aesthetics. "People are still wedded to the idea of a pint glass," Stevenson adds, "and a Hoegaarden pint glass is too big, so maybe the long, tall, flute style of a weiss beer glass is easier to handle."

"Hoegaarden remains popular," says Lee Williams, bar manager at one of Belgo's Bierodromes, "but what is also shifting here at the moment is Celis White, which is brewed by original Hoegaarden brewer Pierre Celis. It's a refreshing wheat beer but different to Hoegaarden in that, while Hoegaarden has a citrusy, lemony edge, Celis White has more of a spiciness to it, due to the addition of cinnamon. Leffe Blond is the most popular blond, while Kwak, which is served in a test-tube-like glass held in a wooden bracket, is also hot."

Star performers

So, like English football clubs in recent years, bars and restaurants may be tempted to turn to Europe for their star performers. However, for the patriotic licensee, there are plenty of good British specialist beers as well. In Caterer's recent bottle-conditioned beer tasting top performers included a Belgian-style wheat beer, a spicy strong ale, a ginger wheat beer and a traditionally English old ale. Even though bitter remains the bread and butter of our brewers, a lot are slowly waking up to the wondrous tastes and fusions that you can produce with beer.

Mind you, we have a long way to go before reaching the phenomenal heights of US craft brewers. The recent Great American Beer Festival had more than 50 beer categories (the Great British Beer Festival, in comparison, has six) - from Kolsch, American IPA and American brown ales through Continental lager styles to the more adventurous examples, including experimental rye- and smoke-flavoured types. And all this from the country that brought us Thunderbird.

Recommended specialist beers, available in bottle and draught

Schneider Weisse (5.4%)
Refreshing, clovey Bavarian wheat beer
James Clay & Sons 01422 377560

Erdinger Weissbier (5.3%)
Easy-to-drink Bavarian wheat beer James Clay & Sons 01422 377560

Leffe Blond (6.5%)
Full-bodied and strong, with a dry fruity taste
Interbrew 01582 391166

Fraoch Heather Ale (4.1%)
Very refreshing, with plenty of herbal and spicy flavours and a wonderful dry finish
Heather Ale 01357 529529

Puzzle (4.8%)
Light-coloured Belgian-style wheat beer with a perfumy nose and ginger-edged quenching taste
Salopian Brewing Company 01743 248414

Firefly (5%)
Brewed with peat-smoked malt, has an initial smoky taste which develops into a fruity hoppiness; a good appetiser
Salopian Brewing Company 01743 248414

St Peter's King Cnut (5%)Based on a 1,000-year-old recipe; flavourings come from botanicals, fruit and roasted barley; stinging nettles are used instead of hops, which didn't appear in English brewing until the 16th century
St Peter's 01986 782322

St Peter's Elderberry Fruit Beer (4.7%)Fruit beer with added elderberries, boasting a beautiful floral nose and a quenching dry finish
St Peter's 01986 782322

St Austell's Clouded Yellow (5%)
Clean-tasting and well-rounded wheat beer with loads of banana and vanilla on the palate
St Austell 01726 74444

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (5%)
Best known of the Bavarian smoked beers, with an intense smoky palate but a refreshing aftertaste
James Clay & Sons 01422 377560