Richard Watkins - Bentspoke
b"This week we hear from Bentspoke's Richard Watkins and it's all about delicious barrel aged Flanders Reds.\\n Beer is in a really interesting place right now. If you look at the early generation of craft brewers, many were inspired by travels through Europe, especially Belgium. Later, it was hop forward beers that inspired brewers and beer drinkers alike. Hop forward gradually morphed into hop driven beers and we saw an IBU arms race. More recently hops have meant haze and we have seen a race to be the cloudiest most fruit punchy beers on the market.\\n Another notable trend has been the rise of what are termed sour beers, which has also seen a race to be the most mouth puckering, or wildest combination of flavours. It\\u2019s all good fun and great for headlines and for attention, and also interest in the sector.\\n But, at risk of prematurely earning an \\u2018ok boomer\\u2019 from you, I was a beer drinker whose palate was shaped by the classic beers of Belgium and whose touchstones in sour beers were beers such as Rodenbach and Orval. To me, these beers are still amongst the greats, that show how good beer can be.\\n If you haven\\u2019t already, seek out some Flemm. It is sublime.\\n Also, have a listen, or a relisten, to our conversation with Rodenbach\\u2019s Rudi Ghequire from last year. It was a another very insightful delving into the world of Belgian beers.\\n Our partners\\n Radio Brews News is proudly presented by\\xa0Cryer Malt. With over 25 years in the field, Cryer Malt are dedicated to providing the finest brewing ingredients to help brewers create the foundations of a truly excellent beer. Your premium brewing partner and proud sponsors of Brews News. and this is Brews News Week.\\n If you like what we do at Radio Brews News you can help us out by:\\n Sponsoring the show\\n \\nReviewing us on iTunes\\xa0or your favourite podcasting service\\n Emailing us at\\xa0producer@brewsnews.com.au\\xa0to share your thoughts\\n All letter writers will receive a brews news bottle opener and go into the draw to win a mixed six-pack thanks to our good friends at\\xa0Beer Cartel\\xa0who sponsor our letter for the week."