Finding the best ale can often be beery confusing

Last week, I criticised a Blenheim supermarket for the random way it displays its beers. In retrospect, I was probably a little harsh to single out one particular store, when most Kiwi supermarkets display their beers just as poorly.

If you are wondering what I'm complaining about, allow me to explain.

Let's say that you have been invited to a friend's place for a barbecue and you have decided to take along a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc.

Easy just nip into any supermarket, make a beeline for the wine department and there, separated from the rieslings, chardonnays, pinot gris and gewurztraminers, you'll find a selection of sauvignons all neatly lined up together. Just take your pick. Couldn't be simpler, eh?

But what if it's not a bottle of wine you're after, but a beer? What if you're looking for a crisp Czech pilsener, a cloudy German wheat beer or a resiny American pale ale perhaps?

How do you go about locating your preferred beer style and then making your choice?

Most supermarkets display their beers according to plans worked out centrally by the store's parent company.

These plans generally divide beers into three categories budget, mainstream and premium, according to their price.

Unfortunately, these categories completely ignore a beer's style or flavour characteristics, and as a result a dark, roasty stout such as Guinness can end up displayed alongside a pale, quenching golden lager, such as Corona.

That's a bit like having a gutsy Australian shiraz sitting on the shelf next to an elegant Alsatian riesling. Crazy!

Given the ever-increasing number of beers available, I believe it's high time that Kiwi supermarkets started to display their beers according to style. I realise that this would spoil the visual effect of having all the beers of a particular brand lined up next to each other, but the upside would be that a customer wishing to buy a porter could go to one shelf and find all the porters displayed together, without having to wade through shelves of golden lagers and amber ales. Doesn't that make sense?

And isn't that exactly how supermarkets display every other item, from baked beans and cornflakes to potatoes and chardonnay?

But while we wait for our supermarkets to grasp the concept of beer styles, there's another, even simpler alternative.

At Blenheim New World, the entire top shelf of the beer chiller is given over to premium and craft beers, which are displayed according to country of origin.

As a result, the store's customers know exactly where to look to find a hoppy Czech pilsener a cloudy German wheat beer or a resiny American pale ale.

And here's another suggestion: Having twice visited Britain last year, I noted an interesting trend in the presentation of beers there.

The big British supermarket chains tend to display single-bottle craft beers and ciders well away from the pallets of the multi-pack mainstream brands in much the same way that New Zealand supermarkets keep their box wines separate from their fine wines.

Now wouldn't that be a good start?

Cheers!

- The Marlborough Express