GBBF 2008 - From My Perspective

The great and the good of the beer world seemed to be at Earls Court this week as The Great British Beer Festival 2008 kicked off. Amazingly my group was at the very front of the queue thanks to Angelo arriving at 9:30. We eagerly watched the clock on the big screen near the door countdown towards 12 noon, and then beyond that advertized opening time. The staff inside didn't look like they were having a last minute brief so the short delay was somewhat confusing.

Nevermind, 12:05 arrived and the doors opened. We piled through the turnstiles and the first face we saw was Roger Protz, on his way out of the hall. Perhaps he'd already had enough beer, but it did seem somewhat strange to pass him going in the opposite direction.

The RateBeer crowd took up residence at two tables near the Biere Sans Frontieres bar. We were all keen to try Lost Abbey The Angel's Share, De Molen Tsarina Esra Reserva, and Dogfish Palo Santo Marron, amongst others. These 10% plus monsters could wait for later in the day for me, although a lot of table started with these beers - it can only be downhill from there!

I therefore spent most of the day on the mid strength American beers interspersing the mad hoppiness with a German or Czech lager or two. It's great to see all those US casks but sometimes the palate needs a change.

As good as the beers were, I spent more time than ever chatting and socializing. As mentioned on their respective blogs, I met The Beer Nut and Tandleman, as well as Stonch, and two members of The Young CAMRA Collectiv, who have yet to file a full report of the festival. I enjoyed the company of my fellow bloggers immensely, all of whom have a delightful enthusiasm for beer and blogging, and, I think our style of blogging comes out in our personality.

So what of the beers? Well for the fourth year on the trot I didn't buy anything English. I did have a large sample of someone else's Marble Janine's One, which was possibly the nicest light beer I had in the two days I was there. It put the APAs and IPAs to shame.

I am, though, a sucker for high gravity extreme beers, and the three I mentioned at the start of the article were all excellent. They're not for the faint hearted, and it would be fair to say the alcohol was a bit hot in the two US beers, but they were all just so sippably gorgeous.

The Angel's Share was the best of the bunch. The bourbon barrel aging was a little obvious but it was good enough for me.

Thanks then, to everyone I spent time with during the two days. Chris, my host overnight, as ever was the top man, but to everyone who made me laugh, paid me a compliment on my writing, or taught me something new; a big Cheers.

My One Year Anniversary

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of starting my blog. I was too busy to do a post in celebration (more on that later), but I'd like to now thank everyone for reading my little part of the internet.

It's pretty amazing that I've stuck such a project out for a year already; normally my will power means I stick with something for a very short period before getting fed up and ceasing. I think it's testiment to you guys though and your interesting comments that allow me to enjoy doing this as much as I do.

There's a fair few British beer blogs now, all of which I read and enjoy. I think we all write with diferent styles but there's definitely a place for that.

Hopefully I'll still be around in twelve months time for my two year anniversary.

Cheers to you all.

Wetherspoons - We All Blog Together

An interesting thing about the Wetherspoons beer festival is that it's being covered by pretty much all of the British bloggers, even those who have a self-imposed boycott of Tim Martin's pubs.

Normally when we blog about a festival or some beers we've sampled, however interesting it might be to us, our readers are not sharing the experience as they won't have been to the festival, and may not ever get to see the beers we write about.

In this instance though, we are (nearly) all going to Spoons on a daily basis and taking in the festival. It's great that a Northern blogger is drinking the same beer on the same day as a Southern blogger, and they are both writing about it. It's good fun reading about people's search for the Stone IIPA (which I've still not had), and, in my case, drooling over the description of how much they've enjoyed it.

So one thing the festival is doing is bringing us all together and making it feel like we are all drinking in the same boozer, and that's a really enjoyable experience.

Reading Beer Blogs Makes Me Thirsty

It's a typical Sunday afternoon in my house. That means I'm not allowed to watch the football because daughter number one is hogging the television and throws an almighty paddy if I suggest that watching the same Wiggles DVD three times back to back might be a bit much for my sanity.

So after some important filing work in my office (beer festival programmes etc) I catch up with my beer blog reading. And it's thirsty work! It's amazing how reading about beer makes me want to drink some. Nothing special on this occasion; just a bottle of Tusker. After all the ways things are in Kenya at the moment it may be my last chance to drink this paricular beer (even if it's not very good).

So I wonder if I'm alone in grabbing a beer while blog reading? Perhaps you're grabbing a beer as we speak, I hope it's something better than what's in my glass. If so Cheers!

By the way my good friend Simon has updated his blog with a story about a day in Leicester we had recently. It's a good read. Leave him a comment; it might humble him into keeping it updated more regularly.

Looking Forward To 2008

The end of the year is traditionally the time we vow to do loads of worthy things during the following 365 days, but rarely keep our promise beyond a week or three. However in spite of previous attempts of mine failing I'm going to try and keep the following resolutions and now that they are being published on this blog I cannot dent ever having said I will do certain things.

As you would expect of a beer blog most are beer related, but not all are:

1. Try to lose weight - Who hasn't tried to do this over the years? Truth is though that between the beginning of October and Christmas I lost 14 lbs. Christmas has seen five of these go back on, but a really concerted effort should see success for me this year. Mind you that doesn't mean cutting down on the beer

2. Eat conscientiously - By this I mean only eat meat farmed organically, or at least that the meat is free range (I really cannot go vegetarian). I already do this at home but I need to stick to my laurels and abide by this when eating elsewhere, like others' homes and beer festivals for example. It's pretty inexcusable not eating more ethically; good food is more expensive but it is most definitely worth it.

3. Leave more comments on other blogs - I'm sure people appreciate comments being left, I know I do, so I'll try to devote more time to show that I read and enjoy other blogs.

4. Respond to comments on my blog - Sometimes I just read and publish without joining in the debate, I must get out of that habit.

5. Don't be so bothered about drinking new beers - this will particularly appeal to some of my readers. I will have had 850 new beers in 2007 by the end of tonight. I aim to reduce that number in 2008.

6. Drink more local beers - Wherever possible I will drink Northamptonshire beers whenever I see them.

7. Revisit all of the following beers - I really need to try these beers again in deference to new stuff. To that end, one day a week I will only drink stuff I've had before.

Orval

All three widely available Chimays

Rochefort 6 and 8

Westmalle Triple

Aventinus

Thornbridge Jaipur

Crouch Vale Brewers Gold and Extra

Dark Star Hophead

Bush Ambrée

Girardin Gueuze Black Label

Cantillon Gueuze and Rose de Gambrinus

Becks

Okay that last one is a joke, but the list isn't exhaustive anyway.

So let's see how I do, I'll try and report back in a years time. Meanwhile Happy New Year To All Of You, and thanks for reading my little space in surfdom.

Shall We Have A Bloggers Get Together?

Reading around others' blogs and the European forum of RateBeer, it appears that a fair few European beer bloggers are up for The Pigs Ear Beer Festival in December. It's not easy for me to get to London at the minute, but I'm definitely aiming to get there on the Tuesday from opening time.

It seems like a great excuse for a blogger's convention? What do you all think?

I've Gone Freelance!

I was very pleased to be asked to do a guest spot on renowned American blog Hop Talk. It has been published today and is about American beer in the UK. Please go read the article and also enjoy guest pieces from other UK bloggers Boak and Bailey and The Beer Nut.

Links to their own fine blogs can be found in the links section on the left hand side of this page.

There is a vast number of beer blogs around at the moment which I enjoy reading greatly, and am grateful that I have been welcomed into the "community" in this way.