65 of the Best

 

 

To Glasgow, where news reaches me of a really exciting and rather touching story of a beer festival planned for June.

It’s a human story centred around one man, his love of beer and his desire to share that passion with the world and life’s experience is all the better for hearing it.

It’s the story of a barman. His name’s Ronnie. Ronnie Anderson. He’s just a barman. The guy who knows your name, pours your pints and clears up the detritus of your evening on the ale.

But, he’s more than just a barman. He looks after the cellar, selects the casks and ensures that the beer you drink is kept and served in the best condition possible.

Every proper real ale pub has a Ronnie.

My Ronnie works at the Three Judges in Glasgow. He’s 65 years old in June and as a recognition and celebration of Ronnie’s beer knowledge and craft, the manager of the Judges, Angela Bradley and pub owner’s Maclays have asked Ronnie to choose his top 65 beers, one for each year that Ronnie’s been thinking about beer.  Ronnie’s best 65 beers will be available in the Three Judges during the month of June.

 

Wunderbar! Ronnie in Bavaria

 

As you would expect, Ronnie is rather “chuffed” with the offer and said, modestly, that “it is nice to be appreciated”.

So, what beers and breweries is he planning on getting in for his ‘65 of the Best’ Beer Festival? When I spoke to him he was initially tight lipped, but after a few pints of Fyne Ales’ latest offering, Aonoch Mhor, he began to open up and, with a glint in his eye, he regaled me with a wish list of breweries and beers so delicious and delightful that my mouth watered.  Dark Star, Fyne, Hawkshead, Oakham, Mallinson’s, Bristol Beer Factory, Harvey’s…

The list went on and on and on and on. It read like a Who’s Who of the best beers and breweries of the past decade. Ronnie admits that “it will be a challenge” to get all of his 65 beers but it is one that he is relishing.

He is also planning to have a weekly Meet the Brewer events during June with local brewers in the Judges talking about their beers.

Ronnie’s ‘65 of the Best’ Beer Festival coincides with the West End Festival and runs from 31^st May to the 30^th June.

Now, wasn’t that a lovely story?

 

Golden Pints Awards 2012

 

 

 

Time to resurrect the blog for a timely look back through the bottom of a beer glass at the year just past. I may not have been as prolific in the blogging of my beer experiences as I would have liked but just because I wasn't blogging didn't mean I wasn't out there taking in and tasting what was a vintage year in beer. Indeed, less time spent writing meant more time sitting in lovely pubs enjoying wonderful beers in the company of great friends . It's the perfect beer equation;

Lovely Pub + Wonderful Beers x Great Friends = The Meaning of Life
 

Best UK Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer

How can you possibly pick just one beer? I've had many solid and likeable beers this year. Fyne Ales' IPA Project more than satisfied my curiosity. As did their one off beers such as Cloudburst, Roxy, Superior IPA and Zombier. Cloudburst, in particular, was an outstanding beer and one that I hope they repeat in 2013. Hawkshead's range of beers still impress with their quality and consistency. I've yet to have an iffy beer from them and long may that continue. Their NZPA and Windermere Pale beers always make me dance inside when I first set eyes on their pumpclips in pubs. Other notable beers have included Oakham's Scarlet Macaw and Cromarty's Hit the Lip and Happy Chappy. Luckie's Brown Ale was rather special too.

Best Overseas Draught Beer

I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Germany over the summer and indulged myself with many fine beers so to whittle it down to just one that stands out above the rest is an impossible task. I've got it down to three and in no particular order they are;

Martin's Brau Unfiltiert Pils, Freiburg
Hausbrauerei Feierling Inselhopf, Freiburg
Mahr's Brau Kellerbier Ungespundet Hefetrub, Bamberg





All unfiltered and as hazy as an old London fog but, in my opinion, all the better and tastier for it.

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer

Keesmann Herren Pils

No explanation needed.

Best Overall Beer

I imbibed more Fyne Ales Jarl than any other beer in 2012 but that's probably down to being more widely available than some of their other beers but I'm going to resist the temptation of making it my best overall beer. Instead, I'm going to go for its slighty bigger, punchier and bitterer brother Cloudburst that made a fleeting appearance on the beer stage in September/October. It's been much missed since.

Fyne Ales Cloudburst

Best UK Brewery

Decisions, decisions. When reflecting on this category, I thought I would base it on the criteria of who makes consistently great beer across a range of styles that I would be confident of getting a really nice pint regardless of which beer I chose. I also took into consideration which breweries I tend to drink most of. Therefore, it could only be two and in joint first place are:

1 = Fyne Ales / Hawkshead

Pub/Bar of the Year

The Laurieston, Glasgow

It's an easy choice this one. This pub is the living embodiment of the perfect beer equation;

Lovely Pub + Wonderful Beers x Great Friends = The Meaning of Life

It quite simply is the best place to spend a few hours appreciating the bonhomie, beers and banter.  It fits perfectly like an old glove and feels like a long lost friend. The barstaff are brilliant too. It is the ad hoc Fyne Ales brewery tap in Glasgow. Some, who really should know better, have cruelly and disrespectfully labelled The Laurieston a "Jakey Pub". This does a dis-service to the pub, the punters but above all to the publicans. The Laurieston is the textbook definition of a proper community pub and it should be cherished. I just wish there were more pubs like The Laurieston.

Beer Festival of the Year

Annafest (Kellerwald, Forchheim)

23 Bierkellers, 1 Forest, 50,000 people and a week long bier festival. Wunderbar!

Supermarket of the Year

Booths

Independent Retailer of the Year

Glasgow's not bad now for bottled beer with The Good Spirits Co putting on a grand show by expanding their range of domestic and continental beers. Every time I go in their beer range seems to grow. Long may that continue.

Hippo Beers have just opened up in the West End of the city and I've been impressed with what they are trying to do too. They hosted a superb tasting session at Brel prior to opening as part of Glasgow Beer Week and I was bowled over by their infectious enthusiasm for beer. It struck me as a labour of love. I'll be keeping an eye on Hippo Beers in 2013.

Another one to watch out for is Alesela Beers who plan to expand from online retailing into running their own off license premises in the city centre of Glasgow. I've had nothing but great beers and first rate service from Alesela online and wish them well in their new venture.

Online Retailer

I don't buy as much as I used to from online beer retailers but in 2012 I tended to use Alesela Beers.

Best Beer Twitterer

@simonhjohnson

Best Beer Blog

I greatly admire what Rich at The Beer Cast has done for beer coverage in Edinburgh. He is a true beer advocate.

Mr Shafi takes the prize for the best beer blog. His Walking and Crawling blog is always a pleasure to read. It is detailed, informative and Adam's passion for beer shines through. If there was any justice in the beer world then Adam's collection of musings and meanderings off beer's beaten track should be turned into book poste haste. Well done Adam. More power to your pen.

Food and Beer Pairing

A McGhee's pie and a pint of Fyne Ales Jarl at The Laurieston


In 2013, I'd most like to see

Lovely Pub + Wonderful Beers x Great Friends = The Meaning of Life


 

Time will tell on new beer deal

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I see from this article in the Scottish Licensed Trade News (SLTN) that Glasgow brewing behemoths, Tennent Caledonian Breweries (TCB) has just secured a deal to become the main beer supplier for Alloa based Maclays Inns who have a portfolio of 26 managed pubs across Scotland.

My local real ale pub, The Three Judges, is a Maclay's pub but what makes the Judges a bit different from other Maclay's pubs is that they are given a bit more latitude and choice to decide what real ales occupy the eight pumps at the Judges given over to guest ales. These are usually sourced from Flyer and Firkin.

This new deal between TCB and Maclays still allows for Maclays to source "certain products outwith the agreement" however, according to the SLTN article, Tennent's believes that it will be able to "cover most of its (Maclays) beer needs". What 'certain products outwith the agreement' are TCB referring to? Well, Greene King, which own the Belhaven range of beers, has said that they are "delighted to continue to supply a selection of brands to Maclay".

My greatest fear is that this deal could restrict the Judges' ability to continue to select from a wide range of breweries and beers that increase drinkers choice and enjoyment. Hopefully this isn't the case and the Judges will still be able to choose and showcase some of the best beers from all across the United Kingdom, rather than being lumbered with a list that contains widely available, generic and lowest common denominator efforts from the likes of Greene King, Belhaven and Tennent's attempt at 'Scottish Craft Beer' (their words, not mine), Caledonia Best.

Time will tell.

Ho Hum....

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I've just caught sight of the pumpclip for a beer made exclusively for Wetherspoons by Bateman's brewery of Lincolnshire to commemorate and 'celebrate' David Cameron's use of the veto in defiance of the European Union. The pumpclip has Cameron at his Churchillian best giving two fingers to Johnny Foreigner.

The beer is called 'Veto Ale' and is made with 100% British ingredients, including Bramling Cross and Challenger hops.

Of the beer, Wetherspoons Chairman Tim Martin, said "Veto Ale is a traditional English bitter and a perfect example of a great beer style that you can drink and feel proud to be British,”

“I believe that David Cameron has taken the right decision on the Euro and that customers in our pubs will salute this with a pint of this excellent beer.”

The beer will be available in all of the Wetherspoons pubs.

I really can't be arsed with the jingoistic, flag waving nature of some brewers and pubs.

I think i'll be giving Wetherspoons a swerve for a while.

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The Session #59 - I Love Coffee

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A new year welcomes in a new The Session Beer Blogging Friday post. This time it's being hosted by Brewed For Thought and is on the topic of what do beer drinkers drink when not drinking beer.

For me it's an easy and obvious, but relatively recent, choice.

When not drinking beer, you will find me with my head in a bag of freshly ground inhaling deeply the gorgeously rich coffee aromas.

I went from and instant drinker to a fully fledged coffee geek quicker than you could say, "Monsoon Malabar". And, I love it.

I love everything about making a freshly prepared cup of real coffee; roasting and grinding the beans, the aroma as it permeates the kitchen and the rest of the flat. I particularly love the garbled gargle sound of the espresso machine, like the noise James Watt's cat makes when trying to clear a pubic hair from the back of it's little kitty throat, as it fires in to action.

I also love the way coffee has also enhanced my enjoyment of darker beers, particularly stouts and porters, as it's helped refine and retune my palete to appreciate further the dark and roasty tastes and flavours of these styles of beer.

I love coffee. It's what I drink when I'm not drinking beer.

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A Year in Beer - Part 2

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Welcome to Part Two of A Year In Beer which looks back and reflects upon the year just past as witnessed from not just my own personal experience but also through the eyes of other beer bloggers. We've already had January to June in Part One, so let's now look at 2001 from July through to December. Hang on to your hats. Here goes.


July

The beer festival season is in full swing by July and not wanting to miss out, I take myself to Staveley in Cumbria for the Hawkshead Summer Beer Festival. Three days of glorious sunshine, over 70 beers and one of the most chilled out and enjoyable beer festivals that I was to attend all year. The cream of British beers and British breweries were on show and I got my first taste, as did many others, of beers by the new kid on the brewery block, The Magic Rock Brewing Company.

They showcased four of their beers at Hawkshead (Human Cannonball, Curious, High Wire and Rature) and were fantastically received by the hot and thirsty scoopers who drank the Magic Rock beers dry by early on the second day of the festival. For Magic Rock, it set the tone for the rest of their year in beer. They have gone from strength to strength since their inception in May of 2011 and have picked up praise and plaudits not only for their excellent beers but also for their use of social media as a vehicle to raise the profile of the brewery and increase the customer base for their beers. Despite the circus themed pumpclips and beer labels, 2011 has shown that Magic Rock Brewing Company are no clowns.


In other news, Molson Coors announce the launch of  their 'female friendly' beer range, Animee.

It's beer that tastes of other things such as crisp rosé and zesty lemon.
According to Molson Coors, Animee is an "exciting opportunity to break down the barriers between women and beer" with a brand plan and product design that are "feminine and sophisticated without being patronising.”

The arrival of Animee results in various bloggers questioning whether women really need their own beer.

Meanwhile, Melissa Cole alerts us to another 'female friendly' beer.

In more beer news, this guy has an IPA every day in July, some students make evolutionary beer, Ghostie fights the IPA wars so we don't have to and BrewDog and Camra fall out.........again.


August

Yay! It's finally arrived. August is a great month to be a British beer drinker; the largest amount of pork scrathings assembled in the world, a tombola, the crack and tinkle of glass and then the cheer as someone drops their pint pot on the concrete floor and some beers to keep you occupied for a few hours can only mean one thing - The Great British Beer Festival at Earl's Court. For me, the foreign bars dominated as I drifted between them lingering longer each time at the Czech beer bar.

It would appear that everyone had a grand old time even if some people weren't happy about a perfectly serviceable and rather nice pint of Mild winning the Champion Beer of Britain.


Elsewhere in the beer world, the popular beat combo, The Elbow brew a beer which makes this man very happy,  a lively debate takes place when one beer drinker visits a new Glasgow pub and doesn't like what he sees and Cookie looks into his crystal balls. And, Dave from Hardknott brewery makes a video.

September
                                                       
Sainsbury's launch their Great British Beer Hunt and many beer bloggers, myself included, swore by and got all hot under their collars over a beer thought up by students and cuckoo brewed at Williams Bros brewery. The beer was Profanity Stout and it was rather nice. It still didn't win, though with that honour going to Ridgeway Bad King John. A Williams Bros beer, Caesar Augustus was second.

In other beer news, some American Evangelist tries to convert me when I pop out to the shops, I ponder the importance of good cellarmanship, Boak and Bailey goes beyond the grave in their search for beer and Ghost Drinker hires an Assassin.


October

October the First sees the introduction of some laws the will see drinkers paying more for their beer. In Scotland, new laws are introduced including minimum pricing per unit of alcohol. Some supermarkets attempt to get round some of the legislation by moving their warehousing operations south of the border where the legislation does not apply. In a move echoing this, BrewDog move their operations south too.

Also introduced, this time by Westminster, is a UK wide increase in the beer duty on beers over 7.5% ABV. This coincides with the decrease of beers which are less than 2.8% ABV.  Naturally, a few bloggers had something to say about these new pieces of legislation. One even went an entire month drinking only beers over 7.5% ABV beers until his liver turned to pate in protest.

In other news, a book about beer was published that some described as a 'dreadful disaster', others as "essential", Maltworms finds stainless steel sexy, The Tap East opens, Ghost Drinker has a threesome and I make history at the Wetherspoons Beer Festival.

November

November means Toon Twissup in Newcastle as over 30 beer bloggers and twitterers turn up at the Tyne for a great days beery fun. A few beers in Bacchus, followed by a tour of Tyne Bank brewery and then on to the excellent Free Trade Inn at Ouseburn. It was a grand day out which got blurrier as things progressed, especially after some of Hardknott's Vitesse Noir.

International Stout Day came and went without me remembering that it was on, but these guys remembered.

In other news, Simon Johnson has a beery confession, Boak and Bailey try to spot a craft brewery and Tandleman goes to Glasgow.

December

December is usually a good month for new arrivals, just ask Mary and Joseph, and this year was no different. December brought the arrival of a new, much anticipated, bar to Glasgow in the shape of Bruadar bar in the West end.

An Aberdeenshire brewery and pub chain expanded further into the tied pub game with the arrival of their new bar in London's Camden which brought out the Capital's beer mafia on opening night to give it the once over and say 'Awesome!'.

In other news, Police and Cats Protection League officers wish to question an Aberdeenshire beer entrepreneur for alleged over affection towards felines. Simon Johnson writes my favourite review of the year, Neil joins the Circus and Dave from Hardknott wishes goodwill to all brewers.

On reflection, I guess it wasn't a bad year to be a beer drinker.

Right. That's me done. Can I go for a nice beer now?

Cheers

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Golden Pints Awards 2011 - The Votes Have Been Counted.

Mr Rick Furzer, over on the Gastroturf blog, has painstakingly collated all the nomination entries for the 2011 Golden Pints Awards. Hats off to Rick, as there were 49 entries in total and it must have been a right pain in the arse to locate, list and link all of them.

Being the curious sort that I am, I thought that I would go through them all and tally up the various nominations in each categories. So that is what I have done. It makes for interesting reading most notably how quickly new breweries and their beers have managed to win recognition, kudos and establish themselves in the collective conscience of beer bloggers and beer drinkers.

The range of entries, in terms of the number of beer styles and breweries nominated indicates that there is a diversity of choice and tastes available not just from UK breweries but also internationally.

When putting this overall summative list together, I counted only those nominations that were listed as first or joint first on people's submissions. I haven't counted the runners up. One person changed their mind from their original Golden Pints Awards blogpost and updated on a later blog. In this instance,  I have included both nominations. If the person (that's you, Tandleman) wishes me to remove one of his entries then I will do that. It makes no difference to the overall result, though. I have left out the random self selected category.

The prefered system of voting was First Past The Post.

Can we now have the votes from the Norwegian Jury, please?

So here goes. The 2011 Golden Pints Awards in full are as follows.

Best UK Draught (Cask/Keg)

Twenty seven different beers were nominated for this category and the top three in terms of votes cast are as follows.

1. Magic Rock High Wire  - 6 Votes
2. Hawkshead Windermere Pale - 3 Votes
3 = Magic Rock Dark Arts, Magic Rock Human Cannonball, Summer Wine Diablo, Grain Redwood - 2 Votes

Best UK Bottle / Canned Beer

Again, almost 30 different beers  were nominated with the Kernel polling strongly with 7 of their beers being nominated in this category. Fullers were next highest with three of their beers present on the final list. The top three were -

1. Kernel Imperial Brown Stout - 6 Votes
2. Buxton Axe Edge - 4 Votes
3. Roosters Baby Faced Assassin - 3 Votes.

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Beers from the U.S. were well represented in the nominations. Out of the 30 seperate beers mentioned, over 60 % were American. Mikkeller held it's own with 3 of their beers nominated. However, only three beers in this category were nominated more than once. These were;

1. Odell IPA - 6 Votes
2. Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard. De Molen Hot and Spicy - 2 Votes

Best Overseas Bottle/Can

Again, loads of single entries with only three beers being nominated more than once. These were;

1. Orval - 3 Votes
2 = Stone Sublimely Self Righteous, Uinta Detour Double IPA - 2 Votes

Best Overall Beer

Loads of single entries again with Magic Rock, The Kernel and Summer Wine well represented. There was no outright winner in this category as six beers were tied for first place;

1. = Buxton Axe Edge, Kernel IPA 100 Centennial, Magic Rock Human Cannonball, Magic Rock High Wire, Orval, Hawkshead Windermere Pale - 2 Votes each

Best Pumpclip/Label

Sixteen nominations in this category but a clear winner emerged early on and was never going to be caught.

1. Magic Rock - 16 Votes
2. Uinta Crooked Line Detour DIPA - 2 Votes

Best UK Brewery

This was a very close run thing with 3 breweries in the reckoning right down to the wire. Overall, fourteen breweries were nominated but the final five were as follows;

1. The Kernel Brewery - 15 Votes
2 = Magic Rock - 8 Votes
3. Summer Wine - 7 Votes
4. Buxton - 4 Votes
5. = Marble, Hawkshead, Fullers - 2 Votes

Best Overseas Brewery

1. Stone Brewing - 8 Votes
2. De Molen, Mikkeller - 4 Votes
3. = Odell, Orval, 1516 of Vienna - 2 Votes

Pub Of The Year

This was a very close run category with pubs from across the country being represented. In the end it was shared between a Newcastle pub that won many admirers at the Toon Twissup in November and a new addition to London's beer scene that arrived this year and has clearly made a huge impression..

1. = The Free Trade Inn, Newcastle. The Craft Beer Co, London - 6 Votes
2. = The Southampton Arms, London. Mr Foley's, Leeds - 4 Votes
3. Port Street, Manchester, Euston Tap, London - 3 Votes

Beer Festival/Event of the Year

From Alloa to The Great American Beer festival, people were out and about enjoying sone great beery times. The top three events for beer were;

1. Great British Beer Festival - 7 Votes
2. = European Beer Bloggers Conference, Toon Twissup - 2 Votes

Best Supermarket for Beer

1. Waitrose - 10 Votes
2. Booths - 6 Votes
3. =Sainsbury, Marks and Spencer - 4 Votes

Independent Beer Retailer

The Leeds Blogeratti are greatly impressed by their local offie. As are a lot more others. It swept the board, this year, and blew every other beer shop right out of the water.

1. Beer Ritz - 15 Votes
2. Bottle, Canterbury - 4 Votes

Online Beer Retailer

Again, only one winner here;

1. My Brewery Tap - 19 Votes
2. Beermerchants - 4 Votes
3. BrewDog - 3 Votes


Best Beer Book


1. Oxford Companion to Beer - 5Votes
2. Beer Quarterly (Camra) - 4 Votes
3. = Melissa Cole's Let me tell you about beer,  Hopaganda - 3 Votes

Best Beer Blog/Website

1. Ghost Drinker - 10 Votes
2. Boak and Bailey - 6 Votes
3. Pencil and Spoon - 4 Votes
4.  Called To The Bar, The Good Stuff, Reluctant Scooper - 2 Votes

Twitter Beer Person

1. Simon Johnson - 16 Votes
2. Broadford Brewer - 6 Votes
3  Zak Avery - 3 Votes

Online Brewery Presence

Again a fairly close run thing between two new breweries that have used social media to fantastic benefit in raising their profile and getting greater public recognition of their brewery and beers.

1. Magic Rock - 11 Votes
2. Summer Wine - 8 Votes
3. Hardknott, BrewDog - 3 Votes

So, concludes the results of the Norwegian Jury.

Have a good year in beer and hope that 2012 is as good as the year just passed for well made, tasty and refreshing beer.

Cheers.

A Year In Beer - Part 1

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At the dying embers of 2011, it's time to not only look forward to the New Year ahead of us but also to pause and take a few moments to reflect on the year that's coming to a close.

As someone who enjoys beer and writing the odd blogpost about the stuff, 2011 has been a fine vintage that's delivered a feast aplenty of great beer, new breweries and the wider choice and opportunity to experience and enjoy, what I believe is, the world's greatest beverage.

So, on the last day of the year, let me review the year in beer as witnessed from not just my own personal experience but also through the eyes of other beer bloggers.

January

January started the way December had finished; in some pub or other having a beer. This time, I was in The Bon Accord in Glasgow for the cask launch of two BrewDog beers; their Alice Porter and their new 'improved' 5.4% abv Punk IPA. It was the last time that I was to have BrewDog cask. Haven't seen it since, won't see it again as they have announced that it is cask no more from the Fraserburgh brewing upstarts turned 'national treasures'. Which is a shame as they used to make such nice beers.

What ever happened to BrewDog?

Are they still on the go?

In other news, two thirds of a pint beer glasses, known as schooners, become legal for use in British pubs. In a tasteless PR stunt, BrewDog (remember them?) stick a four foot five inch dwarf in safety pinned combats and a mohawk outside the Houses of Parliament and try and claim some, belated, credit for the law change.

Elsewhere, Mr RabidBarfly kept a note of his daily intake of booze during the month of January. It made for excruciatingly painful reading. Here's hoping he doesn't repeat it again in 2012.

February

There's nothing quite like a trip on the train in the pursuit of lovely pints of well made beer to banish the mid winter blues. So when February offered up the opportunity of a trip to York to meet thirty other like minded beery souls for a Twissup, I jumped at the chance. York is a wonderful place for a beer weekend. It's got charm, history and antiquity in equal measure and some fantastic pubs too. Highly recommended.

Elsewhere in the beer world, Molson Coors spend a Sharp £20 million buying some Cornish beer. It seems to have paid off judging by this article. InBev and Stella  attempt to enter the fermented apple market by launching Cidre just as Cider sales take a nose dive. And this blogger has a pop at 'Kevin' from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) while the debates over Keg versus Cask and the use of the words 'Craft Beer' rolls on and on.......

March

March was Budget time and brewers, landlords and beer drinkers felt a hammer blow as a 7.2% rise in beer duty was announced by the Chancellor. Also introduced was a new additional duty on any beer over 7.5%. The pubs industry were up in arms citing that these increases could lead to 10,000 jobs being lost and would increase the rate of pub closures across the UK. The increase meant that beer duty in the UK is 8 times higher than France and 12 times higher than Germany.

Yet again, the Chancellor chose to see beer drinkers and the price of a pint as easy targets and convenient cash cows. You would have expected brewers, publicans and drinkers to be fundamentally opposed to this increase. They were. With one exception.

BrewDog, "wholeheartedly" backed the Chancellor's proposals saying they were "a blessing for Craft Beer" and that "increases in duty can only help to get more people to drink better quality beer". With beer friends like these, who needs enemies.

April

The month begins with a flurry of April Foolery as spoof beer blogs appear that chuckle and amuse. This hilarity is shortlived when a heavily hyperbolic and passionate blog post fires off a clusterfuck of anti-Camra invective that fanned the flames of a debate that burned bright but not necessarily with much heat.

The Tories in power, record levels of unemployment, recession, angry and disaffected youth on the streets and an increased sense of hopelessness and disillussionment across the country can only mean one thing;

a Royal wedding and an extra day off work. I spent my day off work arranging the tables, sorting out the bunting and making cheese, pineapple and pickled onion hedgehogs for our much anticipated street party.

No. I. Didn't.

I spent it at The Paisley Beer Festival, pulling pints and helping the punters drink the foreign bar dry. Many saw the day off as an excuse for an extra days drinking, away from the deferential sychophancy fest that was the blanket TV coverage on Royal Wedding Friday. Paisley Beer Festival was Camra's Big Society in action and hats off to Alesela for saving the day.

May

It all goes a bit 'radio rental' in May when Camra chairman, Colin Valentine, in a keynote speech at the organisation's AGM, has a pop at the beer 'bloggerati' for having the cheek and temerity of talking up beer and encouraging others to try something new and different.

Unfortunately for Colin, someone records it and posts it on YouTube.

The comments go down like a pork pie buffet at a vegan convention and a few people get all twisty knickered over it.

Remember Beerleaks?? The website set up to expose the dodgy dealings and beer myths of the brewing multinationals and get you drinking more 'craft' beer', only to disappear a couple of days after it launched when it was pointed out that a certain Fraserburgh brewer had previously used clear glass bottles. Half cocked, kneekerk, clueless and ultimately, very embarassing for all involved.

In other parts of the beer world, Reluctant Scooper sings us a song, Pete Brown vents his spleen and Mr RabidBarfly goes to Manchester.

June

With summer just around the corner, my thoughts turn to lovely, golden hoppy beers and June was the month that I first came in to contact with a brewery that makes superbly hoppy and flavour packed beers, The Tempest Brewing Co. My first pint of Tempest was in June at The Scottish Real Ale Festival when I had a pint or two of their Rye PA. I was to later immerse myself in a night of nothing but Tempest at their Tap Takeover event at Edinburgh's Bow Bar.

Finally, to finish off Part One of A Year in Beer, I'll leave you with a nice little parody of 'Craft' brewing.

Part two tomorrow.