Before we start I want to make it clear I love beer in all its forms, this is a set of directions to help you enjoy the beer in your hand even more.
To help appreciate what we may have missed, to find what we may have not known we were looking for.
To dispell the glamour of the unknown.
No matter what it is, we’re guilty of it in some way or another. Whether it’s beer, music, telly or whatever; we’re always looking for the next big thing, the new I found it first, the “oh you need to try this”. Whatever it takes to feel something special again, no matter how mundane it is, just something to break up the days.
That new band which you can’t stop listening to until everyone knows em and all you can do is hiss the words, “I preferred the demo”.
The show that has you hooked until the end, all just to reveal that the writers had as little of a clue to what was really going on.
Then there’s the brewery that you love, the new beer styles and the whales under your stairs.
They’ll either turn out to be shitty people(tories), over brewed homogenised swill and/or time has turned them to tastless puddles of their former glory.
What I’m trying to say is, the grass isn’t always greener.
We’re lucky to have such a plethora of breweries in the UK, let alone the rest of the world. The availability and accessibility has never been as great as it is right now, it will only keep on growing too.
This is a wonderful thing, people all over can get a decent pint but don’t let it be a double edged blade. Just because there is so much out there doesn’t mean you have to chase it, you will just as easily miss an amazing pint that’s on your very own doorstep.
“Oh Bob says this is the best DIPA ever and he’s checked in thousands of beers and is always posting pics on his Facebook group for Bad Ass Beer Dudes Limited”
Fuck Bob.
The best beer you’ll ever have won’t be 100% down to that beer.
Find those beautiful pubs that know how to care for cask, your local micro breweries that can serve you the freshest possible beer, in the setting they intended it for.
The beers that stick with you are the ones that mean the most; I can taste the wonder and excitement of the lager I drank after my first child was born.
No matter the moment in your life that beer will stay on the tip of your tongue.
Lately the best part of beer festival has been the setting, the atmosphere and the people!
IMBC has been true to this since its inception in its beautiful home of Victoria Swimming Baths.
We’re seeing it more and more with beer festivals, the beer is more of an after thought now, a lubricant to the fun!
I can hear the snorts of contempt but really all those stouts blur into one and what you remember is the event as a whole.
There’s a time and place for wondrous beer still but I feel its more for the intimate settings shared with your closest.
What I’m trying to say is don’t try so hard to find that hype, support what’s local and cherish those special moments in life with a beer.
Beer isn’t special, what you do and who you do it with is.
BEERNOMICON 