Giddy from my huge lunchtime scoop, I headed off to the Battersea Beer Festival. I've been every year since 1995, I think, and even though the past couple of years had started to make me feel this fest was dying on its arse through not enough beer and a venue that couldn't cope, I was meeting an old workmate for a few halves and some beery chat.
DP pitched up, we settled into some Hook Norton Double Stout and reminisced about London Drinker, Twickenham and some workplace beery episodes. Then he asked me if I remembered his mate Craig. Not clearly I didn't, so he proceeded to remind me of Craig's first beer fest, at this very venue a few years ago, where, being a lager drinker, he couldn't find anything he could drink. DP recalls I took him to the Foreign Beer Bar and 'nursed' him (DP's words) through some beers he could get down.
Craig was heading our way, but these days with no apparent misgivings about his choice of bevvy. Rather, he had become a bit of a real-ale monster. And so it proved. He found us sipping Otley 08, but was himself keeping his powder dry by working through sessionable strength stuff, but the list was no longer in some strange version of English, and he was set for an evening out enjoying a diverse beer list.
It made me think of Pete Brown's musing on the fruitlessness of painting beer as the new wine. A couple of years ago I had a time, a place, and a drinker who was out of his comfort zone. A bit of enthusiasm, knowledge and trust and now he's enjoying good beer.
I admit I grinned.
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10 comments:
Indeed, it is a great pleasure to have converted just one person.
Buggle, have you ever though about joining the ranks of anti-scum?? Beer blogs are a dime a dozen. It's the same thing regurgitated, over and over again. Write a track, join the alliance for anti-scum. Seek and ye shall find!
Captain Sausage, I'm unclear on this whole 'anti-scum' thing. Are you proposing I write a pop song?
Beer is a journey, not a destination. You will all be converted to the lout in the end.
Writing a track, or pop song is great. I was referring to you satirizing. You know, take the pish out of blogger scum. As I am writing to you now, Another 100 people have decided it's clever if they too starting writing about beer. I would rather watch paint dry, then read another boring, beer blog. Others are coming out as well, over their disgrace of beer writer's, beer blogger's, video beer reviewer's. Stand out from the sheeple! Paint yourself in a different light from blogger scum!
The Lout-borg... 8-)
I dunno Whorst.
The only people in this community I don't think too highly of are the spoogebeerians, traders and hoarders who could give a toss about beer.
Everybody else makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Well, maybe apart from the global fizz merchants. And neopros. And nannying attitudes from government. And... ;-)
Track time Sidney, track time!
So battersea was a win then? Good stuff, I saw their beer list a while back and it looked like a good one...
Was saddened that their wasn't a Twickenham fest this year. That was one of my favs!
Cheers,
Surf
Ah, Mr Delic. Yes, they seemed to have plenty of beer and the venue somehow seemed a bit brighter and cheery this year, even though it got packed by 3...
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