Tiers for Souvenirs

 We've just arrived back from Bristol and for the first time ever, since I started this part-time nomadic existence, we didn't have beer in a pub the whole time we were there.

Bristol was in tier 3 when we arrived and had just gone down to tier 2 when we left.

I still enjoyed sitting in our flat, working whilst watching the world go by from our high perch but the lack of relaxed time in our favourite sort of out-of-home experience has meant fewer "what if" chats than usual.  Our chats have been much more - need to do this, how's that going sort of thing.

It was a slight compensation that we were able to walk to two tap rooms, buy our canned beer and express some appreciation to the staff and assure them we'd be back as soon as we could.

Before we left, I also booked deliveries from the breweries we were unable to visit.

I'm confident that most of our beloved Bristol beer businesses will be back just as soon as it's feasible next year.  They're well run organisations who have proved themselves adaptable over the years - and especially this year - and they deserve the benefit of their extraordinarily hard work.

No, they're not heroic surgeons, ICU nurses or care home assistants but only a philistine would believe they don't bring value along with their passion into society.

 The job I do, I can do because I've been lucky and this year, our skills have been celebrated because we did "good things" for the community.  We 3D printed faceshields, we loaned and donated tech equipment to people who needed them,  we coached people to help them with their digital skills to help them rebuild their practice, or just connect better with friends or clients.  Until now, people thought all we did was a "nice little after school club for geeky kids".

You have to be really careful when you judge the worth and the skill of someone's occupation. Good brewers and bar staff are a special breed.  The implication that "just serving beer" or "just dancing on a stage" or, "just telling jokes" are somehow unimportant, or can be done without is, frankly, offensive.

When I've had a day "cat herding" as I juggle finances, people, and other things my preferred way to unwind from that is a couple of pints: well kept and well served from someone who is skilled at making me feel welcome (trust me, that's no easy feat).  They give me the time away from emails, slack, other media channels  and let me just...be.  Other people get what I get from going to the pub by going to the cinema, or to a stand-up club, or to the ballet.

My home has been a place of work for so many years that sometimes the only place I can take my work head off is in the pub.  Without that time out, which I've so sorely missed this year, I would burn out pretty quickly and not be there to do the things that people have suddenly realised is quite important and supports them in their work and personal lives.

So before you tell people in the arts and in the multifarious parts hospitality industry that their job isn't important and if it disappears then they should just retrain in cyber - just remember where it is you go when you, rightly, deserve a bit of R&R from your doubtless vital job.  

Specifically, to those in brewing and pubs, I salute you and thank you for helping maintainng my grasp on what's important. 

 

On and on and on and...

 So the 2020 hell-hole of never-ending shitness continues.

I suppose there was a bit of light in the US election result but there's a pretty low bar for what's "good" just now.

We've been pretty busy with work since the lockdown ended, and we managed another trip to Bristol but the best bit was a trip to Brownsea Island - we took beer and wine and we walked and communed with squirrels.  This was our highlight of the year.

Since then there has been sad family business to deal with and now, here we are again in lockdown.

Our beer deliveries from our favourite breweries continue and we've added darker beers into the mix, reflective of the change of season.

But there are pubs and breweries that won't come out of this.  Those that do will struggle since many rely on December as a way of ridng out dryanuary and wet Tuesdays in February.  This makes me sad - beyond the missing my regular pub trips - because it's the guts being ripped out of an industry that already suffers from a perception of them being drug pedlars only in it for a quick profit.

When lockdown ends - I'll be in my trusted pubs again; we'll go to Bristol and hope that our favourite places have weathered the storm.

 Until then the only way I can cope with this stuff is to accept that I have no influence over most of it; take a deep breath; make sure the fridge is full of good beer from independent breweries and help the people I work with and work for concentrate on the reason we're in business.  As my grandmother was (apparently) wont to say "the sooner you accept that God sends the weather, the happier you'll be".  I don't believe in God but I totally believe her philosophy on this.

Utter Bliss

 So we needed to go up to Bristol for the first time since lockdown.

We desperately needed to ensure the flat wasn't disintegrating in the total abandonment, we also needed to ensure that our poor old orchids got some TLC.

We did want to be responsible so we decided not to meet with loads of people this time and mostly keep ourselves to ourselves, but make the most of the chance to drink beer at a proper pub again.

We drove, taking some food and some kit that needed transferring.

The roads were pleasant - not empty, but not packed - long roadworks with a 50 mph speed limit slowed the journey a little but the whole thing was relatively low stress.

When we arrived at the flat - it could have been just the usual 3 or 4 week gap. That was a relief.

Obviously, it wasn't long until we ventured to the Barley Mow. 

They had hand sanitiser at the door, we were greeted by masked staff who showed us to a table, and then asked for contact details.  We were served at the table and they operated on card only.

Sadly, they did have a much depleted cask and keg offer but it was in lovely condition, and more than enough to keep us happy.  

The set up was comfortable and felt safe.  Enough that we went back - twice.

Over the next couple of days we did try other places:

 The Swan with Two Necks - indoor, good spacing but other measures not really apparent.  A bit disappointing, to be honest but fortunately well behaved punters.

Tapestry Brewery Taproom - outdoor seating, well managed arrival, details collected, table service, fresh beer.  Not my favourite beer in the world, but we did enjoy being there (except for the yappy dogs).

Fierce and Noble Taproom - outdoor seating and a service one-way system via the bar in the taproom.  No details taken and, to be honest, the service didn't feel especially careful but the outdoor spacing and thoughtful customers made up for most of that.

The Bridge Inn - was a bit of a last minute thought since we were on a time limit. For such a tiny, tiny place the landlord did a great job.  Hand sanitiser, request to complete details via a phone app and careful policing of the door way.  Inside seating was partitioned and there was extra seating outside marked up to manage social distancing.  Wasn't expecting the beer to be the best (Dawkins which isn't our thing, generally) but it was probably the best Dawkins we've had.  All in all, very happy.

Wednesday evening we went back to the BM which was perfection and we finished with a glass of "Running with Spectres" which was the last beer we drank in the BM before lockdown.  Such is the circle of things....

All this shows that it can be done although I suspect it'll get harder over the winter if these measures need to persist.

Mostly, I was so very pleased to see that the staff at the Barley Mow are still there and have lost none of their enthusiasm for the trade. 

We're avoiding the public again for a few days, just to be sure, but we definitely want more of this...

First Pint of Cask

So, as I've said before, we were biding our time on the "let's go to the pub" thing.

We have an elderly parent to visit and we have no idea whether the virus we suffered earlier in the year was COVID or not and, let's face it, with the best will in the world there are so, so many unknowns in all of this.

Still, when friends needed to meet up with us to ask us a favour and to collect some of our 3D printed faceshields the pub seemed the most natural place to do it.

I took a look at a couple of local pubs to see their opening hours and their general approach.

It so happened that the first one that looked promising also replied really quickly to my "what time do you open?" message.

Landlady, Rachel, knows us pretty well and I've always liked her attention to quality.  Her cask offering isn't usually the most exciting but she told us she had a few local beers on cask and had craft cans as an alternative.  She also offered to open up half an hour early to fit in with our timeplans.

Frankly, you really can't argue with that.  So, at 3.30pm on Wednesday - after a visit to the parent - were in the pub, with friends and catching up.

Rachel and her staff had adapted the pub to make little booths from folding glass screens.  This had the effect of giving you a little cocoon but not blocking the view or the light. 

We had table service but it was done deftly, with no awkwardness, and a collaborative, flexible approach when Best Beer Buddy, couldn't help himself and collected beers from the bar (there was no one else even close at the time).  All in all it was a lovely way to pass a few hours.

We all felt safe and comfortable and like this pub had been operating this way for years.

It wasn't a Damascene beer moment or anything like - it just felt perfectly right.

On this basis, I'd happily go back!

I hope the next place we try is as good.

...and another thing

The "pubs opened" fallout continued on Twitter and in the news yesterday.

Is it possible that at least a part of this is moralising?  I saw no negative comments about people in cafes and restaurants.  Surely, these two types of establishment are no more "essential" to wellbeing than pubs.

Then, this morning, it occurred to me that maybe a lot of the chatter is commentary by people who don't know there are many sorts of pubs.  Or maybe the so-called "amateur" pub goers who only attend at Christmas and so only see how pubs are then.

If you only think about pubs as being city-centre, vertical drinking establishments, perhaps with Sky Sports liberally plastered around the place then I can see how you'd be worried about "pubs" in general.  Chain places owned by large companies who may or may not be sympathetic to their employees (yes, Wetherspoons I reckon I'm looking at your, amongst others here).

Don't forget, though, that the employees of these establishments rely on the work to pay for food for their families just like we all do.  They are not evil or thoughtless for working for those organisations - they may not have much of a choice just now.

And there are other sorts of pubs.

Smaller pubs which might well be quite quiet at 5pm on a Tuesday in March, but pride themselves on high quality products (especially beer, obvs).  Run by people who understand pubs and people.  People who are professionals in what they do.  They don't earn a lot from this business - it's a matter of passion.  They get a lot of pride from being responsible publicans, from awards from CAMRA, from people recommending their pub as a "brilliant" pub.  These are what my mind conjures up when someone says "pub".

Some of these pubs opened at the weekend too.  From within the beer industry I saw a lot of people attending those pubs and commenting on how well run they were, I also saw a lot of those pubs thanking their patrons for coming along and behaving well.  But I guess that's not mainstream news.

These are the pubs I'm craving...

The pubs where you take a friend who has never been there before and they fall in love with it just like you did.

No one ever feel in love with a Wetherspoon pub - it's a place reflective of little choice of budget or of venue in a place you don't know well. Or of a desire to get wasted as quickly and cheaply as possible.

In love, really, with a pub?  Yes.  Places like this allow me to relax, get things done, chat with the beer buddy and enjoy being in another building.

It's OK that you don't ever get the same buzz from a pub.  Maybe you get it from a brilliant coffee shop or outstanding restaurant, or perhaps it's the feeling you get with a bag of pick and mix in the cinema, or a box in the theatre.

All I ask is that people don't write off a whole industry based on only a tiny part of the story, simply because it plays to moralistic narrative.  It's as unfair and naive as Jacob Rees-Mogg saying we should all go to our local and drink a yard of ale because it's the "Bristish" thing to do.

Fallout

So, my Twitter timeline is full of contradictory comments this morning...

In general there's a lot of "look a these people crowding in streets with pubs" and "my daughter was working in a bar and punter kissed her on the face" and stuff like that.  A lot of finger-pointing and judgement.

There's another thread of "I didn't go to the pub because I care about people whereas others..."

And there, quietly in the middle, is a small but determined voice and it's saying "thanks to our customers for coming to see us yesterday and behaving well" and "I went to the pub and it was well-managed, and great to be out".

There's probably no objective proof of which is more prevalent.

Is it possible that people are finding the stories they're looking for?

Is it possible that some people and some businesses have behaved in an exemplary way and others have behaved like arseholes?  You know, like in real life where not all cyclists are paragons of virtue and some cycle thoughtlessly and dangerously, and like some motorists are caring,thoughtful and give way for pedestrians and old ladies, where some pedestrians walk and stop carelessly, paying no mind to anyone behind them?

I think we need to allow for some nuance in all contentious issues.

I'm getting fed up of seeing people "othering" other people because of fears, because of an inability to understand grey areas and, most of all, a lack of empathy for other people's situations when you have no idea what they're going or have gone through.

If this is the time for anything, it's a bit more critical thinking, a little more patience and rather less hysteria.

Meanwhile, I'll be drinking beer from my fridge for a few days yet.  I might venture to a pub I trust before too long, if the opportunity presents itself.  As always, by choice it'll be a quiet pub, at a quiet time of day. I'll respect the fact that a publican's livelihood is dependent on me and I'll try to be an exemplary customer because, that's what we all want to be, isn't it?

Independence Day?

So...pubs (and other places I'm less interested in) are able to reopen from tomorrow.

I don't imagine many people read this blog but those who do will know my enormous love for pubs with good beer.

So - you might think I'd be rushing straight to support my favourite local pub.  Actually, I won't be.

It's not that I don't want my lovely pubs reopened, I so do.

It's not that I'm wholly content with the gorgeous canned and bottled beer that we've been buying - it's amazing beer but it's still not as good as drinking good beer in the pub.

Am I frighted about contracting this awful virus?  Actually, no.  I'm sort of resigned to getting it at some point (if I haven't already succumbed) and whilst I know it could be very serious indeed and I'm not trivialising it, but sometimes people get really nasty diseases and we have to deal with it.  I am comfortable at taking the risk for me.

What I'm not comfortable about is how much virus there still is out in the community.  I'm very worried about the NHS being able to cope with another spike and that the people most at risk seem to be front line workers - and disproportionately people on low income jobs, people who aren't white, and people with other medical conditions.  I also have a father in law who is medically vulnerable and the best beer buddy needs to be confident he can pop around to see his dad and help if help is needed.

So, when will we go to the pub?

We'll likely give it a couple of weeks and see how things pan out:  how people behave in pubs, how the industry views things, how virus incidents shift and probably do it when we think the time is right to go to Bristol.

Meanwhile - we've had a lovely Arbor delivery of mixed 4% ish beers and the fridge beer will do for now.

If you're going to the pub - remember to be kind to the staff:  most of them don't have much of a choice but to work and they don't like the new precautions any more than you do but they're aiming to keep you and your families, and themselves and their families as safe as they can.

Take Out Continues

We continue to get our beer fix by ordering deliveries of cans and bottles.

We went for a longish walk the other day, met relatives and sat and chatted in person in the outdoors for the first time in months.

We watched someone appear with a plastic takeout container of appeared to be Harveys and sit on the grass nearby and enjoy it.

Sister asked whether we wanted to go and do the same...but both of us said no.

It wasn't about the beer, precisely.  If we'd have been able to go to the Victoria we'd have relished the chance have a pint of Harveys and sit and chat for hours.

We had really good beer at home which we could enjoy in our own garden and yet it still doesn't match up to a good pint IN a pub.

Neither of us can quite work it out.  We don't usually engage with other people that much so it's not exactly the company.  It's not just the desire for cask beer since we could equally have got that.

It's the whole thing:  a walk to the pub (not necessarily a serious walk, a five minute amble will do the job), the anticipation of what might be on the bar, a tiny bit of interaction with staff or other customers, finding a comfortable spot to sit in, then the beer at the right temperature in a glass pint.  Remove any one part of this recipe and the whole isn't quite the same.

The pub industry is really suffering and although I don't care that much for rubbish pub companies or lowest-common-denominator breweries, I feel greatly for smaller organisations and indivuduals involved in the trade.

I can confidently predict that although Wetherspoons is likely to be amongst the first cask beer vendors to reopen we won't go there.  Its about so much more than the beer.

We're very much looking forward to it and I only hope that not too many of the genuinely good ones struggle to reopen.

Nice Recovery...

Nope, I'm not talking about viral infection - I'm talking about a brilliant recovery from a customer service cock up.

I was beside myself with joy when I read a tweet that Bristol Beer Factory had started up a retail online shop.  They'd done so quite a lot later than other Bristol breweries we love and we'd been missing their beers since we've been unable to travel to our flat in Bristol.

By the time I got to the online shop they were already out of stock of a couple of our favourites but I ordered a couple of cases of bottles and inwardly squealed with excitement.

I got the confirmation that the order had been prepared...and then a few days of silence.

On Monday I messaged them just to ask for an ETA and swiftly got an honest and apologetic email back telling me they'd made a mistake and hadn't disptached our order.  They promised a gift by way of apology, and a promise for delivery today.

Our parcel has been delivered - including a box of a whole host of goodies including some bottles of the beers I missed out on and a lovely hand-written note.

Now, I've been a fan of this brewery since they were...well, a brewery.  The first place I met a couple of my Bristol photography buddies was in a BBF establishment.

Me and the Best Beer Buddy did quite a lot of our initial bonding at one of their pubs and we bought a flat around the corner from the place as our Bristol home and it's still the first place we go when we arrive on the train.  (bloody hell, do we miss the pub!)

When an organisation starts a new service in circumstances like this, there are going to be cock-ups. But the key thing is how you recover from the cock-up, and BBF knocked the ball out of park on this one.

So the next time you go to Bristol, make sure you drop into one of their establishments, or drink one of their beers in one of the city's superb pubs (their pump clips are really easy to identify from the outside of a pub).  Their beer deserves your attention and their staff know how to do the job right.

Thank you Team BBF - we do miss you!

When is the Right Time

We're enjoying our beer home deliveries from breweries we know well and love - and occasional new finds.  But it's really not the same.

We miss cask beer.  Only the natural light carbonation of well conditioned cask ale - it's a texture like no other.

Whilst we might not generally miss company per se...the light interaction with bar staff and other customers, with the occasional longer conversation adds value to the experience of drinking beer that pulling a nice can from the fridge, and sharing it on the sofa doesn't quite replicate.

Don't get me wrong, we're incredibly lucky to have our health, our home and the ability get lovely beer delivered to our door - and we know it...but we really miss the pub.

We've actually been working pretty hard of late, putting together a project to make 3D printed face visors for frontline workers.  This uses our skills extremely well and we really enjoy it.  The fact that it's so appreciated and that not everyone can do this makes us happy to be running it even as we tell ourselves that it's "not like a real job" and that for harshness it's not a patch on the frontline workers our shields are being given to.
But I know that, after a "shift on the farm", what we'd really like is to stroll home via a good pub and relax over that first couple of mouthfuls of lovely, perfect cask beer.

I'm fearful for the industry.  The small brewers who have turned their hands to canning, bottling and delivery are reacting well but I can't imagine it's easy.

Publicans, on the other hand, have fewer opportunities to hunker down and keep going.

The question is, with all the talk of gentle release of the lockdown, just when will the right time be to allow pubs to open again?  And how many good pubs will have been lost in the meantime?

Our Virtual Pub

We've spent a few day setting up virtual environments for our little social enterprise and signposting other people to resources they, too, can use.

But we decided to have a virtual pub meet with some Bristol friends on Friday evening. 

We set up a Zoom meeting and had a hour or so of catch up with buddies who we would usually see every couple of trips to Bristol.

Obviously, it's not the same but it made a bit of a difference to chuckle with each other for a short time.

We'll undoubtedly do it again before too long and although I'm generally that person who doesn't really miss company all that much (the Best Beer Buddy being an exception, of course) I know it's good for even us introverts not to forget, too much, what being with people is like...

In the meantime I have to say we've particularly enjoyed the pint cans of Arbor beer we bought.  C Bomb, Mosaic and Rocket Man.  Although we drink them from smaller glasses, it's really nice sharing a can...

Little things...

May you live in interesting times

For us youngsters, we're used to having choice, access and safety.

If you're in your 50's, it's likely that your parents still remember the disruption and fear of state-imposed blackouts and rationing.

For me, the most disrupting thing I've seen before was the imposition of the 3-day week in the 70's.

I did school homework (mainly, I remember learning my 6, 7 & 8 times-tables) by the light of an oil lamp).

I have no idea what the financial impacts were on my parents - they both worked in unskilled, relatively insecure jobs at the time.  I imagine they were worried, but they never let me see it.  For me, the blackouts were intriguing not scary.

Fast forward...

The move towards lock down is astonishing and it's not surprising for people younger than me that it has entirely reset their model of how society is supposed to work.

I'm still extraordinarily lucky - I have a house to live in and work from, I have a splendid housemate and I'm financially OK.
I work with a group of directors in our small social enterprise who are thoughtful and compassionate and it was easy to take the decision to do the right thing by our part-time workforce.

I'm happy enough staying in my house with a daily local walk but we both really miss beer.  We are more likely to talk about anything that's worrying us with a beer, and the world seems a bit more fixable -we often come up with our best plans and strategies when relaxing and overlays of short term anxieties are temporarily pushed aside.

I had a horrible feeling that the deicision would be taken to classify the purchase of alcohol as non-essential.  I would understand that reasoning from a public health point of view but it would always be tinged with a slight suspicion that it was "any excuse" to stop people drinking.  Anyhow, there was clearly a degree of pragmastism around the table when they made that decision.

Anyhow, my slightly guilt in the  purchase of a couple of cases of beer from two of my favourite Bristol Breweries has been assuaged a little and we're looking closer to home for small busineses to support.

In the grand scheme of things is it vital I drink beer?  No.  But it positively impacts this household's ability to help other people buoyed up especially if they're not as fortunate as us.

Wow, that happened fast!

...quoth Josh Lyman from The West Wing.

No sooner than we think about going to a quieter pub than it becomes our last pub trip for a while.

There's a lot of fury about the government's request to people to stop congregating in public spaces as an epidemic management device.

I'm not an expert so I don't know whether this is proportionate, right, likely to be effective or a devious attempt help buddies of the PM.

What I'm interested to see is how quickly some people just complain about the issue, and others (often much smaller businesses who are used to thinking on their feet) explain why this is bad for them but then also take practical measures to continue to offer their services in some shape or form.

This is one of my favourites from a restaurant I like in Bristol but haven't managed to get back to, yet,

HERE


Also, our local bottle shop reacted immediately to say they'd be working on home deliveries soon.

I also see breweries in Sussex and Bristol offering to deliver to people.

Do I think that government needs to offer financial support to businesses?  I'm also more likely to put myself out for a smaller trader who is taking practical steps for themselves.

Me?

I'll be heading to Bottle Grove in the next couple of days to pick up some take-out beer, I've also resolved to go to my local butcher more often.

I'm really going to miss the pub, though.

Difficult Times

I'm one of those folk who hates to think I might be "one of those people"...

So I'm trying really hard not to over-react to advice...nor to under-react.

There's been a weird virusy thing in our household for 3 weeks - since we last came back from Bristol - it has knocked the stuffing out of the pair of us and we're not right yet.  In fact, this morning I woke with a new and novel kind of wheezy cough.  Still, our lack of high temperature seems to indicate this is a standard, if rotten, cold-and-flu-season respiritory illness.

I'm really aware that, particularly for small businesses, the lack of normal business going on could be a genuine business-killer.  In my day job we're already thinking about how we support our staff as they're all casual workers but don't impact too badly on our finances, which are shaky at the best of times.

As a science, stats and medicine nerd I'm finding the discourse everywhere I look fascinating.

I'm finding the government information confusing.

On social media, I'm finding the diatribe obnoxious and appearing to be ill-informed.

As a beer drinker I'm wracked with indecision. 

We went to the pub on Thursday for the first time in a few days and it was a delight to have fresh cask beer after a few hard days of working with people.  On Friday, my version of the virus asserted itself again and I felt rough so we camped out in the lounge with a bottle of red and film instead.

Yesterday we were both a bit stir-crazy.  Should we go to the pub or not?

In the end we decided that a slightly longer than usual walk to a local would give us both fresh air and beer - so we went to the Hurst Arms.

For the time of day we drink it's a pretty good exercise in gentle social distancing.  We were initally the only people in the lounge and when we were joined by a small group - they sat over on the other side.

We only had a couple of pints and it definitely did us good.  It brought a tiny bit of revenue to the pub and I'm hoping it signalled an appropriate approach.  At least I'm hoping it did.

We're now working out how to get some emergency beer in the fridge.

Today we were supposed to be meeting a volunteer group in a pub to plan a project we're all working on.  Unfortunately, one of the people has a possible contact with someone with the virus; my cough is making me feel a bit rough and who wants to be "that person" coughing in the pub and then a third member of the party has another (unrelated) health flare-up so we're postponing.  I still think it's important we try and meet up for a beer once this bloody cough has gone though...

Craft Beer vs Real Ale

As a long-time CAMRA stalwart I appreciate the clarity of the idea of "Real Ale".  It's a very specific thing: served from the vessel (usually a cask, but not always) that the beer was matured in, on its own sediment with no added carbonation.  It's a realtively simple definition and it's not about taste, quality or size or marketing.  It's about production, maturing and dispense method.

All this does is allow you to know when they say "ale" they are not talking about John Smiths Smooth.

It's only a useful definition in a specific way.

I happen not to like Greene King IPA or Doom Bar but I can't deny when served in the way specified they are Real Ales.  I walk out of pubs where these things are the only things served, but I absolutely wouldn't deny them their status.  Indeed I have friends and relatives who would take Doom Bar over almost anything else. 

Craft beer, on the other hand seemed to start as a general indicator of the boom in small new brewing outfits and that it had been taken up by enthusiasts who started to brew almost knowing that it was a thing that wasn't going to make loads of money but something smaller, more niche, that you do for love and fun.

And now?

Craft beer has been hijacked by cynical marketeers who know damned well there's no real definition and that their mass-produced faint echo of a small batch IPA (yeah, you Shipyard and Maltsmiths) is not as cheap to produce as Carlsberg-Fosters-Heineken (or whatever) but it's not that far off and is a lot less price sensitive.

No, no, I know this isn't some new insight...it's been said by many more erudite than me.

I guess, since I drink in a city with an abundance of micro-breweries who produce some of the very best beer you can imagine, I can see a sign on a pub/bar window that says "Craft Beer" which makes me want to give the place a try.  When I press my eager little nose to the glass all I can see is mega brand beer.  This makes me simultaneously angry and sad.

If a tiny pizza place (mostly takeaway but with about 8 seats to sit and eat) can serve two (count 'em) lovely local keg beers (usually Arbor and Moor) then pretty much anyone could - but they choose not to.

I'd love there to be another definition that would allow me to be confident when I enter an establishment that the thing they have on offer was made with care and (probably) in small volume.

Meanwhile I'll have to redouble my efforts to support smaller producers and independent outlets and champion those that don't fall for the large company "we'll install some lines for you" spiel.

Virtual Pals

After being bereaved in 2007, my instinct - despite my marked introversion - was to strike out and find some distraction in meeting some new people.

Although I was an internet early-adopter, I was social media naive  but a pal suggested that sharing photographs on Flickr was an easy way for him to see them.

Little did I realise what a transformative this relatively trivial act would have on me.

Probably the best thing of all was that a local bunch of Flickr users regularly met, and did so in pubs!

I'm still friends with several of the people who used to meet up, and pleasant online acquaintances with others.  For someone who prefers the tranquil and small numbers of people around, this is some form of nirvana.

Even better, occasionally you can have accidental meetings with those same people.  So last night, me and the Best Beer Buddy had arranged to meet Stuart - another Flickr alumni - who, he reminded me, I first met in person 10 years ago when he visited from his then home in Australia.  He's now moved back to the UK, and lives just around the corner from us here.  But as we sat and caught up, so Niall and Sarah who used to be stalwarts of the Flickr meetups came over and shared our table.  There was a bit of photography geek talk before we headed home.

As we walked home, the boy observed that although we generally like our own company, conversations in pubs (whether that be football chat serendipitously in The Orchard on Wednesday or photography chat with pals in the Barley Mow) are definitely things to be enjoyed and treasured.

So much better when the beer is good.

It doesn't matter how we meet these people, but it's great that we do.

Some Things Change, Others Not So Much

I was re-reading some of my first entries on this blog and was struck by changing, and non-changing things.

Things that have not changed?

Mine and the Best Beer Buddy (aka "S") and our continuing love of well made beer.

My delight in a well-kept pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord.  To my mind still an excellent example of a traditional bitter (but called a Pale Ale for reasons that still mystify me).
We could name a couple of other beers we've been drinking for many years and would still not turn our noses up:  Harvey's Best, Harvey's Old, Fullers HSB, Marstons Owd Roger...and that's about it.

Our love of The Victoria pub in Eastbourne.  We don't visit there as much as we used to since we don't have a base of operations in that part of town.  However the EU settled status sessions mentioned yesterday are just around the corner from the Vic so it would be rude not to...

My love of Oakham, Bristol Beer Factory, Arbor beers is as bright-shining as ever it was.

So what has changed?

My love of Dark Star beers has been tarnished by the Fullers-then-Asahi takeover.  The main brews now taste mass-produced and a pale imitation of what they were (yes, "Hophead" and "APA", I'm looking at you).  The stronger, less mainstream brews seem to be largely unaffected...at the moment.

The Evening Star's atmosphere is still good on a Saturday afternoon but the plastic glasses "imposed by licensing regs" is definitely a downward trend.

Our collective dislike of keg beers.  Good, small brewery, keg beers are now a staple in our beer diet.  We still tend to go for cask first but no longer are irritated by being cornered into drinking keg.  The cost is a bit irksome but I think we just have to get our heads around a redressing of beer pricing.

Beers which no longer exist:  BBF Sunrise, BBF Acer, Arbor Black IPA.

And in a weird twist of things that were, then weren't and now are again...

We learned that a pub in St Judes - "The Swan with Two Necks" was under new management.  I first learned of this pub via a comment in the 1980's that the landlord at the time was a fanatical beer keeper and drinker and that he wasn't a man who suffered fools gladly.

This landlordly legend, one John Lansdall then moved from the Swan to the Hare on the Hill - my first proper Local Pub.  Here, I learned that it wasn't so much he didn't suffer fools gladly...more that he didn't suffer them at all.  However, despite the gruff exterior he was a great landlord - with a brilliantly dry sense of humour.

Anyhow, the Swan gradually got worse and worse (as I understand it, since I'd never been there).

Now it's run by the same landlord as the Hilgrove Porter Stores (50 yards from the Hare, as it happens) and we visited a couple of days ago.  What a brilliant place!  It's a proper old pub but serving really good modern beers in a huge variety of styles.  5 cask pumps and 12 keg taps plus a fridge full of bottles and cans (inc low alcohol styles) and a landlord who exuded enthuasiasm and warmth.

So that pub is neither unchanged nor really changed and it won't be long before we're back there!

Digital Departure

It's no good, I can no longer not rant at length on line about this...and it's not related to beer at all.

The company I help run helps people of all ages with digital skills:  from enthusing kids about coding, electronics and 3D printing (to name but a few) to doing Word and Excel with ladies who are looking to return to the workplace...and everything in between.  We also employ young people on a part time basis to deliver our work.  Some of these are students, some of them are young people who are unable to find work for whatever reason (sometimes things like mental and physical health problems).  We're really proud of the work we do, and the slight quirky way we do it.

Quite a lot of the small bits of work we do could be considered "digital odd jobs":  building a PC from old bits to read 3.5" floppy disks and copy the contents onto a USB stick to make sure someone's files could be checked for usefulness...helping an arts organisation plan and deliver a makerspace festival to do some concept testing...setting up some community library PCs with a modicum of security to ensure that library customers didn't lock the staff out of their own PCs...you know...that sort of thing.

We're horribly underfunded (for that, read UNfunded) and most of my time is spent trying to work out who might give us a grant or a contract for doing something useful for the community.

One of our directors recently asked whether it would be feasible for us to take our skills and our kit into the field to help people in one of the most deprived areas in Eastbourne apply for EU settled status.

Thankfully we had secured a small grant to do some outreach work and this project fitted the criteria quite nicely so we were able to start with a minimum of fuss or scrabbling for cash to test the idea.

As far as we can tell the only way to apply for this settled status is to use a smart device with Near Field Communications (NFC) and a camera to scan a biometric passport, take picutres of documents and such like.  There are some publicly available, "self-serve" document scanning machines around the country but no one to help you through the process.

In theory this is quite quick and efficient - if you've been working in the UK for five years or more and you have some basic digital skills then you're laughing and the process takes about 20minutes.

Things get more complicated if you don't work or claim benefits because government records about you can't easily be matched to your other personal details.  In these cases you have to find other ways to prove you've been resident for 5 years.  Women are disproportionately affected by this as they're more likely to have been family care-givers, not external workers, and probably don't have bills in their name.

Now imagine you don't have an NFC device, or your English is sufficient for day to day needs but lacks the subtlty that you need to read government documents, or perhaps you don't have an email address, or a mobile phone at all...each of those things will make the process an order of magnitude harder.

In fact many of those things might be true and each of them adds their own layer of additional difficulty and attendant anxiety.

Now factor in the uncertainty that being apparently unwanted in a country where you've lived an worked for decades brings...

Every time we run one of our sessions to help people we hear of more and more grim stories of people bewildered by a system apparently designed to exclude a large chunk of citizens who ARE LEGALLY ALLOWED TO BE AND STAY HERE.  Our colleagues, our staff, our friends, the people who look after us are being sold a message that we don't think they're important to our society.

Digital by Default is a concept that our society is pushing and although for a large part I think it's quite a good idea to be able to do my business and personal work from my computer but I'm feeling that from a position of priviledge.  I'm relatively affluent, I've been tinkering with computers since Margaret Thatcher put one in my school when she was education secretary, I'm reasonably clever and I'm articulate.  But for significant parts of our communities digital by default excludes, makes things more expensive, makes some things unavailable and generally implies second-class citizen status.

Making things digital by default before ensuring your citizens have proper access to equipment and skills is rather like outlawing privately owned cars without even checking to see which communities do and don't have reasonable quality public transport.

It's almost, almost as if our government really doesn't care one way or another if some of the people who have been affected by this go back to the EU or stay and continue to contribute to our community.  Is it a calculated move, or is it the incompetence that comes from being disconnected from the real world, I wonder?  Actually I'm not sure which is worse...

On a brighter note, our local authority is now paying us to continue these sessions for the time being to ensure that we can help more of our friends and neighbours apply for the status they are entitled to.

I'll stop ranting now, and I'll return to wittering about beer very soon, I promise.

Still Smitten

Back in the West again.

A few disappointing days of beer in Eastbourne made us almost desperate for something more exciting than Harvey's Best.

It being Friday we knew the Barley Mow would be busy so we popped out as soon as we hit town.  There was some work to do and the pub is our favourite place to do it.

It was already quite busy but there was a nice little table so all was well.  The last couple of trips to this pub had been everso slightly disappointing on the range of beer front.  This time, however, WOW!

Two Tiley's beers, Arbor C Bomb, something Good Chemistry ish, Notorious, and a new BBF "Red" beer on cask.  Where to start?

Notorious, for me the red one for him.  As good a pint of Notorious as I've had although I still think it's not quite as nice as previous incarnations of BBF 3.8% pale beers (Acer, I miss you).

Because we were working, the first pint disappeared in a flash and the boy went to fetch another.

This time I had the C Bomb and he had the Tiley's pale.  Oh my word, C Bomb is an awesome cask pint and this was incredibly fresh and vibrant.  So good, in fact that I had a second one.

As the pub filled up we were joined at the table by a couple who are clearly working their way around tap rooms and pubs who do good beer.  She clearly indulged him in this by enjoying the trips and drinking some beer (by the time they got to us, she was on G&T). 

We had several intermittant conversations about tap rooms and beer in general. It was easy and pleasant going, conversation wise.

We decided not to eat in the pub, so we had our traditional strong keg one for the road:  him Running with Spectres (a darker, much stronger version of Lost & Grounded's Running with Sceptres...not confusing at all, obviously).  It was an awesome porter/black IPA at a hefty 7% or so.  I had a Quantock IPA (5%, I think) which was much better than I expected.

All in all, the stand out beer, though was C Bomb...so yeah, still smitten with the pub and with Arbor beers...

I'm at home.

Was Worthing Worth it?

TLDR:  Yes.

We had to pop over to Worthing again ysterday for a little moral supporting of some of our staff running a workshop in the brilliant Colonnade House.

It was clear, immediately we arrived, that our lads had the whole thing under control (as we knew they would, really) and that the commissioning organisation was delighted with the way things were going.

This mean that we could leave them all to it after an hour or so of pleasant chat and session observiation.

Clare recommended a newish micropub - The Old Bicycle Shop -  very close by so we went to fnd it.

They had a nice range of beers and the space was really pleasant.  It was very quiet, and a little chilly but we supped our beer happily enough.

We really wanted to ensure we got to the Brooksteed Arms before heading back to Brighton so decided not to have a second but, instead, to head up the hill.

We were so glad we did.  Even though the first pub was nice, the atmosphere in the Brooksteed was so much warmer (physically, and emotionally).  Obviously, the beer was ace, too.

Sadly, we really only had time for one there so then we got ourselves on a train to Brighton and the Evening Star to meet an old friend post-match.

I have to say, the ES doesn't feel anything like as exciting as it used to.  Despite assurances, the Dark Star beers post-Fullers acquisition, are a shadow of their former selves.  Mind you I had an excellent 2/3rds of a Burning Sky keg beer and this made up for the lack lustre APA.

All in all a really pleasant day and it makes me want to give Worthing a more relaxed visit (and maybe when it's a little warmer) to really give their pubs a good try out.

Side note:  I'm really impressed with Unbarred's modest ABV beers.  They pack tonnes of flavour into their pale sub-4% beers...enough to make you want a second.  That's quite a feat!

Must revist their taproom soon...

South Coast Delights

First couple of weeks of the year have been hectic, workwise.

Still, as you'd imagine, it hasn't stopped us ensuring we do our bit for the pub and brewing trades.

Highlight, so far, has to be yesterday's trip to Hastings.

I was running a training course so struck out from home in the morning and met the Best Beer Buddy a little later.  There was no question of where we were headed - even though there are a couple of micropubs and other good beer pubs in the town.

So it was we found ourselves in The Imperial - home of the fabulous Brewing Brothers.

We opened the door and entered the steamy fug of a brewpub just finishing a boil.  The scent of wort was heavy in the air.

I chose Unbarred Pale Ale (3.5%) on cask as my first pint and I was not disappointed.  The boy chose one of the Brothers' beers - Kennedy - on keg (4.4%?) as his starter and so the afternoon unwound.

Between us we tried 6 of their beers over a total of 8 pints and shared a couple of pizzas.

I so wish that we could pick this pub up lock, stock and (very literally) barrel and drop it in Eastbourne.  It's as close to a perfect pub as we know down here and probably ties in first place with the Barley Mow for ...well, everything.