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.