#TheSession #103: Difficult conversations

Warning: what follows is little more than a stream of thought outline rather than a cogent post, I may get a chance to cajole it into some semblance of logical thought, then again I'm off to Belgium next week; so I might not!

The session this month asks us to look at the difficult topics that aren't touched upon by beer . Part of me wants to point out that rather than be writing about what needs to be written about (blogging about blogging?), people should just get along and do it! Aside from finding the impetus to write something compelling instead of procrastinating^  there are certainly some topics that don't get touched upon by beer bloggers...either by dint of the topic being too difficult or controversial to write about or otherwise just plain boring.

There is of course a tendency for any stories about beer to be spun in a positive light, to the extent where facts are misrepresented and negative issues to be buried to the extent people even forgot they existed. This is certainly true in reviewing, perhaps doubly so if the beer/bar visit/insert item here is free.

There are myriad reasons for this. The more cynical amongst us would suggest that the writing of a bad review would lead to the cutting off of the lifeblood of some blogs which survive on free beer alone. The whole #BloggerBlackmail story has shed some light on the murky practice of promising a good review in return for freebies but this must surely be only  the odd bad-egg rather than something that is rife. I'd hope that people were able to be fair when reviewing a beer/pub/ whatever regardless of whether they got a freebie or not and whilst its nice to receive the occasional care package* the majority of beer writers and bloggers fork out their own readies on the beers they write about.

More likely is that most beers aren't astoundingly good or spectacularly bad, just so-so, meh, comme ci comme ca and provoke a feeling of indifference in the writer which doesn't really lead to compelling reading; resulting in only the interesting beers getting through. Believe me for every good beer I write about there are five that are so-so and another few total drain pours.

Others will be loathe to write off a brewery on the back of a single bad experience, being keen to remind everyone that brewers are just doing a day job, often heavily self-funded and a bad review could cause harm to their business. Whilst this may be true for a small handful of writers, the majority of us just don't have the clout to make that much of an impact.

Finally taste is subjective, therefore enjoyment of beer is objective. Aside from obvious flaws and off-notes (which sadly are all to prevalent in our resurgent beer scene)¬ who's to say what you're tasting and not enjoying won't float someone else's boat.

All that said I really enjoy reading well written critiques of beers, especially those which take apart the status quo on "whale" beers and other highly hyped beers. A plea for more of these please!

^a topic for a whole other blog post

*Fully declared of course...

¬ability to objectively determine such flaws is few and far between in the pool of all beer bloggers, not excluding myself either

+Another potential blog topic...

Beery Yarns: A precis

Morning all, its time for the post you've all been waiting for...the summary of all of the contributions to this month's session. We had a good number of contributions (25 I think)* though I'd hoped for more but December is a busy month for people. I've decided to give out a prize for the best contribution (not including my own of course!) the winner of which I'll divulge at the end of this round-up (no skipping to the end!).

Quick out of the blocks was Paul over at Sockster's brewhouse with these two recollections of his old stomping ground, certainly plan to visit that pub if ever in the area!

Pierre Van Klomp participated in his first session and by way of 10 tweets regaled us with the tale of how he seceded from his uncle in the great Brouwerij Van Klomp . "My uncle laughs. “So, boy, YOU believe yourself a brewmaster now?” Then, on his gantry, he performs a so very mocking dance."

Ding dug up an old yarn about a trip to Hook Norton but links it in with how beers have the power to remind us of place and time.

Alan treated us to an excerpt of his new book with Max. About the tendency of people to get stuck on definitions sometimes. I like lagerer but more lagery fits better perhaps?

The Beer Nut posted about beers that have their own yarns associated with them - highly fabricated of course and i can attest they're all talk and no trousers.

Nate at booze beats and bites recounts a beery mission to London from earlier this year.

Pints and pubs gave us a few tales from the history books. Particularly like the highwayman story. Plus his own tale of a search for his holy gr-ale.

Beer is your friend can't have a log fire because he's too hot (so how about a beery yarn for around a beach BBQ?).

Boak & Bailey also recounted a tale  of a pal "Aidan"'s lucky escape and the one-upmanship often present in pub banter. Later in the day they posted this tale of how beer got one general through the Delhi Mutiny which I take to be a second entry and you should read because its an interesting insight.

James at Beer Bar Band managed a tale about drinking in Wellington, NZ just in time for the deadline. Makes me wish I was back there again.

Stan gives us a tale of monks and brewing (from his Brew like a monk book).

David recalls a trip to Hill Farmstead.

Simon talks about beers for keeping.

Bill, Pittsburgh beer snob recalls a favourite beer 

Reuben reminisces about his first taste of booze at Christmas, manages to squeeze in a review and has even festivised #TheSession logo (see above)!

Douglas of Baltimore Bistro regaled us with a tale of a trip to Erdinger in Germany and how beer people are generally good people.

Phil posted an excellent reminiscence about drinking with biker mates in Cornwall along with some rather fetching photographs. I for one had no clue what HSD meant; so good on Boak and Bailey for filling us in.

Miguel (from Mexico no less!) posted his first ever session contribution, telling us how beer can taste different depending on who you drink it with (Google Translate will be your friend for this one - unless you can read Spanish)

Nitch (who hosted the session last month) comes up with a rather depressing tale of subterranean drinking which is the perfect length for the accompanying Tom Waits video.

Chris from DRAFT mag shares his tale of woe and regret after an afternoon of drinking in Phoenix.

Jon at 10th day Brewing went for fiction -a medieval meets currents days tale of caution, with a twist at the end. Nice one Jon.

Rebecca remembers a beery dream, I've had plenty of them myself but none in such a pristine location!

Oliver told us about finally getting to share a beer with his father in a medieval fayre of all places, nice one!

On a similar (but different) theme, an 11th hour submission from Wayne about partying with his parentals.

And of course my own tale about discovering decent beer whilst at university (which I was tardy in posting but that's my prerogative as host!)

So now for the winner! My favourite tale of the bunch was Nate's, well done sir! See me to claim your prize ;).

So now that's done I pass the baton to Rebecca at the Bake and Brew who is hosting next month with the intriguing punning topic of "Against The Grain". Cheers everyone that took part, see you all again soon.

*Apologies if I missed any, feel free to chastise me as you see fit.

Session #65: All Alone

This month's Session is hosted by Nate at Booze, Beats and Bites and asks to post about drinking alone and if so why. Nate's pretty much covered the various reasons why one might drink alone in his introductory post and I heartily concur.

My current situation sees me drinking alone frequently, not necessarily through choice but because there is noone here to share the beers with, nor do the local boozers have anything to draw me out of the house.

But even before I lived here I enjoyed going to pubs by myself. I enjoy sitting down with a book and a pint of beer without having to think about being sociable. If I want to be sociable there are people in the pub to share with in any case. A lot of my friends have been met through going to the pub by myself and chatting to the locals.

No pressure to drink in rounds or finish up to move on to another pub, you can go at your own pace. If you fancy some food you don't have to wait for others to finish up.

The one proviso to drinking alone is you shouldn't do it when already in a bad mood as the beer will probably just make you feel worse. Its these occasions you need a friend to cheer you up.

Session #57 Round-up

I hosted this month's session. The topic was posted here.

I'm not one to judge, but some of you have some shocking revelations, but I'll name no names. Its up to you to read on and admonish/forgive/console/agree as you see fit on individual's blogs!

Simon over at Reluctant scooper shares a host of secrets, but perhaps the most shocking is he got sick after one pint of mild. Boak and Bailey temporarily demerge to share their individual beery confessions: Boak used to think Red Stripe was classy...whilst Bailey still drinks Becks when Boak isn't around to stop him.  David at Broadford brewer chooses to tell us about some of his University drinking mishaps. Mark owns up to enjoying beer straight from the fridge and still in the bottle and Sean at beer search party is similarly guilty.

Gareth from new blog beer advice has his first go at the session and tells us of beer and film pairing, sounds like a good idea actually and Leslie Lushtastic can't help it but to keep going back to Victoria! And another session newbie, Matt from beerandfoodandstuff seemingly has no end of confessions to get off of his chest. Jen at Berkley craft beer examiner confesses to self-abuse by malternative (alchopops in the UK) before progressing to real beer via something with blueberry floaties in it. Tom at Lugwrench similarly drank a malternative, called Zima. Mr Rabid Barfly thinks he has nothing to confess, but I think ginger beer for breakfast is something fairly unique amongst us beer bloggers!

Zac confesses to having recently enjoyed shandy, whilst yours truly used to survive on smoothflow. Mr Dredpenguin owned up to still drinking carlsberg and disliking cantillon the first time around. Jay at a beer in hand confesses to not one but three guilty pleasure beers whereas Stan (Appellation Beer) cannot remember his gateway beer; so his guilty pleasure is each and every new beer he gets his paws on.

I persuaded Simon from CAMRGB (Campaign for Really Good Beer) to post his and a great read it was too. He shares how he got into beer from being a shameless wine guzzler. The Beer Nut decided to do something guilt-inducing live, drinking a beer from Heineken, but it doesn't actually sound too bad. Bob at "It could do with a few more hops" sounds like a guy with plenty of secrets, he confesses to five consecutive weeks of beer smuggling. Win confesses a heinous crime and makes a good case for smaller measures. Rob at Beer PHXation overdid the beer on a Belgium trip.

Craig is embarrassed in a very rate beer way...he enjoyed a bottom ten beer. Reuben Tale of the Ale (who hosted the session last month) gives us a lengthy explanation of why he quit drinking for five years. Thomas at Yours For Good Fermentables is guilty of what a lot of us may be...not giving a beer a second chance and Jon at the Brewsite speaks his mind about why you shouldn't feel guilty. Craig at drinkdrank is a fan of heritage brands, particularly Schaefer.

Alan at a good beer blog enjoys beer with corn and in his usual verbose way explains why he doesn't feel one iota of guilt and Derrick, the beer runner, also enjoys blueberry beers. Jay of Brookstein Beer Bulletein (Who along With Stan makes up one half of the team that co-ordinates The Session) wishes to confess ten years of drinking bland lagers alongside tastier beevrages before making the switch, though I think his no beer admission is more telling...Phil of Beersay tells us about his first accidental intoxication which led to him being a more cautious drinker in the future...or so I would hope! Another session newbie in the form of Hardknott Alex tell us of his penchant for desperados, which seems to be the shame-beer of choice for a number of bloggers and Nick from Lautering.net admits to preferring beers with an adjunct such as rice because of their smoother texture.

That's all folks. Cheers for the contributions everyone, I've enjoyed reading them. There are 32 all together (if I've counted correctly!). Let me know if I've overlooked anyone and if you enjoyed this roundup! I duly hand over the baton to Phil of Beersay host for December's session. He's @Filrd on Twitter so add him on there too! Get in Touch with Jay Brooks or Stan Heironymous to offer your services for future sessions.

Session #57: My guilty beer secret

I'm hosting the session this month. See here for the topic.

 When I first started drinking beer (about ten years ago) I liked lager. And not good lager, probably one of the c-words. Price wasn't the issue but perhaps lack of having tasted anything else was. My parents bought me a pack of twelve for Christmas in October and by December I'd decided I didn't like lager after all. I moved on to Worthingtons smoothflow. I drank this for about three years, including for my first year at university, by whhich point I'd had my eyes opened about the world of beer. 

Exhibit A

After moving out of halls in the first year I sought out a decent local and never again did a glass of the nitrogenated stuff pass my lips. I'll still drink keg buddweiser or Kronenburg if there's no good cask or keg available (and that's fairly often in the beer desert of Northern Ireland).

I don't feel particularly guilty about my formative beer drinking experiences, in the same way as that Linkin Park album led me on to much better music, those generic lagers and bitters pushed me to seek out better tasting beers and in the mean time I've found plenty that I'll happily go back to time and time again.

November #TheSession Announced!

The Session this month was due to be hosted by Pete Brown, but due to some bastard stealing his laptop and thus losing a load of the work for his new book he's had to postpone for now and I've volunteered to move forward my hosting for a month.

So I shall be hosting session #57. Those who are eagle eyed will have already espied that the topic is "Beery Confessions: Guilty Secrets/Guilty Pleasure Beer" and are perhaps intrigued to find out what it will entail, well wait no longer!

One of the things I most enjoy about blogs and personal writing in general is the ability to have a window into another's life, in a semi-voyeuristic way. So I'd like to know your beery guilty secrets. Did you have a particularly embarassing first beer (in the same way that some people purchase an atrocious song as their first record) or perhaps there's still a beer you return to even though you know you shouldn't? Or maybe you don't subscribe to the baloney about feeling guilty about beers and drink anything anyway?

You're also welcome to write about bad drinking experiences you've had as a result of your own indulgence or times when you've been completely wrong about a beer but not yet confessed to anyone that you've changed your mind.

Its fairly wide open, take your pick. Variety is the spice of life as they say (and I hope there's more than 57 of them...) Blogs are due this Friday (4th November) but as its short notice I'll accept submissions until next Friday (11th November), but as soon as your blog is uploaded post a link to it in here, or send me an email stephanos1986 AT gmail DOT com if you don't have a blog and still want to contribute. Happy writing!

Session #56- Thanks to the Big Boys

This month the session is hosted by Reuben over at the Tale of the Ale who is a thoroughly nice chap; so you should go check out his blog. I struggled initially to think of what to write about; should I be tongue in cheek and call my post "(no) Thanks to the Big Boys?". How do you define big anyway? Is it just referring to the megalithic brewers that control a big share of the market; or do the larger family and regional brewers also count as big boys? After all, any brewer in the UK that doesn't qualify for small brewer's relief could be considered a big boy, though even the biggest regionals here aren't a patch on the size of a lot of well known American brewers.

I've decided that I can write about a large family brewer and if Reuben doesn't like it he can admonish me! So today's blog is about Fuller's (or Fuller, Smith and Turner as some people know it). With 367 pubs and national distribution of their bottled product in major supermarket chains (even here in Northern Ireland!) I think they qualify for the tag big boy.

A lot of people were disappointed when Fuller's bought George Gale and Co. of Horndean in 2005, especially when they closed down the brewery, but the Gale family were looking to sell up and better it go to a sympathetic brewer that continues to brew some of the gems of the range than to a more voracious regional who would wipe all trace of it off the map. I am disappointed that they no longer brew Butser (BBB) because that was a lovely session beer and I keep my fingers crossed in the hope it may one day be brought back again as a seasonal. The majority of former Gale's pubs remain unchanged, save for the ubiquitous London Pride and Fuller's bottle range being available in all.

So what do I want to say thank you for? A few things:

Fuller's Vintage Ale and Gale's Prize Old Ale

1) Continuing production of Gales Prize Old Ale, which requires a lot of brewery space for aging and is a bit of a niche product that pleases the beer afficinados. The 2011 bottle wasn't as sour as I remember the 2005 being but complex nonetheless. I have 2005 (brewed and bottled at Gales), 2006 (brewed at Gale's bottled at Fuller's) and 2011 (brewed and bottled at Fuller's) bottles for comparative tasting later this year.

2) The past masters series. Fullers have been going back through their archives to rediscover beers that they used to brew and recreate them. I've got a bottle of each in my parents' garage to enjoy at Christmas, but I was lucky enough to try them courtesy of BSF bottle bar manager Ian at GBBF this year.

3) The Brewers Reserve series and Vintage Ales are also excellent. I'm yet to try BR #3 but the other two were superb. I have a collection of most of the vintage Ales in my cupboard ready for supping with some carefully chosen individuals. Ask me nicely and I'll invite you along too!

4) The core range is great, with special mention for London Porter, though I've never been keen on London Pride! I did a Fullers beer tasting as a "cultural talk" with my company whilst on a training course and the availability of the beers made it easy for me to organise last minute!

So thanks John and the team for continuing to make beers that I enjoy. Favourite Fullers pub so far? The old Gales outlet, the Old House at Home in Romsey. I'm not the only one that thinks that as it was Fuller's pub of the year last year too! Certainly worth a visit if you find yourself in Hampshire.

Session #55: Beer Art

Its that time of the month again, yes the session is here. This month it's hosted by Curtis Taylor at Hophead Said. This month its all about artwork on beer labels and other forms of brewery adverts. At one point I was planning to collect beer labels. I knew the secretary of the British Labelogist Society and one of my friends collected labels to send to his Czech friend. I had a pile of bottles stored at the bottom of my bed, but never got around to steaming them off and when I moved houses they all ended up in the bottle bank.

Odell Double Pilsner

I love all of Odell's beer labels. They're on matt paper with a slight faded beige colour and use pastel shades giving the impression that they're either hand drawn or come from some time in the past. I also like their beer name font. The design is applied across all beers meaning they're easy to spot on a crowded beer shelf. I think they were all designed by tbd who have also worked with Deschutes.

I particularly like this one because its very attractive and would appeal to both genders plus I'm a fan of owls. Also spot the upside down owl forming the lower half of the face! And (as Reuben points out in the comments below) the smaller owl between the eyes of the main owl.
I asked Odell what the reasoning behind an owl for pilsner was and was told "The owl is a classic yet sometimes mysterious creature, like the beer". I can see that.  (I wasn't actually a fan of this beer, finding it a bit too sweet for my palate but the label is brilliant. )

Odell also has a great logo with the company name sculpted to fit into the outline of a hop. Again this is consistent across bottle tops, beer mats and stickers. Sometimes the bottle lid will say "seasonal ale", sometimes it may be a different colour, but they all stick to the same house style, meaning you can spot them in a pile of bottle caps.

Whilst on the subject of owls, special mention must be made of the Hitachino Nest bottle lids and labels. These Japanese beers feature owls heavily. Its worth visiting their website which is well designed, cute and fun to play with. I gave a bottle lid to my girlfriend and she now has a small collection of other bottle lids.

The Session #54: Sour Beer

 

I’d been meaning to work out how the session works for a while, so when I got an idea for a session topic I Googled it and found the necessary details (see here). It’s a monthly beer blogging event held on the first Friday of the month blogging about a topic “hosted” by one of the participants. I decided it’s high time I got involved and this month’s entry is as good as any, “sour beer”. This month it's hosted by John at the Brew Site.

Lee from Hoptopia recently tweeted “What was your first sour beer” and I replied Boon Oude Gueuze at the Boon Brewery November 2009. Though, on reflection, this wasn’t strictly true now I come to think about it. No, for my first experience of sour beer would have been a few years earlier than that in the form of a kriek or framboise from the excellent Southampton bottle shop Bitter Virtue. I tried a few different fruit lambic beers but nothing that made me want to go back for a second one and I ended up largely sticking to British bottled beers.

The beer festival is in the spectacular Belfort Van Bruge

I decided I needed more of an education in the Belgian beer styles and my chance arose in November 2009 when a group of us visited Bruges for the beer festival. It was an eye-opening event to say the least. So many different beers that I didn’t know where to start. In my excitement I forgot to keep notes, so other than a few ticks in the program I’m not sure what I tried and what I thought of them.

What have we here?

One of the highlights of the trip; however was a visit the Boon brewery. We boarded a coach to the small town of Lembeek and scurried out through the rain into a courtyard where we were met by our tour guide. We could see what was definitely an industrial site, but it could have been making anything. There was however a clue to its contents in the shape of the letterbox outside. We were met by the jovial guide who led us through the gates and onwards into the brewery.

A clue to what lay within

 Once inside we were given an interesting and intriguing tour of the brewery including of the mash tun, the fermenting tanks and the barnlike maturing room filled with massive Brandy barrels filled with beers of varying ages. Much better accounts are available elsewhere and this post isn’t about the brewery but the beer.

 The gigantic aging barrels at Boon Brewery

After the tour we all sauntered up the road to a beer cafe where we could choose between Boon Oude Gueuze and Boon Kriek. I picked the former and this was certainly the biggest eye opener of the whole trip. I’d been told what to expect beforehand, that the beer would be sour, that it “isn’t for everyone”, but this still gave me no idea of what was in store for me!  A tongue tingling lemon with sour and still more sour and a whole mix of other new and exciting flavours besides. I loved it. I also tried the kriek which I much preferred to the sweetened versions I'd tried so far.

Shortly afterwards I moved to Northern Ireland and had no chance to further my sour beer experience. Through talking on rate beer I found someone locally who is a sourhead and he recommended The Vineyard in Belfast as the place to try and I picked up some Mort Subite beers from there. He has a sour beer project of his own which I may get a chance to blog about later in the year. My realisation is that I’ve merely scratched the surface with lambic beers and other sour styles and need to rectify that urgently!

I am making this post go live whilst working at the Great British Beer Festival and yes, I’ve had a chance to try some other sour beers here too. We have some crazy beers by revelation cat on draught. Three year old Boon lambic taken from Belgium and aged in laphroaig whisky/ marsala wine casks. There's also a superb Fruity kriek

I’m hopefully going to visit the Cantillon brewery when in Belgium next year too so plenty more sour beer ahead of me.