#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...

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.