Beer Compurgation

Annual resolutions and aspirations can not always be met. People can’t atone for the changing nature of situations to meet targets. With that, we reach time again for Golden Pints and, despite all intentions 12 months ago, my drinking has been more confined than before to a North Western radius. There is no local bias here but the usual reflection of my  drinking habits. Best UK Cask Beer Overall: Fyne Ales Jarl 2018 winner: Track Brew Co. Simcoe/Centennial With a couple of categories it is difficult to differ from the beer that is always likely to win (less something remarkable happens) and the beer that is the standout for the calendar year. It is going to take a change in fortunes, owners, brewers or the Convergence to stop Jarl being the best cask beer in this land. Full bodied, full of refreshing bitterness, consistent and the definition of sessionable, it remains its own institution. Track Brew Co  brew some bloody good cask beer. Ask my younge

In October 2016 I was due at the now defunct Ticketybrew in Stalybridge to help brew a special one off beer for the third Independent Salford Beer Festival. The festival’s organiser Jim was also due. But sat in the pub the evening before I still hadn’t heard from him so got in touch to see if it was still going ahead. Jim phoned - Told me his news - said I should go to the brewday anyway. The following morning I arrived at Ticketybrew to help with the collaboration. I was a couple of hours late as I was struggling with the idea. The brewery atmosphere was subdued with a few commenting that they weren’t sure whether they should go ahead with it. The day was brought back to life by head brewer Duncan as he said the line, “Yeah, but you’d do anything for Jim.” It is true too and it was true before those personal events. People will do anything for Jim. They still will as he is annually pressured into making the Independent Salford Beer Festival haapen again and again,

  The Beer world was like most planets; too many mouths, not enough ears. Too many opinions, not enough education. Too much seriousness, not enough fun. Whenever there is darkness though, there are always heroes. So they offered a solution. But rather than Nick Fury handpicking the best of the best, the Titans formed a group by taking a select few from existing   societies . So formed the Avengers, sorry I mean the Black Order, sorry I mean Dave Cameron’s Etonian's club, sorry I mean the BAFTAs, sorry I don’t exactly give a fuck who I mean in this analogy anymore. I know what its like to lose... It's a blog; a creation of the MySpace generation. A platform for one to spout personal feelings and interpretations. Yes, judgement of those words becomes inevitable but it is a blog nonetheless. Enjoyment, not employment.  That is why I have used this space to safely talk about mental health issues. A lot. For my own salvation. Without an area to put thos

The problem with an on-the-fence opinion that discusses the merits of both fields is that those situated far from the fence on either side only listen to the cons of their particular grassy plain. It was through this that my last post, a discussion on the pros and cons of the“All-in” beer festival ticket , led to the greatest example of others looking only for negatives. If points one through to five sided with the views of one person, you can bet that they approached me over point 6, fists waving all the way. However, as my comments came before I had ever experienced any beer festivals that provided the “all-you-can-drink” experience, it felt remiss of me not to follow up that post now that I have been through the process. The festival was Dark City 2018; Northern Monk Brew Co’s annual dedication to all beers that are dark. Alongside the two incarnations of their lighter festival – Hop city – this was the first time there had been change to the ticket structure. A