Beer Compurgation

    Manchester's alright. It does a job as a city. It's got a bit of music based history if that's your bag, and it has managed to house two of the biggest football teams on the planet - ergo the two most annoying fan bases in sport history - within its metaphorical walls. It didn't have a huge impact on the country until the 19th century but is now (using population of the metropolitan counties as a marker) the third biggest city in England. It's alright. It is convenient to get to. The major artists do concerts here and there are plenty of theatres. It serves a great purpose from an entertainment perspective. And the beer's pretty good too. I couldn't tell you exactly why I feel no affinity towards the place, being as foolishly loyal and emotionally nostalgic as I am about everything else. I've spent 70%+ of my life with this being my nearest (or at least most accessible) city, including my formative years. Perhaps it is the fact that in that...

  Dear Reader / Bend when you can / Snap when you have to / Dear Reader / You don't have to answer just 'cause they asked you   My beer stash still mostly lives in the shed. In 2022 it was subjected to varying temperatures across 50°C. The argument about beer storage has always been one that I have longed to debunk. Whilst temperature control is beneficial to the beer, it also stands alongside the myth of "Drink Fresh" in its importance. I had a couple of beers over Christmas that have lived through July's 39°C and December's -11°C and lived to tell the tale. Not just lived but enjoyed themselves. In beer terms, that was all I could remember from 2022; aggressively tapping my foot at my work desk as I wondered whether my beer at home had evaporated or frozen. Then I went to the pub after work and didn't drink any of it anyway. The previous 12 months were supposed to be the year that we came out of a post-lockdown, post-quarantine Britain into...