Wednesday 25 February 2009

Like/Dislike

I got an email promoting this entertaining t-shirt today, and I rather like it.

Other things I like this week:

Zeitgeist - BrewDog is launching its new black lager, which is jolly tasty - although not the first in the UK, despite what the press release says.

Diageo celebrating Guinness's birthday - I don't understand the company, its communications strategy or why they aren't making more play on the Original product during the brand's 250th year but I like that they are celebrating its birthday with some gusto - good work.

Goldminer - I know I might be a bit behind the rest of the world on this, but if you've got a Co-Op nearby get yourself some Goldminer, it's a top-quality British bitter.

That my mild's ready!!! I'll get to taste the final blend this weekend, can't wait, thanks Stuart at Sharp's and keep an eye out for it beer lovers!

New figures from the Society of Independent Brewers showing craft beer sales are up 10% and set to grow 15% this year - keep supping people!

Things I don't like this week:

Contrived articles - there are a couple of very contrived and poorly-written articles in the trade press this week, clearly generated by brewers with a jealousy agenda who are being pandered to by poor hacks. Seriously guys, pack it in!

Daas Witte Beer - the blonde's okay in a lagery 'I'd happily drink it if it was put in front of me' kind of way, but the witte is very sickly sweet - and I'm not fond of the marketing materials either, the orgy-suggestion just doesn't do it for me I'm afraid!

Insomnia - seriously, a girl needs her sleep, if it doesn't show what time this was posted it's 5.56 of the a.m. and I've got a session with my trainer at 7.30 - urgh!

Time - or the fact that I'm running out of it before my wedding on Saturday. Yep, that's right, the other half finally lost his marbles after 10 years and we're getting hitched, so I'll be missing in action for a bit drinking Carib in the Caribbean and, hopefully, watching England win the Test series... okay drinking Carib in the Caribbean it is then!

Friday 20 February 2009

Say What You See


I know some of you guys have expressed some disdain for the Guardian recently but I actually laughed out loud for quite some time at the headline on the e-version this morning.

I really hope that the sub who wrote this gets a bonus, the sarcasm is so thick you couldn't chop your way through with a machete!

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Belated Update

Morning all, well firstly apologies for being away for a while, the need to organise big events in one's life can become all consuming!

I'm having a bit of a Radio 4 moment this morning, with a thought for the day, after being send a quote by Kaiser Wilhelm, which states: "Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world."

So, if I'd been born about 100 hundred years ago (presuming it was KW the Second who said this) I could have been Grand High Empress & Supreme Poohbah of the Entire Globe! How awesome would that have been?!

Okay, so it's a reach but I'm just getting over yet another cold this winter and am feeling terribly upbeat - but I do also have a confession.

I'm afraid at the Malcolm Gluck Guardian showdown I probably didn't do beer as many favours as I could have.

That said, he did come utterly determined to run the room and deride beer at every available turn, which I do feel was a complete waste of the whole exercise that left quite a sour taste in the mouth.

He has come under a lot of fire from various camps and, having met the guy, he wasn't Satan himself, just a misogynistic dinosaur who is clearly intelligent but uses it more for spite than to disseminate knowledge - and I found it dreadfully depressing that he couldn't actually be anything other than obnoxious about beer until all the people had left the room and (initially I believe) thought the cameras weren't rolling.

What I mean by that is what you see at the end of the film, where he admits that the Thornbridge Alliance aged in Pedro Ximinez casks is delicious (which it is - one of the best beers I've tasted in years but the Madeira cask just squeaks past it in my book - buy them quickly!)

But for the rest of the time, without actually turning into some sort of screaming harridan and talking over him every five minutes, I had not a chance to counter-act his consistent desire not to share the room with someone else - you see I don't think it was a wine vs. beer thing, I think it was a limelight thing and as far as he was concerned it was all his.

So, to all you beer drinkers that feel let down by this piece, I apologise - and I'm kicking myself that this should have been a much more spirited display.

But the honest truth is that I wasn't going to let myself down by lowering my behaviour standards to the level of outright rudeness in a fruitless attempt to prove a narrow-minded man wrong.

I hope you understand...

This post promotes a v-blog job I did for the Guardian.