Beer Book Club June 2021
Yesterday*’s #BeerBookClub took us to ‘The Pub – A Cultural Institution’ – what a great evening!
I’ve always liked Britain’s #PubCulture, which I believe is unique: pubs have always played this interesting role in our lives and the UK’s #lockdown and subsequent pressure on the hospitality sector has really brought this into focus for me. I use hashtags like #CaskIsBackSoBackCask #DrinkLocal #SupportYourPub not because my post may appear on a list someone is following and may gain clout, but because I truly believe in them. Over the past year I have connected with many pubs, taprooms and breweries via Social Media and have followed how they prepared for re-opening, have seen the struggles and hopes and generally, the excitement serving great beer and cider can bring. Not being able to go to a pub or taproom but being able to catch a glimpse of those loved spaces online has brightened many days and provided me with many new places to explore!
Alas, speaking of social media, it would not be right to ignore the ongoing sexism that is being highlighted in the craft beer and drinks sector. I am still thinking and making sense of what is being reported and can only say: Be and stay strong and speak up! There is no room for abuse, sexism, and discrimination! I will return to this topic in more detail once I have make sense of it all, so bear with me here. I personally have always felt that the craft beer scene was a welcoming and open environment, however, I have only ever experienced it from a punter’s perspective. Nonetheless, I am opening my eyes and I am learning, listening, and speaking up! The scene may not be as open and inclusive as I thought, so I am grateful for every single person who is highlighting the problems, and I am hopeful that together we can reclaim the community we all deserve!
Returning to the pub, I do miss the pre-Covid-19 world, where @chimp.rocket and I would pop to the local for a #NotRegularRegularPubFriday or go on a #PubTourNotACrawl. The carelessness of being amongst others without hand sanitisers and face coverings, drinking, meeting old and new friends, chatting to complete strangers about ‘The Good Old Times’. Well, maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s a case of full blown nostalgia, but those days where the good ol’ days.
I have a few locals I can recall treasuring – those few places where you were at the right time, with the right people, the right drinks, and the right atmosphere. All of them serve a specific function for me. Whether it was popping in for a pint after work with my colleagues, a good meal with friends and family, day drinking in the pub garden, or having a flight during a tap takeover to explore foreign offerings. Those pubs will not be occupying this space in my heart anymore, because our world has changed. I’m certainly not saying that this is bad, good or ugly. I’m simply saying that it is different. And change is good.
My attitude towards drinking has also changed. Before March 2020, most of my drinks were consumed in craft beer bars and taprooms, although I’d generally wouldn’t say no to a trip to the pub! Back then, I would choose my watering holes depending on my mood or the mood I was after. Drinking in a taproom, at least for me, conjured up a completely different atmosphere then drinking in the local pub. And there is, and always will be, a place for both (go on, change my mind!).
The thought which occupied my brain for a long time was the idea of having that first hand-pulled, cellar-conditioned real ale in a pub that ticked all of George O’s boxes! And, as the author suggested, this ideal pub is exactly that, an idea never to be… I’m still not complete ready to go back to the bars and pubs (and that is ok!), but I did have that exciting first cask ale a couple of weeks ago!
And it ticked all the right boxes! It was a beautiful, strange, and humbling experiencing and I realised how much I really missed a proper pint! We went to our local brewery’s tap room. As we moved just before the first lockdown in 2020, we hadn’t even been able to visit the place fully, so not only was it my first experience of the place, it was also the return to Golden Ales! A double celebration! The staff were fantastic, the atmosphere was there, and the taproom served the best tasting beers I had in ages!
During the past year, we drank at home. We had beers in bottles, cans, crowlers and growlers, as well as purchasing a second home draft beer system. We had local brews, Belgian Ales, we celebrated Octoberfest with German Märzen, we explored #Collabfest2020 beers and we get increasingly more excited about the wonderful world of cider! We drank over Zoom and Teams, we managed to pop into a taproom and a pub when restrictions allowed it, and we enjoyed Instagram Live’s and specially curated beer and cider boxes on more than one occasion.
But that first pint topped it all – well almost. I’m still after ‘The Moon Under Water’** experience, and I’m sure I will be chasing this ideal for a long time, but I’m returning and reclaiming my place in the pub.
*3rd June 2021
**Orwell, G., ‘The Moon Under Water’ (1946).
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