
There are a few things going on around the Blogoshire and in the real world that we wanted to highlight.
- In our last post, we wondered whether it was time for commentators to take a more assertive stance in ‘calling out’ the industry. With perfect timing, The BeerCast posted this account of a tiff with Arran Brewery. It’s certainly entertaining, and exactly the kind of challenge we had in mind, but might it not get a bit exhausting to read this kind of thing every week?
- We were very sad to hear of the death of Mike Hall, National Chairman of the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood. Our correspondent was lucky enough to meet him at an SPBW National Executive meeting earlier this year, as part of research for the book, and enjoyed his stories of pub-going, beer-hunting and London boozing immensely.
- It’s always interesting to read comments on British beer culture from someone who isn’t wrapped up in it, and this piece on the Great British Beer Festival by Canadian beer writer Jordan St. John is no exception. Brains, he suggests, are trying too hard at ‘craft beer’; but St Austell (our local brewers) are nailing it. (Note the temporary change to the subtitle of his blog…)
- Beerenalia has posted a Top Ten Norfolk Beers as a kind of counterpart to our Top Ten Cornish ones. If anyone else feels the urge to do the same for their town or county, we and others would certainly find it useful; and the same goes for personal local pub guides.
- We’ve been busy on Facebook lately and this guide to recreating the experience of the Great British Beer Festival at home seems to have gone down well. On Twitter, a highlight (we think) has been this excerpt from a 1986 edition of 2000AD.
- And, finally… you might have noticed the blog has a new design. This new off-the-shelf theme comes with various bells and whistles including distinctive formatting for different types of post, e.g. quotations, video, audio, photo galleries, and so on. We tested the water with a quotation yesterday. What do you reckon — should we stick to ‘proper’ blogging, or mix it up a bit?