Doing My Bit For The Beer Cause

I've just received a copy of a book I've contributed too. 

I'm quite flattered to get a piece into a book whose predecessor sold 150,000 copies to a mainstream readership who might not otherwise be exposed to propaganda for good beer.

The piece is a rather general "why not try beer with Christmas food?" sort of thing, not really written for a beer-specialist audience. I half expect some "you should have mentioned such-and-such" comments when you people see it. It did originally contain a few more juicy recommendations and some advice on where to find good beer but the editor deemed it surplus to requirements. Instead, a paragraph was added to the end (as if written by me) on the subject of wine – a subject about which I freely admit to knowing bugger all about.

It's a lovely book with lots of nice pictures and Christmas recipes. Many will receive a copy on Christmas Day, but that's a bit late to be swatting up on Christmas comestibles and the shops are closed so go out and buy a copy now.

Here it is on Amazon.

The Heart Sinks

After reading Martyn Cornell's lovely ranty post about Mark Hunter, boss of MolsonCoors in the UK I innocently followed a link to a page within the corporate behemoth's website.

Reading down the timeline we see such loveliness as:

• 1744: William Worthington starts brewing in Burton-on-Trent, UK.

• 1900: There are more than 32 breweries in Burton, including 87 miles of private brewery track and 36 level crossings in town.

What marvelous moments in Britain's beer heritage!


But wait – what about 2009?

• 2009: Coors Brewers Limited changes its company name to Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Limited.

Chile's Best Beer

Watching BBC News 24's coverage of the marvelous rescue of the trapped miners after two months of  empathetic claustrophobia terrors that have occasionally kept me awake at night, I am, like millions of others, feeling quite elated at watching the happy ending in progress.

As journalistic padding there's been some talk of what the men will be most looking forward to back on the surface: loved ones; hot baths; clean clothes; sunlight; fresh air; fresh food.

Beer wasn't mentioned but I'm sure it's in there somewhere.

A bit of browsing on Ratebeer revealed this brewery, Szot, by a head and shoulders margin, as Chile's best. That's what I would want – after family, I suppose.