Because Gingers Need Love Too

This is turning into a bit of a birthday blog, last week it was 'less-young' Dredgie and this week it's the one who scoops reluctantly.
Yes you all know him, the Monty Python of Beer Blogging, donner of the ginger merkin and drinker of weird and wonderful beers!
Today is Simon Johnson's Birthday! Happy Birthday dear sir!
Now I'm fairly certain he's going to be drinking special brew, sorry some special brews, all day long but I thought that him being a ginge n'all, I'd recommend some decent ginger beers for him to try so here it is.

Beaumonts - Alcoholic Ginger Beer. 4% lovely refreshing hangover cure, just ask Moggy.

Marble Ginger, 4.5% - one word. Nom.

Williams Bros Ginger Beer, 3.8% apparently it's lovely, never had any myself.

Crabbies - If you must. Personally I think it's horrible.

Idris - Add a shot of Vodka.

I'm sure there are others but I'm supposed to be working and I don't really have the time to look them up. 

What I will say is follow this man on twitter @simonhjohnson read his blog, it's pure gold(with a ginger tinge) and if you're really lucky, have a beer with him today, a better drinking buddy you could not have!

Happy Birthday Simon!

Happy Birthday Not-so-Young Dredge!

So, it's Young Dredge's birthday, what's he doing, celebrating with beer of course! I don't know exactly what he's drinking this evening but I'm pretty sure it's going to be brown and dull....

After all, he's 27 now, not-so-young anymore methinks, time to start wearing sandals and investing in that beer belly, time to stop shaving and grow a 'Larkin-like' beard.

It's ok though Mark, you can wear socks with your sandals during the winter like Tandleman or that bloke that used to be Cooking Lager. 

If you do manage to make it over to Tap East this week I've invested in a note book for your ticking so you can join your mates stumbling from one skanky boozer to another dribbling over barmaids and sexy pumpclips. 

Just do the rest of us and most of all the lovely Lauren a favour, remember to bathe as you get older, I know, I know, it leaves less time for ticking but remember, no one likes the buzz of beer flies around a person!

Hoppy Beerday my friend. Enjoy.

Overrated? Pah!

I'm drinking a bottle of Bear Republic Racer 5.

It's Lush.

You might not like it. 

I might tell you to get a tastebud readjustment.

It's Lush.

That is all.

Beer School or Charm School

Just had a short but thought provoking text chat with Tony Lennon, GM of craft beer bar, The Euston Tap regarding a visit from a sales rep(tile)* he's just had.
Tony's point was that this lady had a very good brand to work with and indeed very good beers that she was trying to sell but she knew fuck all about beer! Apparently she was trying to use her female charms and i'll quote Tony's text here so there's no confusion, 'she literally batted her eyelids at me. Like I'm some sort of sex starved Wetherspoons manager. Please....'

Please indeed. We all know he's gagging for it!** ;)

pic found at tiffanyandlupus.com - SuperTony

But getting back to my topic and Tony's point which is a very good one, a bit of beer knowledge goes a long way. If a brewery hires a person to cold call into pubs with their beers, surely they should take the time to teach the person about about the beer they are selling?

I have had a similar experience with a brewery which will remain unnamed. When the rep first walked through the door at The Rake(it was a couple of years ago) she was young, giggly, dappy and frankly I found her extremely irritating.

If a sales reptile has to use their charm as a sales technique then they have already lost the battle with me, especially if their product does not stand up to scrutiny, as it didn't in my experience.

In summary then...
Reptiles! Know your product! Because you do not know me! I don't care if the reptile is female or male, know your bloody product! I'm too busy for that sort of shit, stop wasting my time!
Breweries! Train your reptiles! Because I won't order from you if your reptiles do waste my time!

Flirt with Tony by all means because he's gagging for it but he's a very knowledgeable chap so don't treat him like a piece of meat, he'll just feel used and dirty, tell him about your beer, your brewery and the birds and the bees!

Going to go and wash my brain now.


*reptile is what I call them, because I'm mean.
**Just too easy.

Session #57 - Guilty Secrets.

So I have a couple of minutes spare, although I don't know where from to be honest! Thought I'd try and get back in the swing of this blogging malarky! It's amazing how much time work takes up nowadays!
This months session is brought to us by Steve Lamond from Beers I've Known and the subject matter is once again a bit of fun - guilty pleasures or guilty secrets, call them what you may, we all have them and they do rear their ugly, unwanted head from time to time.

A couple of years ago I probably would have cited Guinness as my guilty secret but then I started doing the drunk diary in January and it quickly became apparent that I drank a lot of Guinness for want of any decent beer on the bar.

Nowadays my guilty secret and it's not really even that secret, is probably the fact that when I'm really thirsty, I don't go for a nice refreshing pint of lager, but rather a fruit beer, alcoholic ginger beer(sometimes for breakfast! Thank you Beaumonts for sorting me out on many a hungover occasion) or, shock horror, a cider!

However, I'm not one to really hold with the idea of guilty secrets, if you like a beer, then you like a beer, who cares what it is? I will say that if you have to hide the fact that you like a beer because your mates might not think it's cool means that you're not really giving the brewer of that beer the respect they deserve. Get over yourself and remember that somewhere, somebody will be thankful that you are drinking it!