Not Again!

I'm getting properly old now. Yesterday was the start of The Rake's annual Welsh Beer Festival, a concept we came up with four years ago and haven't looked back since and I had a few sips of beer to celebrate Dewi Sant.

But why am I getting old? Three pints I had yesterday and I am utterly ruined this morning, three pints!!! This is not good. This is very bad! It's not like I was drinking three pints of Sink the Bismark either(is there even that much left in the UK?). The strongest beer I had was 5%!

Suffice to say I'm sure I'll wake up even more hangin' tomorrow, what with the Tiny Rebel Urban IPA going on the bar today! Oh well, hair of the mutt anyone?

Cold Weather? Snow Thanks!

Bit of snow and it grinds to a halt.

It's snowing. Bugger. This means that my Christmas rush will be severely curtailed in the next few days. But it's preeeety I hear you whine, yeah maybe but there are hundreds of businesses out there that will be affected by this weather, including pubs and the wholesalers that supply them!
The effect the weather had on us last time was awful. You see a lot of my customers rely on the trains into London Bridge to get them into the area, this includes the office workers and the other people who come into town on the weekend to do their shopping.
3 weeks ago when we got the first lot of snow, London Bridge station practically closed down and we had one of the worst weeks if not the worst week since I took over The Rake.
So spare a thought for the pub & bar operators during this weather, they will be hit hard and you can get there they do need your custom.

If you can get to London Bridge this weekend we're doing the Geek-Out Sunday tomorrow where I'll have four one-off St Austells beers, 2 new Brodies beers and a vertical tasting of Anchor Christmas 07, 08, 09 and 10. Oh and there may be a cask JW Lees Harvest Ale knocking around for a cellar run or two too!
Now, lets hope I can get to work!

Best of the South West at The Rake

This is one of Ugly Fucker'sTom's better pictures

As part of my Deputy Manager's training, he has to organise a beer festival at The Rake and since he spent a couple of years in the west country he decided that his festival should be all about the south west.
The list of beers is pretty huge, probably bigger than I would have done but he's a glass half full kinda guy and thinks he'll sell it all in a week. Good luck to him, It's going be cool and I just pray there's no morris dancing involved! That's what they do down there isn't it?

What I want to know is can Tom erect the cask racking in the shape of Stonehenge? How cool would that be?
Anyway enough of poking fun at my Deputy Manager, there is a serious ask here and it's that you all come along to his South West Beer Fest at The Rake between 31st October and 6th November. If you do you'll not only be supporting Tom who is one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet, but craft beer from one of the most beautiful places in our green and pleasant land.
Hope to see you at The Rake!

GBBF, A Good week

There's been so much going on this week that you can't really help but have a fuzzy warm glow when you think about beer.
It's a positive week for beer, all the headlines are generally good and that can only help. It's also interesting that bars and pubs much as The Rake, The White Horse, Cask and Brew Wharf have all had events going on this week that have made it almost impossible to stay off beer for more than 24 hours, it's exciting!
The Rake turned 4 years old yesterday, and we had the Thomas Hardy's Ale on in celebration of that, if you don't know, it was the first beer that The Rake ever had on draught and the cask that's on is the last current cask in existence and even if I do say so say myself, it's in superb form! This time next year we'll be five and I'm planning something big for The Rake so eyes peeled folks.
Monday night was the British Guild of Beer Writers bash at Brew Wharf, and it was nice that it was just round the corner from work so I could nip round for a couple of hours of schmoozing. I finally met Tandleman there too, what a nice chap he is, not at all the grumpy old man that he claims to be!
Tuesday was trade day, as if you needed to be told, I wne to work for a couple of hours then headed off to Earls Court where all the fun stuff was happening. I got in, got my glass and then it took 10 minutes just to get to the bar. Yep I bumped into so many people I knew that the networking was starting without a beer in my hand! Four and a half hours later I'd had my fill and started my journey home, promptly fell asleep and ended up missing my stop, and the next and the next and the next.....
Wednesday I was off but I ended up at The Rake with Andy Mogg, Mark Dredge, Tim Hampson and Adrian Tierney-Jones before heading off to The White Horsed in Parsons Green for the Brewers Association dinner. Great night had by all I think and I was happy to be at yet another great beer event.
So what does today hold? well hopefully not too much alcohol, it's time to pay back my liver for letting me party hard this week.
If you're free on friday The White Horse will be holding an American craft beer evening upstairs which is bound to be good eye-opening fun.
So a good week, all in all but it's also important that we try and keep this good momentum going throughout the year, not just the one week when we all get together.

LOBI Week at The Rake

Click on the link to find out the details folks. Right Here.
Hope to see you at The Rake from the 26th to the 31st July!!

Fun Free Zone : a response

OK, I'm in a vaguely mischievous mood today. I read a blog post here about pubs not showing the world cup being smug for not doing so, here's a response...
My pub does not show sport, my pub is not ever going to show sport, the worst thing you could do as a manager of The Rake is put lots of over-testosteroned males in a very small place and make them watch England play tournament football. I would have no bar by the end of it!
I am in somewhat of a quandary though because whilst I support the England team and their quest to win(in my lifetime) the biggest prize in football I'm also acutely aware that my bar has done better without the football being on every day. Personally I like football, I follow it(sort of) and I have a team that I support but I do have an issue with football and pubs sometimes. The issue in Southwark and indeed a lot of other places around Britain, is that it brings the lowest common denominator into your pub, the lowest common denominator being an overtly tribal group of people that don't understand the word no and have to wear gloves to prevent their knuckles being ruined by the ground. Having had one publican assaulted in Borough in the last two days, frankly the world cup can shove itself where the sun don't shine.
There is an argument that I subscribe to, which is, if a pub doesn't show football all year round, why, just because it's a world cup should they 'have' to for one month of the year?
There are reasons that these pubs don't show sport during the rest of the year, usually it's because they 1) run a food led business, 2) have establishments that aren't able to cope with sport being shown, or 3) They have a speciality which doesn't really fit around sport.
We at The Rake are in 2 of those 3 categories, we are too small to show the world cup and we have a speciality that doesn't really fit with the world cup and this area.
There is something very cynical about pubs getting TV's in after losing a bit of money on the first couple of games of the world cup and then deciding to cash in on the spectacle. Some of these places NEVER show sport usually, and you can tell, far from creating an atmosphere that people can enjoy with each other, they don't have a clue how to deal with the crowds and therefore get security staff in who more often than not(whilst not causing the trouble) give an air of 'fuck with me and you're out!'
Someone please tell me WHY I, as a publican, should veer so far away from my normal offer, pissing off my regulars in the process and 'conforming' for the lowest common denominator just to make a few extra cynical quid?
I'm not saying that all pubs should not show the football, when pubs do it well there is an atmosphere that is created in a pub of camaraderie, friendship and most of the time(when it comes to the home nations) shared despair but far from being a 'fun-free zone' The Rake is making new customers, and for the record, YES, whilst England games are on we are deathly quiet, only to be over-run by pissed fuckwits after the game, does anyone want to tell me THAT's worth it? What people need to realise is that diversity is key here, I do not cater for football fans as most of my competitors do in some form or other but not one of my regulars would want me to either. This apparently makes us/me devoid of fun to which I say, fuck you, I know what my 'real' customers want, that's good beer, that's new beer, it is NOT sweaty football louts looking for a fight because England have lost to the Germans on fucking penalties again!
I would not say that we're smug for not showing the football, I would say we're sticking to what we're good at, which is selling beer, good beer and lots of it.
Anyway that's enough of my argumental rant for today, it's time to sit back and watch the footie at home with a couple of good beers and the company of a beautiful woman.

Beerymoon Part Four

Still one or two more posts to go on the Beerymoon, and it's not so much the places and beers I want to talk about this time but the service and attitude of American Pubs and Bars and and their staff.
We popped into Magnolia for the second time on the way back from our Golden Gate trip because we were both starving and didn't get the chance to eat there the first time. Just as we were preparing to order we spotted a friend, Dave who got the beers in on his way to pick up his girlfriend at the airport, Dave is probably the number one source for knowledge about where to go in San Francisco, it would take me and Mrs RBF about three trips to get through everywhere that he suggested for us!
On this trip we learnt one thing above all others, never go for American portions, you just can't finish them so we ordered sandwiches with salad even though we were both starving and a tad grumpy from the lack of food. I had a fried fish sandwich(cod) which was just what I needed, it was like fish fingers only a lot better. From what I remember I had the Drakes 1500 Pale Ale and the Firestone Walker Union Jack both of which were drinkable but the Drakes had a bit too much malt in it and made it too chocolatey for my taste, The Firestone was almost instantly forgettable which considering all the blurb on their website was very disappointing it's one I'm going to have to try another time, it could well have been my cold playing up on my taste buds(I've forgotten to mention that I was ill for the whole of my honeymoon, pants!).
A bit about the service in Magnolia, all I have to say is that it's friendly, professional and well worth the tip you have to give over in the states.
Having said that from Magnolia we went back to Toronado where the service, whilst being knowledgeable is grumpy, some of these bartenders have been at the bar for more than 20 years! The range at Toronado is still formidable and the guys behind the bar know their stuff and don't get flustered when it's busy. Out of the three times we went to Toronado I saw no more than two people behind the bar at any one time. I like to sit at the bar to get the whole experience of what's on, what's selling and have a bit of banter with the bar staff.
You don't get much banter from the Toronado guys, it's just about serving the beer to the customers, mind you it's kind of like The Rake was when I took over, it was doing so well that there was a air of not having to try anymore.
This visit I was drinking Moonlight beer in there this time because it was baking hot outside, Reality Czech Pils was the first, second and third choice with Pliny the Elder to finish off again(what a surprise!).
Russian River, Alembic and 21st Amendment still to come folks!

Brooklyn Lager

There have been rumours for some time now that Brooklyn Brewery was going to finally make it across the pond to us on draught. I'm very happy to announce that having watched with envy as Brooklyn Lager was launched in Northbar last week we at The Rake have the pleasure of launching Brooklyn Lager 'down south'.
What's the beer like? Well it's made with American two row malts, Hallertauer, Mittelfrueh, Vanguard and Cascade hops. It's 5.2% abv which means if you have a pint of it, it'll be 2.95 units. It's made in the Vienna style and pours amber coloured with a really good, clean white head. The Nose is quite biscuity with hints of Honey, Malt and hops.
The taste is really something else for a lager, it's bitter, not particularly dry but there's tonnes of hop content here to make the lager totally drinkable, this is probably due to the dry hopping technique that they've used to create the 'Vienna style'. However they have created this superb Amber Lager it's going to be a firm favourite where ever you find it on draught from now on.
It will be on the bar at The Rake from 5pm tomorrow(Thursday) and I hope to see you at The Rake for what promises to be a great night of Lager drinking!

Beer of the day #6

So it's saturday, which means we open at 10am and I therefore, most pick a beer that I can consume for breakfast.
Well, if you speak to Don Burgess from Freeminer Brewery he'll bang on and on and on and on and..well on about Duvel being a breakfast beer. Don if you're reading, it has been usurped by a lovely beer from Cornwall called GB - a 3.7% Ginger Beer, it's made by Beaumonts Brewery and its fan-fecking-tastic!
Imagine Idris ginger beer with a little less of the ginger burn having been replaced by an alcoholic warmth that is surprisingly there for a 3.7% beer.
It pours cloudy as a ginger beer should, it's well carbonated and there's sediment! oh yes lovely gingery sediment, beautiful!
Now word from Phil Seeva who brews this amazing beer is that it will be slightly more carbonated and have less sediment for batches in the summer, I would like to add my own view that there's no need but this will be a cracking beer in the summer, sediment or not!
We'll see how they turn out but I've had to order the second lot already and I've only had it on the shelves for a few weeks.
This is another great tale of a small brewery making a big beer. Win.

beer of the day #4

Beer of the day no.4 is brewed in Henley by a brewery called Lovibonds, if you've been in The Rake recently you'd have heard me banging on about these guys. A few weeks ago Rich and I had a meeting with Brewers Jeff Rosenmeier and Jason Stevenson, two extremely nice chaps who brew extremely nice beer!
The Beer geeks of the world(and indeed Jeff) will tell you that the original Lovibonds brewery site was in Greenwich but according to Jeff he found some old Lovibonds bottles on the new site and a 'soon-to-be-legend' was born.
But back to the beer, today I have the Henley Gold on the bar, the Gold is a wheat beer. It comes in Kegs that are so ancient that even having been in this business on and off for nearly 18 years I had never seen them before, still, bloody interesting though. It has a golden hue that is mildly hazy, the head is white and quick thick, the body is light and nicely carbonated. The nose is mostly Banana, what you might expect from a German wheat like Franziskaner. To taste it is to find it's hidden treasure though, it's a gem of a beer, light, refreshing and in the mouth you get Banana Bread, a bitterness that loves the mouth almost as much as a fat kid loves cake!
The Lovibonds beers will be on keg for the next few days rotating between the Henley Gold, the Henley Amber, The Henley Dark and The Land of the Free IPA. I will say that the Gold on Keg has nearly finished but we do have it in bottles and the next on will be the Henley Amber.
So another wheat beer but this time a British one! Bloody good n'all.
Cheers

Beer of the day #3

Today's beer is draught, I'm blogging from a table in the bar, I should really be working or on the phone or something but hey, this beer is worth blogging about!
There have already been various blogs recently on this one from Tandleman, ATJ and Cooking Lager but we've put it on draught today for the customers to sample so I guess I should have my say too!
It's FREEDOM FOUR, it pours Pale Golden and well carbonated with a lovely soft white head to it.
On the nose there is pear and apple notes and a very subtle lager hopping that you might expect from a continental.
The taste belies the nose though, there are certainly fruity notes to this beer but the bitterness that comes through at the end makes this a very refreshing little number, this will be massive in summer if Freedom can put it in the right places, it's light, fizzy and bitter and I for one, urge you to come an try this beer at The Rake today!
As an aside, I also urge you all to throw rotten fruit at Alastair Darling if you happen to see him in the street.
Cheers.

Beer of the day #2

So, today's beer of the day is from NYC and it's Saranac Adirondack Lager. Bit of a mouthful!
This mouthful pours amber, slightly lighter than it's neighbour from Brooklyn but still darker than the average lager beer.
On the nose there are hints of peach and soap no less! The body is medium and it has a good mouth fell to it. It's my understanding that they've used Cascade and Hallertauer hops and they've certainly put them to good use, the beer itself is very well balanced, it has an almost American style pale ale quality to it which I find very refreshing and extremely drinkable. We've had it on at The Rake for a couple of months now and it finally seems to be shifting quite well.
The bitterness fades but not too quickly, I have to say this style of beer is growing on me and I can definitely recommend it.

Beer of the day.

In an effort to keep my mind working through my current Deputy Manager-less exhaustion I decided to do a beer of the day post every day this week, regardless of how tired I am.
This week it's Flying Dog Woody Creek White - a Belgian style Wit beer.
Now I haven't come across many(if any) Belgian style American ales that I have enjoyed so, here goes!
This pours almost clear blond and very carbonated. The nose has some citrus and frankly not too much else although there's maybe a hint of bubble gum at the end.
The good bit is coming now though, the taste is pretty damned good, it's pineapple, lemon and bubble gum hits your palate with a nice fizzy zing and...well, it's not hanging around for long in the mouth so another sip! There's also a bitterness at the end which refreshes you nicely!
It's no big, bold, in-your-face flashy but definitely worth your time, if you happen to find yourself at The Rake or Utobeer this week I can heartily recommend this fizzy little number as a decent palate cleanser.
Now, what's for breakfast?



Image I found on www.simplybeer.com

A Bit of Help Please

Last Saturday something happened that certain people at Borough Market have been predicting for a while now. Two people that work at the market were attacked by aggressive beggars, I cannot go into details about it but I will delve a bit deeper into the problem around Borough Market and the Bankside area.
There are factors contributing to this that make it seem worse for the people that have to make a living in or around Borough Market, or any other major tourist attraction for that matter, they are these(in no particular order)...
a. These beggars are illegal immigrants and have yet to be removed from this country.
b. The Police apparently have no powers to remove these people from the area permanently.(ASBO's only work when the person has an address)
c. Neither the Security staff on Borough Market or the Better Bankside Rangers have any powers to get involved (other than contacting the police) should they come across a crime being committed.
d. There have been cases of traders making it worse by giving these beggars food just to go away.
e. There has been a case of a tourist taking a photo of a shoplifter/beggar with a bottle of beer outside the drinks cage then GIVING them money for the photo!
f. After the three offenders being arrested, all three were out on the street the day after, how do I know? They were once again in and around the market!

These sorts of things combined make it very frustrating for those of us who have to show zero tolerance to these beggars, those of us who are protecting our customers, staff and indeed, Licenses! As DPS for The Rake, I, alone am responsible for getting rid of these beggars should they enter my premises and they are trying to do so in an increasing manner! Even with my Deputy Manager leaving on Wednesday, I cannot be there 24-7! Richard (Dinwoodie, my boss and co-owner of Utobeer) is DPS for the Utobeer stall and is therefore responsible for it's security, but his job is not based on the stall, it is run, more than capably by Ed. Are our staff capable ejecting these vagrants? Yes, should they have to? Not in my opinion.

Next, lets have a look at the 4 Licensing Objectives to which we have to adhere to not be in breach of Personal Licenses...
1) The prevention of crime and disorder.
2) Public safety
3) The prevention of public nuisance.
4) The protection of children from harm.
Now, I will never stop carrying out these objectives as long as I am a pub manager, or indeed a DPS, but shouldn't I have some protection in order to carry them out?
If I am seen to be upholding the law by carrying out these objectives shouldn't it be safe to assume these beggars are breaking the law by making me have to, if so, why has nothing been done? I mean lets break it down to the bare bones, plain parlance if you will. They steal, they beg, they harass people, they assault people. Why they hell has nothing been done until now? Have we as a nation gotten so politically correct that innocent people are not being protected by the laws that they adhere to?
The local Police, like any around the country, are over worked and understaffed and unless someone actually calls 999 the police will never get there in time and even then it's not always enough.
How long will it be before I am attacked for doing my job? Who knows? How will I react if I am attacked? Who knows?
This group of aggressive beggars know their rights though and they will be bloody hard to get rid of. I for one will keep shouting about this subject until people start listening, I will sound like a stuck record at Pubwatch meetings until something is done. One of my personal missions in life will be to make these people disappear from the area. I don't know nearly enough about the law regarding dealing with them but I intend to find out and I intend to use it in the way it was meant to be used.

Apologies for the war zone pic but it does feel like a war zone sometimes.

Thanks

This is a shout out to everybody who came to The Rakes Welsh Beer Festival this year. Every single cask is now sold out! We are now running on cask ale fumes! Holy Empty Casks Batman!
So we went through 23 of the 24 casks I ordered, one was undrinkable, it shall not be named or shamed but I will say that we are more than likely to run out of casks by the end of Saturday night. Our average cask sales at The Rake is 15 firkins a week, this week, if we sell everything we would have sold 30. Bit busy then, completely unprecedented and I hope we have your patience and understanding, we have NEVER sold this many casks in one week before.
So I'm going to say thanks, I mean it from the very bottom of my heart, thanks to Buster and Melissa for the Lovebeer events on sunday, Ysbrid Y Ddraig..legendary, thanks to Nick Otley for arranging the beers I chose to get into London, thanks to the bloggers who helped publicise it, thanks to the tickers who spread the word just by talking about it and getting excited about the event, there will be more to tick next year. Thanks to my friends and family who turned up and showed their support, thanks to the people who turned up that I have never met before, I hope you had a great time and come back, thanks to my bosses who have let me do this two years in a row, most of all I would like to thank my staff, guys, you did a great job this week and without you this couldn't happen, I really appreciate it.
Thanks.

Chaos Theory

I have a theory, it has several key factors for it to work too. Here are the factors, firstly, factor in a 15 hour shift. Secondly, factor in that 15 hour shift being a Friday. Next factor, the shift is at The Rake, one of the smallest, most cramped spaces in the country on a Friday night. Thirdly add the quality beggars you get around Borough Market who are always looking for that elusive pint that's been left lying around outside by someone needing a piss. Then sprinkle a bit of usual Friday night hilarity, oh yes, our customers are ALL hilarious, I'm constantly laughing at them.
Anyway for this theory to work you need all of those factors working in perfect harmony, this theory is Chaos Theory from Brewdog, I hate to sound like an advert but this beer was just what I needed after work today, it's going down a treat and next I may just have another big IPA.
The stats : IPA style, 7.1% abv. I won't tell you about the units because that's SO last month!
The taste : Hops, grass, there's also a deep peppery alcoholic warmth right at the back of the pallet that urges you think about the next sip.
Excuse me whilst I finish this remarkable beer and slip quietly into the weekend.

Wizards of ID

Apparently, according to this : http://idsmart.direct.gov.uk/index.html
ID Cards are available from today for people who live in the North West of England or for 16-24 year olds in our wonderfully sparkly clean capital shitty....sorry city.
Once again this is a case of a scheme being launched before it is ready. I personally as a licensee should before now, have had a load of 'bumf' come through The Rake's door about this scheme. Surely as someone who is going to ask to see ID on a regular basis I should have been informed before I watched the local news this morning?
Personal liberty issues and my personal lack of information aside, I have some other points to make.
Firstly, Why are the cards only available in these two areas? What the hell is the point of rolling out a card that the majority of the country doesn't recognise?
Secondly, what is the reasoning between people in the North West being categorised as most in need apart from 16-24 year olds in London? Are the Government in their infinite (ahem) wisdom saying that all the people in the North West of England look as young as 16-24 year olds in London? Or is their opinion is that the Mental age is about the same? Either way if I was from the North West of England I'd be a bit put out by the comparison.
A third point that I'd like to make is that you can apparently use them as a passport in the EEA(European Economic Area) and Switzerland, what's the point of that if you can't use it in other parts of the world? You may as well have a passport. Especially as, like passports, the ID cards cost £30, personally I'd rather have a passport that could take me anywhere.
The last point I'd like to make is a question - what about all those jealous people in other parts of the green and pleasant land, why can't they have one, surely they feel aggrieved that the Nanny State doesn't deem them worthy of identification?
So Big Brother, do tell, what's the point of your latest legislative inconsistency?

The Drunk Diary Round Up

Well the drunk diary is over, I'll probably do it again next year to see if there have been any changes to my drinking patterns.
So, why did I start the drunk diary? Firstly I wanted to know how many units of alcohol I was having each week. Partly because I had to change doctors recently and when they said how many units of alcohol do you have a week sir? I didn't have the first clue.

Here's how many units I've had this month.

January Total Unit Intake : 272.55
Daily Average : 8.79

That was the reason for starting this. As I went on during January and kept the diary (which is 99.9% accurate, I may have missed a half at the twissup) I became quite aware that I was worrying about my intake, even for a bar manager I drink a lot as those of you who have read the diary will have noticed(God I hope there's no doctors reading it!).

OK so the weekly average is nearly three times the recommended intake and well above what is 'considered harmful'.
Bearing that in mind, I have only been drunk or tipsy 4 times this month, and looking at the average alcoholic unit intake I am apparently 'at risk' of many health problems - this is according to the government do-gooders who make it their point to meddle in as many parts of our lives as possible(robbing us for taxes not being enough n'all).
So what am I 'at risk' of? Diabetes(type 2 being the main threat), chronic pancreatitis, liver disease and cirrhosis(although this is mainly in middle aged people, I am getting toward THAT age and these sorts of problems are occurring in younger people too nowadays).
For a while now I have been aware that I am thirsty, a lot, and tired, a lot. Now I'm not sure if these symptoms are related to diabetes but I intend to find out.
What else did I learn from doing the drunk diary? Well, in The Rake it's insanely easy to get pissed without even trying, before you know it you've had two or three drinks which can take you close to your recommended weekly alcohol unit intake, now most people will only go out and drink maybe once or twice a week but when you run a pub with so much fantastic beer on sale I have found out that it was all too easy to go over your recommended intake.
Lets deal with this first though, one, I have a choice to say yes or no to another drink and it has been my choice to have another. Secondly, most of the times this month when I have stuck around after work to have a beer, I have been quite sober when I left the bar, as are a lot of people who go into bars everywhere.
What else? lemme see... I have learnt, certainly in the last week, that you can have a 'hop overload' yes I know, it's out there, I said it, I can't take it back but there it is, I had it yesterday. It's depressing, I love hops so when I don't feel like drinking a hoppy beer it makes me sad.
I need to take more days off, not work wise, I love my job and I frequently work from home but I do need days off the sauce. I know quite a few people who have taken a month off drinking for whatever reason, they might want to prove to themselves that they can do it, they might want to detox after Christmas. I think if I start by taking one day off the booze a week then it's a step in the right direction. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to give up drinking, I enjoy it too much, I'll probably cut down a bit now I know how much I drink. I have also felt recently that my life has revolved around booze far too much, there IS more to life than beer and drinking. For example in the last month, I have celebrated the birthdays of three people I know, heard about the birth of a baby of a friend, paid the rent, watched the news, rediscovered the sitcom M*A*S*H, thought about what I'm going to get my niece for her 16th birthday and continued with wedding preparations for May. It's not all beer, sometimes though it's good to have a beery time, on the 23rd January I attended the '#twissup' a meet up of beer bloggers and tweeters from all over the country. We went to Sheffield, have lots of beer to drink, visited three brewery's in one day, I made some new friends and we all had a very social, very nice time. Yes at the time I had way more than the recommended daily intake but it was a one-off. I had a mild hangover on the way home, one of only two this month and that really only proves nothing other than I know how to stave off a headache but still beer, pubs and bars are not the enemy of the state even if some neo-prohibitionist halfwits think they are. Pubs and beer are social things, society's problems around alcohol are not actively coming straight from the pub and I would challenge anyone to prove me wrong with actual facts and figures.
As someone who drinks nearly three times what he should a week I am qualified to tell you that beer and pubs do not make people go out and fight, if people want to fight they'll do it whether or not they've had a beer.
Pubs and bars do not cause alcoholism(although they should sometimes look at who they're serving, how much and at what price).
Beer and pubs do not cause under age drinking, if kids want to go out and get hammered they will find a way, most of the time (certainly in London) it's too expensive for them to go to the pub of an evening and get shit-faced, plus their little taste buds aren't developed enough to enjoy the beer(bless em!). Usually they will start drinking at home under the total indifference of their parents who are usually setting the example. But even the best parents will know that if a teenager wants to get pissed they'll find a way (not that I'm a parent).
I'm not deluded enough to think that this blog will make any sort of dent on the half-wit neo-pros out there but I wanted to write it none-the-less.
The really worrying thing about this is that I now feel like I want a pint of something cold and hoppy, am I bad?
I hope that you didn't get too bored of the Drunk Diary, I'd quite like your opinions if you feel like giving them.
Here's to Beer! Here's to Pubs! Here's to a great 2010!

A Drunk Diary, Episode Thirty-One

10am : Last day of the diary today, will it be a biggun, well I guess we'll find out. So why did I do all this? Find out tomorrow.
3.55pm No beers yet and Andy Murray lost this morning so we won't be doing any celebratory scottish beer offers at The Rake. Going to watch the footie now.

4.30pm : first beer of the day.

Drink : Cristoffel Bier
abv : 6%
units : 1.98

8.20pm : Thinking about opening Williams Brothers Midnight Sun, need some water first though, very thirsty.

Drink : Williams Brothers Midnight Sun
abv : 5.6%
Units : 2.8

Total daily units : 4.78

That'll do it for the month, examination to come.

A Drunk Diary, Episode Thirty

Some stonking beers on at The Rake today, couldn't resist!

Drink : Bear Republic Racer X half pint x 2
abv : 9%
Units : 5.1

Drink : Bear Republic Racer X 3rd of a pint x 2
abv : 9%
Units : 3.4

Drink : Youngs Bitter half pint
abv : 3.8%
Units : 1.07

Drink : Goose Island IPA
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.09

Total units today : 11.66 ooops...again ;)

Last day of the Drunks Diary tomorrow, may raise a beer to Andy Murray if he wins the Aussie Open. I'm sure that if I watch it he'll lose but watching a Brit in a slam final has to be done since it happens so bloody rarely.