The Beer Bucket List - from a personal perspective

It's strange how people sometimes come into one’s life then, as quick as they appear, they vanish. When you're approaching the 70th anniversary of your arrival on planet Earth, all sorts of people have crossed your path, often going back many decades. Apart from family members, these people include those who we went to school with - infant, primary, and secondary school, and then, for those fortunate to have attended university, people from your student days.

Following on, and into the world of employment, in whatever category, there are work colleagues who become a part of one’s life, for various periods of time. If, like me, you've worked in a variety of industries, and for several different employers, sometimes in different parts of the country, then there are more people whose career paths cross with yours.

The example I'm about to give, isn't someone who was part of my life for any significant period of time, and it isn't someone I claim to know well either, but the other day his name flashed up on a well-known beer blog (Boak & Bailey), along with a link, that provided a fascinating insight into how this individual started off with a beer related blog of his own, before branching into the world of writing, publishing and PR- the latter with at least one well known and well respected international brewery. With this in mind, it's worth taking a brief look back not just at what this former blogger's achieved, but how one of his later books ended up give me something to reference my own their experiences against, and this latter point is really the main subject of this particular post.

I started Paul’s Beer & Travel blog, in the autumn of 2008, joining a number of individuals whose names and reputations were far more illustrious than my own, and some of whom are still writing about beer today. Most though why they got bored with the subject, branched out into different areas of interest, made a definite career out of beer writing, or sadly in a number of cases, have shuffled off this mortal coil. Just over a year later, in December 2009, I had an enforced day off work it's due to heavy snowfall, I was unable the drive into the factory. In addition, there were no trains running either (no surprises there), so feeling at a loose end, I decided take a wander down into Tonbridge.

The following narrative, from my post of 18^th December tells the story, and provides the link to this article, some 14 years on. The snow clouds had cleared leaving a beautiful bright and crisp sunny morning. so off I went with no clear-cut plan, apart from picking up some Czech currency for my forthcoming trip to Prague. This accomplished, I made my way to Tonbridge's only independent book shop, MR Books, for a chat with the then owner Mark Richardson, and also to see if I could pick up a copy of Jaroslav Hasek's, satirical classic, The Good Soldier Svejk, ahead of my forthcoming visit to Prague.

"You're not the first beer blogger in today", Mark informed me. "Oh", I replied, "who was the other?" The "Pencil & Spoon" blogger, I was told, and he said he wants to meet you. "Mark Dredge" I said, slightly surprised, "in here? "Why not," said MR Books' proprietor, "he only lives across the road in one of the new flats". I responded that I would like to meet Mark, so following a quick phone, call the winner of the British Guild of Beer Writers New Media Writer of the Year 2009 duly appeared in MR Book’s shop.

I hadn't realised that Mark lived in Tonbridge, but it turned out that him and his girlfriend had recently moved into one of the newly-built flats that occupy the old market site, opposite MR Books shop. Mark couldn't stay long, as he was in the middle of preparing dinner, but we had a pleasant chat, nonetheless. We both griped about the lack of a decent boozer in Tonbridge, and certainly the lack of anywhere selling the darker ales which ought to be about this time of year. MR Books suggested that I open a pub but having run the Cask & Glass off-licence for five and a half years, I'd had more than enough of the licensed trade!
 

We parted company, promising to meet up soon for a drink, but as is often the way with such well-meaning intentions we never did. Continued following Mark’s Pencil and Spoon blog, even though he seemed to be branching off it in a slightly different direction, and it was to be a further five years for our paths crossed again. In the summer of 2014, I attended my first European Beer Bloggers Conference. Held in Dublin, this was one of three such events held in various European capitals I enjoyed, during the latter half of that decade, and was, as fellow beer Blogger, Tandleman, forewarned me, a very boozy affair. Tandleman was right of course, and to say that the beer flowed freely would be an understatement, and what’s more it was included in the price of the conference package.

Not included though, was accommodation, or the cost of travel to and from the host city. However, some pretty decent food, plus a substantial end of conference meal, was part and parcel of the deal, so who stumped up the cash for the food and the beer? The answer of course, is the sponsors, and given the location of the conference, it’s no surprise that Guinness were one of the main backers of the event. Also high amongst the main sponsors were Czech brewers, Pilsner Urquell, who had brought over their own mobile bar, complete with integral cooling unit, plus glass rinser. It was then that I bumped into Mark Dredge again, who by this time was working for Pilsner Urquell, as part of their PR team.

Three years later, and Mark and I crossed paths again, not in a physical sense, but following an approach from the publishers of his latest book. Titled The Beer Bucket List,” was described by publishers Dog ‘n’ Bone, as a “Collection of over 150 unmissable beer experiences, featuring the world’s greatest beer, bar, breweries and events: it’s the ultimate bucket list for every beer lover.”

Asked if I would like to review what turned out to be Mark’s 5^th book, I of course said yes, and after my complimentary review copy arrived, I soon got stuck into it. You can read what I wrote here, but for the point of this article, I want to list those unmissable beer experiences of Mark’s that I have enjoyed myself. So, without further ado here they are, in no particular order.

• Tour Fuller’s Griffin Brewery
• Best of British Cask Ales (too many to mention)
• Modern (Pale & Hoppy) Cask Ales
• Drink in some Wetherspoons Pubs
• Best of London’s Historic Pubs
• Bermondsey Beer Mile
• Blue Anchor - Helston
• Kent Green Hop Fortnight
• Thanet’s Micro-Pubs
• Visit Burton-on-Trent
• Marston’s Burton Union system
• Sunday roast with a pint of Cask Ale
• Pint of Marble at Marble Arch Inn
• Great British Beer Festival
• Edinburgh pub-crawl
• Drink Guinness in Ireland
• Porterhouse Brew-pub, Dublin
• Oktoberfest Munich
• Augustiner Hell vom Faβ, Munich
• Hofbräuhaus, Munich
• Annafest, Forchheim
• Schlenkerla Tavern, Bamberg
• Weihenstephan – world’s oldest brewery
• Altbier in Düsseldorf
• Kölsch in Cologne
• Drink Baltic Porter in Poland
• Drink Pilsner Urquell in Plzen
• Drink Polotmavý in Czechia
• U Fleků, Prague
• Drink Westvleteren 12° at In de Vrede café, next to the brewery
• Three Classic Belgian Breweries – Rodenbach, Brasserie Du Pont, Westmalle Tripel
• Three Essential Belgian Bars - Moeder Lambic, 't Brugs Beertje, De Halve Maan
• Amsterdam Braun Café, De Wildeman
• Carlsberg Brewery, Copenhagen
• Experience a Hop Harvest
• Visit China – the world’s largest beer market

Writing about the book on his blog, Mark says he was inspired by thinking about where in the world he'd most like to drink a beer. And then by thinking about where he'd suggest others go to drink. The list included the places that any beer lover really should go, plus all those many oddities and idiosyncrasies that make beer – and travelling for beer – so great.

So, with just 36, out of a total of 150 experiences ticked off, there are many more places to go, and beers to drink, but don’t forget, Mark’s list is just one person’s take on the beer world, and others, including me will have their own ideas as to what constitutes an unmissable beer experience. Please let me know what you think.