A few rambling, and rather random thoughts

My most recent post was a look back over the past 15 years and detailed how I first got into writing about beer, and then hosting my own blog. Like many of the paths we embark on, as we journey through life, the road we are on can be difficult, fraught, and full of difficult choices. A lot can change in a decade and a half, obviously including people themselves, the places where they live and sometimes even the state of the nation itself.

Events such as the 2016 advisory referendum on EU membership can seem like purely random occurrences, but like much else in life they can have an adverse effect that is felt for much longer after the event has occurred. I don't want to dwell on the obviously negative changes that have occurred since an opportunist Prime Minister held that ill-advised Referendum which adversely affected United Kingdom’s standing and place in the world. It’s difficult to comprehend the effect that a simple binary choice on the ballot paper, between “Leave” or “Remain” could have on a country’s future.

It’s even more galling when you take into account the complexities associated with the UK’s trading relationship with its nearest neighbours and the world’s largest trading block. But with apathy and complacency from the Remain side, and a combination of half-truths and outright lies from the Leave campaign, it’s small wonder we’re in an almighty mess, and considerably poorer as a nation as well.

One constant that doesn't change is the fact that life itself involves change, and whilst sometimes this can be for the best, the converse also applies. Major changes whilst disruptive, are also rarer than we might think, although when they do occur the currents of certainty underlying our lives, and which keep us on the straight and narrow are swept away by a tide of misplaced euphoria, mixed emotions, or even the optimism associated with the arrival of a new false dawn. 

Of course, the events of 2016 pale into insignificance when compared with Vladimir Putin's insane and totally illegal, invasion of Ukraine. Words fail me when describing the actions of this madman, and the suffering he has caused to a peaceful and prosperous  neighbouring country, put him on the same level of wickedness as Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin. It really does seem, at times, that the world has taken leave of its senses, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

There are various patterns underlying human existence, and I am reminded of this when looking back at some of the posts I have written, since first starting Paul’s Beer Travels back in 2008. It's no exaggeration to say that you can see such patterns emerging as you journey through life, and it's not unusual for them to follow the changing of the seasons and all that that involves. After all, despite the thin veneer that masks our civilisation, deep down we’re all influenced to a lesser or greater degree by the passing of the seasons – something about our agrarian roots?

This seems especially true with a groups such as the Campaign for Real Ale, and whilst this isn't quite as pronounced now that CAMRA and I have parted company, I can still see the same pattern and the affect that it has, lurking in the background, when I look at my friends and acquaintances who are still members of that organisation. For CAMRA much of the campaigning year revolves around its flagship publication, the Good Beer Guide, and follows a well-established routine.

Those who have been active members of CAMRA will be well aware of the surveying, inspecting, selecting and the submitting entries, for the following year's guide, and those stalwarts who put themselves forward for the all-important task of inputting the details onto the CAMRA database, will be all too familiar with the time-consuming and tedious nature associated with this. It’s my view that CAMRA HQ takes the efforts of these unsung volunteers for granted, even though they are saving the campaign a fortune in wages.

Fortunately, this issue isn’t my problem, although I do remember having to
complete those tedious, data-entry forms by hand – the ones where each letter had to be upper case and entered into its own little box. Woe-betide should a particular word at the end of a line be one letter too long, the hapless individual would have to put a line through the “rogue” word, and start again, on a new line. This pattern repeated, year after year, and it’s something I not only became extremely bored with, it’s something I never want to be involved in again.

To liven things up there are campaigning events such as beer festival's, brewery visits, interspersed with activities, such as regular social activities. Many might argue the latter are just an excuse for a drink, but there’s nothing wrong with that of course, and from time to time I still show my face at the odd branch social. One former branch chairman, when asked if he could assist at a beer festival, uttered the immortal words, “I’ve done my bit,” but then faced further criticism for speaking the truth. There comes a point, in any voluntary organisation when one realises that enough is enough, and it's time to step down, even when others don't always  recognise this.

I ended up serving my local CAMRA branch far longer than the aforementioned individual who, to be fair, stepped down for personal reasons, rather than boredom, and if truth be known, I probably stayed a member of CAMRA too, far longer than I ought. This may have been due to misplaced loyalty, but eventually my increasing disillusionment with the campaign, was strong enough for me to tender my resignation.

Returning to the blog for a moment, it's sometimes been hard finding material to write about. There have been highs and sometimes lows as well, but one certainty remains, and that is the pattern I referred to is still there. This means there will always be stuff along the lines of "what we did on our holidays," places and countries visited, beers drunk, breweries ticked off, and great pubs and bars in which to enjoy them.  There’s also the seasonal stuff like the welcome appearance of old ales, porter and even Christmas special brews, along with the celebrations associated with the festive season.

If you’ve managed to stay the course, so far, you’re probably wondering what on earth is he rambling on about, and why all the pseudo-philosophical stuff? The answer is I don’t really know, it just all came out, but if these thoughts weren't quite what you were expecting, thank you for your forbearance, and rest assured normal service will be resumed next time around.

 

 

 

15 years of writing about beer - a potted history of Paul's Beer & Travel Blog

I've been writing this beer blog for the best part of 15 years, with the first post appearing on the 23rd of November 2008. Apart from a lull during 2011 when, due to illness not much appeared online, I've managed to keep up a steady output, and for the past decade or so I've striven, and mainly succeeded to write a minimum of 10 posts per month.

I was tempted to take the plunge and start my own blog, by an excellent fellow
called Paul Garrard, who at the time lived in Norwich. Paul produced an excellent blog, titled the RealAleBlog, as well as a couple of other blogs, including one which reflected his general outlook on life, and his slightly left-leaning politics. Paul had a similar background to my own, even to the extent of running his own beer shop. I'm not quite sure when this business ceased trading, and despite talking to him about his shop, I’m not sure what his reasons were for winding it up.

I met up with him, in 2009, for a few pints of Goacher’s, at the unspoiled Rifle Volunteers pub in Maidstone – a town which Paul and his wife were visiting at the time. We enjoyed a good session on the Goacher’s, and you can read about it here. Paul encouraged other writers, or in my case aspiring bloggers, to write a guest post on his blog, and I can remember writing at least one such piece. From memory, my post was generally well receive and this encouraged me to take the plunge and start my own blog, using Google’s Blogger as the platform to host it.

Looking back, my initial choice of Paul Bailey’s Beer Blog for the title wasn't very imaginative, especially as there are some far wittier, and less personal titles floating around, than my own. I'm stuck with the name now, and despite my early reservations, the name I chose has, generally speaking, served me well over the years. I took a look back at those early years, and it seems that the last entry on Paul’s RealAleBlog was made in 2014. As with the beer shop, I'm not quite sure what happened, whether Paul just lost interest, or whether something more profound took place, but the beauty of Blogger, as opposed to self-hosted blogs and websites, is that the information is still out there. So today, 9 years on from the last entry, the pages of Paul’s RealAleBlog are there, and with a little bit of searching, they can still be accessed.

What people may not know is I have been writing about beer and pubs for much longer than the past 15 years, although strangely enough it was a complete accident as to how and why I became a writer in the first place. I described the reasons here, in this post written in November 2016, so I won’t repeat them again, but for several years, back in the mid-1980’s, I was editor, and chief copy-writer of Draught Copy – the newsletter of the Maidstone & Mid-Kent Branch of CAMRA.

Draught Copy is still going strong today, but instead of a couple of folded A3 sheets, it has evolved into an enlarged and much more professional looking branch magazine, which is published on a quarterly basis, and distributed free to local pubs and clubs.  As well as covering the Maidstone & Mid-Kent branch area, Draught Copy now takes in pubs served by the Gravesend & Darent Valley, Bexley, Medway, and West Kent branches of CAMRA, as well.

In 1985, for business and personal reasons, I moved to Tonbridge, some 15 miles from Maidstone, but in a different CAMRA branch area. After a few months, I was approached by the CAMRA area organiser for Kent, and asked to help resurrect what was then the Tunbridge Wells branch of CAMRA. The branch had become moribund, but with the able assistance of three other CAMRA enthusiasts, all of whom lived in Tonbridge, we were able to get the branch going again, hold regular meetings, and start surveying pubs once again for the Good Beer Guide.

Several years later, the revived branch which by this time was known as West Kent CAMRA, started its own branch magazine, called Inn View, and once again, your truly was editor, chief copy writer and this time around advertising manager as well. Although I was never much of a salesman, I can still remember hawking Inn View around local pubs, plus the odd brewery as well, trying to sell advertising space in order to finance the magazine.

This wasn’t quite as hard as it sounds, because quite a few pubs, especially those that made a thing of offering a good selection of cask ales, were only too happy to splash out for a half, or sometimes even a full page. Some were even business minded enough to supply their own camera-ready artwork.

In 1991, I stepped down from my role as magazine editor, and also from the branch committee, as with the birth of our son, I’d acquired the responsibility of being a full-time parent. I didn’t stop writing though, as for many years I wrote articles relating to beer and pubs, with the plan of eventually publishing my own book. With the working title of “Memories of a Beer Drinking Man,” my magnum opus was going to be a semi-autobiographical look back at a quarter of a century of enjoying pubs and beer.

Before I became a father, I also dipped my toes into the world of self-publishing, with a book called “Country Pubs of the Kent Weald.” The book described 50 unspoilt, rural pubs, scattered across the Weald of Kent, all selling cask ale of course, and most of them with a history dating back several centuries. The book was illustrated, either with photos I took myself, or with line drawings sketched out by a local artist.

The book was printed by a neighbour, who had his own small printing works. He was the same individual who printed Inn View on behalf of West Kent CAMRA. Copies were supplied, on a sale or return basis, to all featured pubs that wished to take them. I can’t remember the size of the print run, but we sold virtually all the copies. Starting a family, and later running our own specialist beer shop, largely put paid to my writing activities, and it wasn’t until we sold the business, and I moved back to a career in healthcare products, that I began to write again. Writing articles and hosting them on my own blog seemed the logical way to go, and 15 years on, I am still doing it!

Footnote: I tried, unsuccessfully as it happens, to find any images for either "Inn View", or its successor "Inn View News,"  the latter being the title of the resurrected magazine, which appeared for several editions, following my departure. I probably have the odd copy, laying around somewhere at home, but none have surfaced so far. The copy of WK CAMRA's former webpage, will have to suffice in their absence.

I do remember someone bringing a few old copies along to a West Kent CAMRA social, about five years ago, and the branch secretary asking to borrow them. I shall have to chase up on that, as it would be nice to have a small reminder of my efforts. 

 

A rare mid-week, evening out

Just a quick post, but an overdue one as well. Being "semi-retired" was supposed to mean taking things easy, but the expansion project at work I got roped in to helping with developed a life of its own, and whilst not strictly Health & Safety related, there have been contractors to deal with, safe working practices, permits to be issued etc. The good news is the project is nearing completion, and once I’ve managed to get the fire and intruder alarm systems bundled together, and handled by just one service provider I shall not only breathe a sigh of relief, but I can cut back on my involvement and concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing.

Since returning from our all too brief visit to Yorkshire, I’ve also been pre-occupied with finally sorting out our summerhouse, garden shed, and the garden itself, and last weekend I had one of those moments where everything seemed to come together. This afforded the rare opportunity (for me), of an evening out, with friends and acquaintances from West Kent CAMRA, even though I arrived rather late to the party.

A son, who had a late finish at work last night, meant an equally late evening meal, so whilst the CAMRA crowd were engaged on a three-pub walkabout in Tonbridge, I only manged to catch up with them at the final watering hole. Mind you Fuggles was a good place for me to both start and finish on, and when I did catch up with my friends, I discovered there was a good crowd, plus an excellent atmosphere in the Forester’s, but the beer (Shep’s), was nowhere near as good.

The Chequers had Harvey’s Best, plus St Austell Tribute on, and the report from the CAMRA party was the Harvey’s was in fine form. Ye Olde Chequers, to give the pub its proper name, is one of the oldest buildings in Tonbridge, and one of the most attractive as well, but in my view at least, it never quite delivers in terms of that full pub experience. This might have something to do with it being a Courage house, when I first moved to the town, but it’s probably more to do with a succession of managers playing it safe, by opting for a safe,“middle of the road” approach.

I don’t mean that disparagingly, although it might sound like it, but what I do mean is that this historic and attractive building really is crying out for its spot on the tourist trail. It does seem as though no licensee to date has managed to exploit the true potential of this picturesque old pub. All is not lost, as walking past the Chequers earlier today, I noticed the pub’s menu, displayed outside, and it did show a real determined effort was being made, to go after the lunchtime trade.

 And so, to Fuggles, my second visit in three days, as I called in for a quick one last Sunday afternoon, following a visit to the opticians. The CAMRA crowd were only a few minutes ahead of me, and were standing at the bar, perusing the pump clips and chalk board whilst deciding what to drink. It was a no-brainer, as far as I was concerned, as Lagonda, a 5.0% pale ale from Manchester brewers, Marble Beers was the beer with the most appeal. My second beer of the evening was Best Bitter from Brighton-based, UnBarred Brewery. This was much more traditional in style, than the first beer, and if I’m honest, much more middle of the road.

Fuggles was quite busy when we first arrived, but people were sloping off gradually, and by the time last orders were called, there was just ourselves plus a couple sitting nearby, left. So, a quick snapshot of the mid-week pub trade, in a provincial English town, that just happens to be the one I have lived in for the past 40 years.