First Post

I've been enjoying exploring craft beer for the past couple of years and have decided that it might be worth while keeping a blog. Currently the only record of all the great beers I've had is either pintley, the odd mobile phone pic from the pub or the recycling box out the back of the house.

I have never been that interested in doing the types of reviews on beer advocate or rate beer as they seem too stale, formulaic, bit pretentious and frankly dull. I'm sure these reviews have their place but cant see myself doing similar.

So I thought a good way to start the blog with my first post would be how show how I came to discover and love craft beer and the beers that took me here. Everything from the good the bad and the ugly.

So I might as well start at the start.

Like most Scottish people the first beers I drank were as a teenager - bottles of Miller or Bud at house parties back in the day and then onto pints of watered down Tennents for a quid when I went to uni when spending a tenner was an expensive night out!

I became good mates with a guy from Essex – Pete - who was the standard bearer for real ale in our flat and probably one of the few students that would rather a 'nice pint' of Spitfire over the more standard student fare of Snakebite or Sambuca. To be honest at the time I never really got it and thought of real ale to be the preserve of middle aged men in country pubs. I knew what I liked and it was cheap so I was sticking to it - much to Pete's frustration.

Over the next few years thanks to cheap flights I discovered my love of travel and saw beer in a totally new light. The 20p pints of pre EU Prague opened my eyes to the fact beer can and should taste good, the steins of beer and Austrian food in Klagenfurt showed me that there can be more to the experience than skulling pints and that all across Europe people are able to appreciate and enjoy a beer or two without the negative connotations and problems it has/causes here.

I gradually became more adventurous and remember thinking I was quite
sophisticated with a 4 pack of Brahma and home made curry.

I stuck with my Brahma's and similar kind of beers until I went on a trip with friends to Orkney and discovered Sinclair's Orkney ales. They were everywhere and we took a when in Rome attitude and enjoyed them every night. In the pubs we went to folk of all ages were drinking and enjoying them and there was no stuffiness or pretence about it.

I remember our conversation about Skull Splitter and our thinking that a 8% beer was crazy. We weren't brave enough to try it and I still never have despite now having no qualms or preconceptions about any abv of beer. The Orkney beer opened my eyes a bit to the fact that ale can be great and you didn't need a beard, home made jumper and sandals to enjoy it.

Over the next few years I tried everything and anything from Scottish brewers not really realising there was a world of beer that wasn't ale or wasn't 'euro fizz'...as Pete used to call the likes of Peroni.

Then I went to America...



If you'd have asked me a few years ago what American beer was I'd have said Bud and Coors light and that sort of thing, not that great, not that bad and nothing to write home about.

I fully expected the beers on offer to be exactly the same. Visiting family in Manchester, New Hampshire I soon discovered Shaskeen's Irish pub. Not the kind of Irish bar you find in most of the world with Sky sports, British stag parties and Guinness top hats. This place was the real thing with a great selection of beer and pub grub. I tried fair few beers over the course of my stay and remember Harpoon IPA in particular.

On a visit to Boston I went to check out Sam Adams brewery. The tour and tasting was fantastic. This more than anything kick started my love of craft beer. Though I know now Sam Adams is a lot lot bigger than the wee tour of a tiny brewery tucked away in a Boston neighbourhood makes out. Not that size dictates quality but I'm sure its open to (endless) debate that it is or isn't
craft beer. But who could argue with their slogan "take pride in your beer".

Semantics aside it was good old Sam that got me to appreciate beer, to taste it and really enjoy it. A Few months later once I was back in Scotland I saw Sam Adams lager in a Peckhams in Aberdeen - back when they had a decent selection of beer. A deli that now sells multipacks of Tennents is a bit of a joke and it's no surprise there's reports of them struggling - but that's another blog post.

I soon discovered Brooklyn, Goose Island, Sierra Nevada and all that sort of great American beer. I also finally understood what our own Brewdog were doing with the likes of 5am saint and Hardcore IPA. It was only after getting in to US beer that I started enjoying their beer.

I had a good year of trying any us craft beer I could find and then found myself back in the states for the 2^nd year running, this time armed with a bit more knowledge and interest in beer. I was able to try so much both in the East Coast and Northern California, even managed a wee inland detour from the coast to check out Sierra Nevada's brewery in Chico.

I loved in California that if you asked about beer in a restaurant the waitress/waiter would be knowledgeable and passionate about what you should try and what goes with your food. Which is
something I will return to in another post at some point.

Since my last trip to the States brewdog have launched their bars and they are now always part of my plan when venturing to Aberdeen, Glasgow or Edinburgh. Their bars and great passionate staff have given me the chance to discover some absolutely fantastic beers from the likes of Stone, Nøgne Ø , 3 Flyods and The Kernel.

Another thing that has happened is the big retailers like Tesco have upped their game with their beer range so Brooklyn Lager and Goose Island IPA are now staples of my beer shelf.

I also have sussed out the best independent shops to find great beer from Banchory to Glasgow which means the beer cubboard its always pretty healthy. With the added festive bonus of countless bottles of beer from people for Christmas/new year. So there's plenty of stuff to potentially blog about - The Rogue Yellow Snow IPA I had last night was great.

In the past few months I've started doing a bit of home brewing which
is really a great insight into what makes a great (or bad) beer and definitely
something that I'll blog about along the way.

So that has been my beer adventure to date and that wraps up my first blog post.

Time for a beer...

Cheers!