Start with something light

Well here it is. The first post. Like a good session, I don't want to start too heavy. No point going straight in with the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot or a Brew Dog Tactical Nuclear Penguin, when a half of the local 4.8% pale ale will do just nicely.
If you found that opening remark even the least bit interesting, thanks for reading. If it just looks like a collection of words scattered across the page and doesn't really seem to add up, you're in the wrong place. Go into that "old man's pub" you always avoid, then come back and join the fun!

So let me explain the reason for this blog. It's my hobby really, I love craft beer, real ale, proper stuff, you know.  Didn't always- used to hate the stuff. There was a time when I couldn't even knock back a Carlsberg without feeling nauseous. Some would say that's down to the shoddy ingredients...but I digress. Most of the credit for what is quickly becoming a nerdy, obsessive drive to find the hoppiest, tastiest, most obscure brew on either side of the Atlantic goes to 2 places. A small pub in Salford, Greater Manchester called the New Oxford...and in San Francisco, USA. Firstly, the New Oxford. My Dad and his mates are real, old school CAMRA members. For those Stateside who may not be aware- it's the Campaign For Real Ale.
Going there, and to CAMRA festivals etc with them was basically my first introduction to the murky stuff in casks. Whilst I enjoyed the difference, the local names (Boggart Brewery being a particular local favourite) and the variety, it was rather alien from the carbonated water in the chain pubs I'd go to with mates. Not a bad thing, I know- but different. What I almost wanted on my young palette then, was something cold... "keg worthy", I guess...but still crafted, hand brewed and tasty...less of the traditional "warm beer", so derided by our American cousins.
Then of course, I discovered it. On several trips to San Francisco- suddenly names like Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn, Goose Island, Sam Adams...all taking the 200 year old tradition of OUR (nay, MY as I came to think of it), English IPA. And here, and on several trips to the Brooklyn Brewery in New York, were the Americans beating us at our own game. Of course, things have now come full circle, with the like of Brew Dog and Thornbridge and others, trying to out-hop the Yanks. And long may it continue to grow. So why the need for a new blog and website about all this?
Well, like it or not- and make fun if you like, but one fantastic thing about craft beer/real ale now, is that it's not just for the middle aged CAMRA crowd. Head to our city centres in the UK any night of the week- Euston Tap in London, Port Street Beer House in Manchester, Island Bar in Birmingham...and so many more, and it's not "old boys drinking real ale". It's you and me on iPhones taking photos of the latest keg of Sierra Nevada Harvester and sharing (showing off!) online. It's communities of shared interest, delighting in beer, but also music and fashion. Hipster boys in check shirts supping porter, and indie Sindys in American Apparel leggings and ballet pumps drinking halves of barleywine. Hipster's a derogatory term to some, but it makes a good name for a blog- and anyway, I'm proud to be a self important craft beer snob. Let's reclaim it.
Expect blogs about my discoveries, interviews with those who brew, those who sell and those who quaff. There'll be a good quality podcast before too long (and not at 28kbps recorded on skype either!), and maybe even the odd event.
Keep checking back, and let me know what you're drinking.
The Brewmaster.