When will it end?? Usually by the middle of October I tend to look back at the year and reflect on how things have gone and look ahead excitedly to what the soon to be New Year promises to bring. As most adults I would be telling myself and anyone in listening distance that the year has ‘gone by so quickly’. Not this year. 2020 has crawled along. A year like no other. A year that I will be glad to see the back of.
Apart from my usual New Year’s Day hangover, the year started out with a lot to look forward to. AleHunters was receiving bookings for our Belgian tours and London’s craft beer and pub bookings were looking strong. UK Brewery Tours were booked solid across every weekend. Beer tastings with our partners Brewery Market had been scheduled and in the diary. Judging invites from beer competitions in the UK and Europe were also stacking up. Boom! Bring it on!! Then everything stopped in March with SIBA’s National Independent Beer Awards being my last judging gig.
Tours went onto hiatus. The UK then went into lockdown and pubs and taprooms closed. Work ended. BUT, being a half glass full type of guy and with the help of the glorious weather my focus turned inwards and projects that hadn’t previously reached the planning stage suddeny burst into life. The garden received a makeover, flowers, vegetables and fruit were planted (I take no credit for this, all my wife’s handiwork). Long-neglected decorating and handyman needs were taken care of. I even started a plan to get fit, either cycling or power-walking every day. And the weather was still glorious. And then I was notified that the London Beer Competition was to be judged remotely, my first involvement back in the world of beer for a couple of months! Beers were delivered to the house and through the course of a day 58 beers were sampled and graded. Thankfully thirsty friends and neighbours were on hand to mop up the leftovers! Things weren’t so bad.
Life continued. Volunteering to deliver food to the vulnerable became an almost daily task and one that was rewarding. All those books sitting in the bedroom were being picked up and read. And in preparation for our Belgian tours re-commencing I started to learn Dutch, not an easy task I must add but I have progressed past ‘I think you are a sheep’. And then my local beer group held a bottle share and we all got our heads around Zoom. Happy days indeed.
The success of our bottle shares inspired a series of online beer tastings with our friends at Brewery Market. Both public tastings and private group bookings have kept us pretty busy over the past three and a half months. And we have another one scheduled for next week. A series of beers sets including UK craft beer, US coastal IPAs, new European craft breweries and Belgian styles went down a storm. And then in September I was honoured to open and close the first virtual Great British Beer Festival, hosting a festival tasting set and a set of Golden Ales. Marvellous!
And the beer judging carried on. And on. World Beer Awards heats took place remotely but also in virtual ‘tables’ at home. Followed quickly by another SIBA Digital Beer Award judging competition. Next was the WBA final rounds of judging in August and then September saw the International Beer Challenge take place over two weeks. All virtual, at home and expertly organised. Honestly, these events were faultless and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of them remain virtual. I guess what was missed, apart from the endless banter were the post-judging sessions in the pub. Almost always cask!
So apart from one private in-person beer tasting event in the middle of September, we have hosted everything online since March. Next month is European Beer Challenge – will it be in person or online? And this week we launched our group beer tasting concept. Groups can choose from three beer sets: a Curious Craft UK Beer Tasting; Belgian-Style Beer Explorer; and a lovingly curated Seasonal Beer Experience. All delivered to your home and hosted online.
Click on the link below to see more about what we’re up to.
So if I was to consider if there have been any positives the be taken from this interminable year – apart from our glut of home-grown courgettes and tomatoes of course – it would be technology enabling the hosting of online beer events, judging at beer competitions and catching up with mates over a beer. Even if this feels like sifting through the crumbs of crap to be honest…
Beer Sommelier Kew 