Return of the Fest

 

This week, I did something very interesting. It was something I haven't been able to do for the last 2 and a bit years, thanks so a certain Pandemic that changed quite a lot of things. The last time I did this was in 2019, and I did not envision that it would be my last for a while. 

Come to think of it, 2019 upon reflection feels a lot like the opening chapters of HG Well's classic novel The War of The Worlds, where The Narrator describes what life was like before the Martians arrived:-

"It seems to me now almost incredibly wonderful that, with that swift fate hanging over us, men could go about their petty concerns as they did." (Chapter 1, The Eve of The War)

We didn't get invaded by Martians, but we might as well have been for what was to occur. In a few short months COVID-19 went from being some obscure outbreak in China to a Global event, and in a switch to the War of The Worlds analogy it was humanity getting it's butt kicked by a virus. 

In 2022 we all know how things went. Lockdowns, Masks, Social Distancing and in my case, actually getting infected and having to quarantine. But one thing it did make us all realise is some of the stuff we could do freely beforehand that we had taken for granted. 

 All that social stuff us humans did was taken from us in some way, and for me that something was the yearly CAMRA Beer Festival. It had become something of a tradition for me to attend, partially as a representative of my pub, and partially as an excuse to drink a lot of beer with friends. It was a yearly event, one I looked forward to, but for the last few years, with restrictions, they were rapidly becoming a fond memory.

 Enter 2022 and the Beer Festival was back. Slightly different as COVID has'nt completely been ruled out as a threat in the UK. But it was about 90% how it used to be and let me tell you, it felt good. It felt good to get a list of beers as long as my arm to chose from, to pass it to my friend and say things along the line of "cor, try that!" and have discussions about some interesting drinks with people like me who were into beer. 

Beer Nerdery is like many fandoms, but we call our coventions "festivals" instead. In a room with over 100 beers available as well as a selection of about 25 ciders you'd think the place would be full of drunkards and louts. The first part, yeah, by the end of the night there were a lot of wobbly people. But the thing that I love about beer festivals is that generally people are only there to get drunk by accident. We're mostly there to try as many different beers from as many breweries as we can to find our new favourite brew.

I must confess, when we left we were all very wobbly, but we had had a great night discussing the beers we liked, the ones we hated, the ones that were weird, good and bad. You get talking to the people around you and because beer is a social lubricant, and because we're there for all the same reason, you can talk about it with no judgement and get to nerd out about hops and breweries and the merits of your favoruite style.

We got talking to the group next to us who told us about the nights' standout beer- a beer called Blue Razz which, I kid you not, was described as a "Blue Raspberry Slushy Ale". Being on Key Keg, it tasted exactly like it sounded. Certainly the standout beer for me, although the stout infused with honycomb came a close second.

Here's me unsure about the whole thing. I mean, look at it!

Even better, the group got wind of a pastime I'm fond of- cycling to pubs. It turns out they didn't live very far away from me and even drew me a map of all the best pubs in the area. And this is one of the reasons I love going to these beer festivals, because like say, MCN or Comicon, you're all there because of a shared love, in this case beer. In fact, I've been to some cons over the years and the vibe is very similar, albeit a bit more raucous. 

I came away from it all realising a lot of stuff I've missed over the past few years, and that now things are pretty much as they were in 2019 it's made me want to revisit plans from back then. I'd planned to take Cask Theology into a more Live Action direction and show my face on camera, and visit various locations relevant to both Theology and Beer. I pondered that covering the festival would have made for a fantastic video, or livestream.

Plus, as I've realised, in the earlier days of the channel when I went for an "Ashens" style of presentation (Check out his channel and compare it to my earlier stuff and you'll see the link) I had a lot less editing to do. While I love editing and making the videos I do, it sure is time consuming. If sticking my mug on screen means I can teach about Theology and Beer quicker and easier then that's a sacrifice I think I'm willing to make. Especially as a lot of the ideas I have for future content will involve real life places, and with any visual media it's better to show, not tell.

So to conclude, yeah, I went to a Beer Festival. It was fun. If you like beer, or even if you're not sure, why not go to one? Try everything. I discovered some fantastic beers. I even tried some amazing ciders. Who knows? You might even find something you like, or have an ephiphany. Turns out that this time, I had both. Anyways, I have some script writing to do, so I'll see you all again soon.