Well Done Auntie Beeb!!

I've been known to have a pop at people or organisations that fail my World View. Perhaps too often it might be said. Just occasionally there is a complete reversal of that irritation almost to a level that makes me feel quite humble and sorry to have ever made the fuss in the first place. Of course, I'd like to think that it was my complaint that caused an apparent change of direction, but I guess I'm probably just too insignificant to make such a claim.

Last year, several of us were getting frustrated at the mainstream BBC program Saturday Kitchen and did various things to try and get at The BBC.

Today, BBC Radio 4 did a brilliant program on the American Craft beer scene, the influence of European brewing on that scene and its subsequent influence on current contemporary brewing in the UK.

Mentions of barrel aged beers, American hops, massive IBUs and the effect our silly UK taxation system has on stronger, fuller flavoured beers was very welcome. Mention of Fullers, who's John Keeling recently visited to brew our soon to be infamous collaboration, warmed my heart.

It's a great piece of program making and undoes most of my reservations about their programming. More of the same please guys, and perhaps something on the Telly too?

Listen to it on iPlayer before it gets shuffled off to an archive somewhere.

Meanwhile, hypothetically speaking, I have the ability to make a reasonable quality mp3 file of the program. Of course to do so would be breaking copy write laws, so I deny all knowledge of having done so, or offering to let anyone have a copy once iPlayer has stopped streaming it. I imagine it might also be a large file, in the region of 12Mb, probably.

Sam, in the comments, points out there is a pod cast. Thanks Sam.

Colonial Mayhem

Some time ago, a strange American cast a shadow over the door of the pub we used to own. He asked for a room for the night and some food and beer. As it happened, I got my guitar out later and we sat and played music in the bar. We talked about beer, brewing and the like, and discussed hops, especially the West Coast American varieties. I told him I used Cascade and Willamette in some of my beers.

"Well, funny that, 'cause I live in The Willamette Valley" my new found American friend declared.

Ted Sobel was his name, and although he seemed to have a fondness for beer with extraneous air, and delighted in a little "oxidisation" as a beneficial feature, it did seem we had a lot in common.

Some time later came the now legendary email entitled "Greetings from Oregon and an unusual enquiry" or something very similar. Ted, as I've probably re-told on many occasion on this blog, came back to the UK to learn a little from the British way of doing things. He returned, several times, and then went back to Oregon and set up his "Anglo-American brewpub" one of the few places is the whole of the American continent one can purchase true Real Ale.

Ted came to see us late last year and we brewed a beer.

Here is a video about the beer.

Æther Blæc Sigma matched with pickled mussels

OK, just in case any one thought the last video was serious, it wasn't. Made especially for 1st April, it was.

This one is an attempt to be serious. To be honest, I think we're best at Tom Foolery.

Apologies for the wind noise; radio lapel mics now on the shopping list....

Beached Beer

We like to do a few crazy things from time to time; our latest beer idea was to age beer under the sand at a local beach.

Here's a video of us digging it up and tasting it.