In September 2014 I visited Munich Oktoberfest. It is not universally known that Oktoberfest actually runs through more of September than October. Anyway, I had my one and, at present, only visit to Oktoberfest. It wasn’t a straightforwardly enjoyable experience, but that is a wider story. Visiting the festival site, which is essentially a makeshift city of gigantic tents with the occasional ferris wheel and other fairground ride thrown in, was an amazing experience. My reason for harkening back to my Oktoberfest weekend was a comment from one of my random fellow revellers who, as we walked down the main street through the tents, remarked ‘all this…built just for beer’. These huge tents are like cathedrals of beer in which people assemble to worship, in a generally socially responsible fashion, the wonderful qualities of the amber nectar.
I have recently had plenty of time to reflect on my enjoyment of beer. I have always been a beer drinker. By always, I of course mean since it has been permissible to me a beer drinker (of course). What started as tentative steps into Fosters lager (sorry beer), evolved into a growing appreciation of real ale. My real ale induction was largely facilitated by the cellar keeping talents of the steward at the Grappenhall Ex-Serviceman’s Club who always provided a wonderful range of beer. After real ale I was able to branch out into all kinds of drinks: different premium (and not so premium) lagers, craft ales and the occasional Guinness.
During the Covid lockdown, a switch to drinking at home (which I’d never really done, being more of a social drinker) accelerated a craft ale turn. Fuelled mainly by BrewDog, I developed a taste for all things craft. While I’d appreciated the artful variety found in real ale, with craft ale I was blown away with the sheer range of beer available. Then when pubs reopened, I was faced with an unprecedented set of options. Plus, despite the struggles of Covid, I had a craft ale bar almost on my doorstep. Nothing in the UK though prepared me for the craft ale scene I found when I moved to the USA.
I had the pleasure of a road trip through Virginia last week and lost count of the number of breweries along the way (don’t worry, I wasn’t driving). Now even my hometown of Warrington had a couple of local breweries (not to mention a rich history as a major brewery town), but what I saw just in Charlottesville and Richmond was ridiculously vibrant. Even beyond the breweries themselves, other restaurants and hostelries supported the local craft beer scene in their offering. Thanks to my nerdy beer habit of tracking new beers on the Untappd app, I reckon I tried 44 new beers in just four days. Before you worry, these were mainly small pours on flights.
When I’m not on the road, DC itself has a brilliant craft ale scene. For my birthday weekend a few weeks back, I managed to give my support to Other Half brewing and then the amazing Tap 99 self-pour bar. Just today I was able to visit Bethesda’s World of Beer with a small-font, tightly spaced two-sided menu of beers. Everywhere you go you find great beer.
Although not exclusive to craft ale, one of the things I really enjoy about the craft ale scene and its protagonists is the marketing and design around each brand. Some are better than others, but typically when visiting the bars and breweries you are treated to brilliant visuals, slogans and some sense of identity, often place-making. You’re not just having a drink, you’re joining a clan. Naturally this involves merch and needless to say I love it. If by having a few drinks, sometimes accompanied by tasty food and supplemented with a little retail therapy, you can support the local economy through jobs and small business income, then that is fine with me.
So beer is an existing habit that has been renewed since moving here. Writing and wrestling are old habits which have been restored. Golf if a passion which is fulfilled albeit not to the same extent. On the beer front I’m keen to build my beer literacy and maybe it’ll be subject of a future blog post or two.
Commonplace 