Tuesday 24 May 2011

European Beer Bloggers Conference - Day 1

As written previously, I won a ticket to the first ever . It's all I could talk and think about it for the previous days before, and after a little bit of a mission around Moorgate I finally got to The Brewery!

A very fancy place, you could tell that the City boys/girls there for the 'Investment Funds Conference' etc were very jealous! Got my badge, and began to meet some beer bloggers and try some beers! Easily the standout beer for me and many others was Sharp's Single Brew Reserve 2010, with the use of the unique
Czech hops Bobek giving an unique fruity aroma and taste. Many bloggers cheekily had glass after glass, and so did I!

Peter Haydon's talk about London brewing history was interesting, with an insight into the development of beer and brewing in the city. David Sheen's talk about the British and Worldwide beer markets (past, present and future) did have some interesting topics of discussion, but was definitely far too statistic heavy. Statistics can be interesting, but only if presented well and not with 50 others!

The 'Do's and Dont's' of Beer Blogging brought up a lot of interesting and relevant discussion points - Should you accept free beer? How should you criticize bad beer, if at all? How do you treat other bloggers, criticize them and their thoughts? How should you design, layout and use technology on your blog?

For me, the most interesting point was raised by Pete Brown - Why do you blog? Asking yourself that question can really help you not only understand why you write your blog, but also whoyou write it for. These two questions really help frame someone's blog, their style and their delivery. Great stuff.

FlavorActiv notes!


The FlavorActiv tasting was really interesting. No doubt it will be useful next time I visit the pub, though I'm not sure how many bartenders would agree with any criticisms!

Dinner reception we had some Monsieur Rock and something else, and then finally onto Dinner, courtesy of MolsonCoors. Though a bit fish heavy (lots of pescatarians, such as Pedalling for Pints) the food was fantastic. My god-awful phone and camera didn't take a very good picture of the menu (or anything else over the weekend for that matter), but the Worthington Red Shield was really nice with the fish! After some fantastic dessert and a speech from Steve Worthinton, his experiences and his retirement, we headed downstairs for the new campaign launch for Pislner Urquell.

After watching their stunning new advert, we got to try some unfiltered Pislner Urquell straight from the brewery in Pilsen. FANTASTIC. Tasted so great, even some renowned lager-haters (I'm looking at you FemAle :-P ) even liked it!

Coupled with their fantastic and beautifully shaped glasses, Pislner Urquell have a fantastic product that not only should they be proud of but also has a real chance of making some headway in the UK. Fantastic beer!

Next update will be about Day 2, and my personal highlight - the Night of Many beers!

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