Back after a six month sabbatical, can I claim pressure of work, probably not.

What did I miss? I didn’t miss the last European Beer Bloggers Conference in Amsterdam, undoubtedly the best yet but sadly deserted by some of the top bloggers and hence not economically viable any longer. Sad for me as it was the very existence of this that pushed me into starting this blog.

Stonch is always a good read although it’s turned into an Italian travelogue at the moment, but none the worse for it, some of my favourite breweries are Italian, Toccalmatto et al. For a more restrained and contemplative read then Boak & Bailey are always on the money.

Fight of the century in the cask corner Roger ‘Power to the People’ Protz and in the keg corner Pete ‘Beer Blaster’ Brown. I predict it will go the distance and be decided on pints.

Craft. In the UK it has no meaning! Please stop using this word. It only means you have to check with the speaker what his/her definition of craft is.

Beer writing. A very confused area. It can all end in tears. It is certainly getting tetchy. The British Guild of Beer Writers allows most people in. I was invited to apply, nuff said. There are a lot of fanboys out there, be warned.

Cloudwater stop cask. Asahi buy Meantime. More breweries open, some begin to close. Which will be the next brewery to sell out/execute a successful exit strategy?

But most of all, what made me start writing again was a letter What’s Brewing inviting certain people to ‘fizz off’. Watch this spot.

Oh, and that the price brewers get for a cask of beer, that is disappointing me.