As 2023 rapidly approaches its conclusion, and after a reflective look back from a beer and visiting different places perspective, there’s one final task to undertake, before drawing the curtain on the year. Before going any further, I want...
What I’ve tended to do in previous years, was take a look back over each previous year, and write a review, under the banner of “The Year in Beer.” So, this time around, having written a fairly lengthy review of 2023, I reflected that I hadn’t properly set out my thoughts on the best beers, best pubs, best places to enjoy a beer etc, over the course of the past year, and this was where the idea of resurrecting the “Golden Pints” concept re-entered my thinking. I still feel the title “Golden Pints” is pretty naff, although perhaps the word “Pint” will now take on a new significance, at least amongst the dwindling band of Brexit supporters, given the news that wine can now be sold in pint bottles!
Best beer on home turf
So no, over-powering citrus, or pineapple flavours, hiding behind a murky haze, here. Instead, just a good, old-fashioned glass of traditional English bitter, representing all that is best in local brewing.
Best beer abroad
Päffgen Kölsch, dispensed from a wooden cask behind the bar counter, and retailing at €2 a glass, was the sole beer on sale at the legendary Gaststätte Lommerzheim. The latter is a classic, old-style Cologne pub on the other side of the River Rhine, and Päffgen are one of the few independent Kölsch brewers remaining in Cologne. In my view, and also that of many others, Päffgen Kölsch are up there with the very best.
Best Locations to Enjoy a Beer (UK)
Best Locations to Enjoy a Beer Abroad
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Bull, Birmingham. A classic, back street local in the centre of Birmingham, which is one of the oldest pubs in the city. A snug, cosy and comfortable, back street boozer, with a real homely feel, with two distinct drinking areas surround a U-shaped bar with smaller, and quieter back room. A collection of 300 jugs adorns the ceiling, along with a number of old pictures and memorabilia. Just the place to spend time on a wet April, afternoon in Britain’s second city.
Braybrooke Beer Company. A tricky one again, although I’m going out on a limb by recommending Braybrooke, a company specialising in the production of really good, proper lager. Brewed using state-of-the-art equipment, and the very best ingredients, the resulting beers are a selection of unfiltered, unpasteurised, and naturally carbonated beers that have complexity whilst retaining the refreshing drinkability every great lager should have. (Braybrook’s words, although I whole-heartedly agree with them).
Back in the summer, I signed up with the Braybrooke Beer Club, a subscription beer delivery service, where, each month, I receive a selection of Braybrooke beers.
Manchester. It was a close tie for Best Beer City, between Manchester and Birmingham, both of which I revisited in 2023. In Manchester’s case, it was 30 years since I’d last set foot in the city – an interval that is far too long. Although many of the breweries, I knew from the four years I spent in adjoining Salford, during the late 1970’s, have vanished (Boddingtons, Burtonwood, Greenall’s, Tetley’s, Threlfalls, and Wilsons), others have taken their place,
My visit, at the end of June, only scratched the surface, but was still sufficient to remind me of the vibrant and thriving beer and pub scene. As Arnie said, “I’ll be back.”
London Craft Beer Festival. Held in Wapping, at the historic Tobacco Dock, the festival proved an interesting experience, although had I needed to pay for my admission ticket, it’s doubtful I would have gone. There were some interesting breweries exhibiting, and some equally interesting beers, but the event followed the American pattern of “sips” rather than a decent amount of beer. I also, might have escaped contracting my third dose of COVID, had I stayed at home, especially as the festival was hot, crowded, and cramped, in equal measures.
Macclesfield, Manchester, Birmingham – for nostalgic reasons, plus Chichester. I included the latter because I’d never visited before, despite it being fairly close to home, and relatively easy to get to.
Best beer book
I say that, because despite the best intentions, I haven’t read the book yet! The plan was to make a start on it whilst on our recent cruise, but being a relatively slow reader, I have only just finished the other weighty tome I was ploughing my way through. That particular book is Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding, and with over 800 pages of close typeface, it took longer to finish than I anticipated. Expect a review of “Cask” in a few months’ time, then.
Bucket list – places visited for the first time.
Visits were also made to Crete, and its laid-back capital, Heraklion, Santorini, the lovely Ionian island of Kefalonia, mentioned above, and finally Sardinia, an island which, according to Ancestry, Mrs PBT’s has a 1% DNA match with.
This concludes my look back at 2022, a mixed year, for want of a more appropriate description, and whilst a part of me is itching to get my hiking boots on, and head out, back into the great outdoors, a glance at the appalling weather, outside my window, persuades me otherwise.