Adrian’s
away again. Last week it was Zagreb,
this week it’s northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic and then straight on to
Munich for the Oktoberfest. I can’t say
I begrudge him one little bit – beer festivals aren’t exactly my game. J
People
(well, mainly men; well, okay mainly beer-drinking men) always say he has the
best job in the world. To which he
always shakes his head. ‘They think all
I do is stand around boozing,’ he says, with a hangdog expression. And I raise
an eyebrow. ‘Or sit around boozing,’ he adds and I nod. He looks hurt. ‘There’s a lot more to it than
that,’ he says with a sigh. And I say, ‘I
know.’
And,
to be fair, there is. He prepares for
ages before these trips, talking to people, checking out the details of obscure
bars and breweries, making contact with even more obscure brewers and
publicans, making lists of which particular obscure beers and lagers he needs
to taste. And when I say taste, I mean
taste as in the whole swirling it round the glass and sniff sniff sniffing
thingy. And yes, the gobbling and swilling round the cheeks malarkey too.
Because beer, you see (taste, smell, hear) is
just as complex as wine. I’ve never been
much of a beer drinker (even when I drank) but I used to quite like the sniffing
bit – yes, things like woodsmoke and grapefruit and mango and coffee and …oh
you get the drift. Adrian swears that
beer is actually more complex than wine and that there is certainly way more
variety. He’ll even tell you that beer
has ‘terroir’ – just as much as any grand cru.
Years
back, when he announced that he was going to make a living out of beer, I
laughed (and, I hold up my hands and admit, quite freely, that it was not laughing in a jolly way but more in a bitter and twisted way). ‘Good luck
with that,’ I said, mentally figuring I would need to write a couple more books
a year to make up the shortfall. But I was
wrong. Now he writes regularly for the Telegraph
and for the Sunday Times travel magazine and for a host of specialist publications
around the world. He's won shedloads of awards for his writing. And he’s written a
fair few books too – all in praise of beer and things beery. So I eat my hat (or rather neck back my pint –
or I would if…oh you know what I mean). The Bonkers House now keeps afloat on...mainly...beer.
Some
of you already know this of course. But
what you probably don’t know is that he also does pretty damn good beer
tastings and talks. Honestly, I thought they’d
be grim as hell but nope – turns out my husband can actually be damn funny and
informative and…erudite. People love
them. They smile. They laugh. They make notes. They sip and slurp and nod at
one another. They say he makes them thirsty. Apparently you can't even get rid of them at the end of the night - they just wanna stay chatting and drinking and wotnot.
So,
I guess what I’m saying is this. If you
or your company or whatever is considering a wine tasting (you know – for one
of those corporate thingies, or team building or wotnot) then maybe think
again. Go for beer. It’s cool. It's different. It's - er...edgy. No, really, it's not just louts necking Stella or old guys in tweed caps with whippets nursing warm pints of mild. It's...y'know...rock and roll. Jesus, even rock stars are doing it...
Drop him a tweet or check out his blog. He’ll happily travel if you meet his expenses
– and his fees aren’t aimed at city bankers.
Seriously – give it a whirl.
