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Here’s a look back at what we posted in May, including a ‘long read’ about Boddington’s Bitter and a breakthrough on the Watney’s Red recipe front.

*
We found information on the make-up of Watney’s beers in an unexpected place*.



We used our trip to Manchester to consider a great (sort of) ‘lost’ beer.*(1500 words.)


→ We began the month with an unflattering ‘selfie’ and news that copies of*Brew Britannia had actually arrived in our sweaty hands.
→*Our contribution to the 87th beer blogging session was a short consideration of the history of Ellis of Hayle. We’d have liked more time to work on it, to be honest, but hey-ho. (Reuben Gray rounded up all the other contributions here.)
→ On a related note, we volunteered to take on the 88th session. If you want to join in (and please do) the subject is ‘traditional beer mixes’.
→*Continuing our experiments in creative writing was*a portrait*of a local drinker*who was very,*very drunk.
→ Is it OK to preserve a pub building by letting it be turned into a supermarket or fast food joint? Or is that a fate worse than death?
→ St Austell’s ongoing fascination*with Belgian beer styles has produced a Kriek which we enjoyed as much for what it represents*as for its flavour.
→ A*100-word pondering piece about diversity and complexity in the world of beer prompted quite a few comments as people grappled with what ‘quality’ means and whether ‘authorial intent’ is more important than customer preference.
→ Having written a ton of (we think) interesting posts about CAMRA and its precursors in the last year or two, we decided to gather them together in one post. (Yo, dawg — we heard you like round-ups, so we put a round-up in your round-up…)
→ We*flagged a couple of interesting posts elsewhere in the blogoshire on the subject of cellaring and cask ale. There have been further*developments, including talk of a practical experiment with glass-fronted casks.
→ On*St Austell Proper Cool IPA and Thornbridge’s latest ‘leftfield’ brewing experiments: “Black holes in space have yet to be directly observed, and*their*presence can only be*inferred through their interaction with other*matter*and light…*Recent events in the world of beer suggest that ‘craft beer’ might operate in the same way.”
→ We couldn’t tell if Hopjutter Triple Hop was too complex for us or just a bit nasty.
→*Here’s what we made of our trip up north and our first experience of face-to-face book promotion duties.
→ Our most recent*100-word ‘shortread’ was an account of a pub’s efforts to*really kill the atmosphere.
→ We announced a competition to win a case of beer and a copy of*Brew Britannia — all you have to do is leave a comment here by next Friday, 6 June. The odds are looking good at the moment.
→ An article about Adnams’ Spindrift from 2007 led us to consider the early days of ‘craft keg’.
→ Magic Rock & Lervig collaborated on a Farmhouse IPA (hereafter ‘FIPA’) which knocked our socks off, though it seemed less exciting on subsequent encounters.
→ There were also several compilations of ‘news, nuggets and longreads’ on*3, 10, 17*and*24*of May, and yesterday; four original videos in our series*The Strange Rebirth of British Beer in 10 Objects; and a couple*of quotes*that caught our eye.
The Month That Was: May 2014


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