I'm Sorry but I didn't have the greatest night at IMBC last night.

I'm sorry to say I did not have a great night at the

Indy Manchester Beer Convention last night

Right now I've recovered

some of the kegs were far too cold and killed the subtle saison flavours

and with being in a an unheated victorian swimming baths it wasn't going to warm in the glass any time soon

I was a bit pissed that £8 got you in and a glass (which is very nice)& not even a complimentary half

they said they were keeping the cost of the beer down but there were very few £1.50 halves

In fact I was shocked when my first beer was a short measured half for £2 when there was some mention of 2/3

granted I was paying pretty much the going rate at £3 a half it's not massively overpriced for the beer

except for the fact that you have also paid an entry fee

and the beers are coming straight from from the brewers.

Totally irrelevant to anyone but me, when I was leaving the toilets I heard someone say to his friend

'That was too smoky for me' & I interjected 'Too smoky? That sounds just my thing! What was it?'

to be totally blanked even though only just had first beer & was sober

& then ignored when again when I repeated myself. In hindsight it was probably also lucky they ignored me calling them ignorant.

Even some people that let on to me normally, gave me the cold shoulder,

was it because I was gothed up a bit

& freshly shaved with no beard to help identify me as a human being?

Though 'Diamond' Des was as ever a diamond geezer.

I am seriously thinking of giving up my interest in ale as none of my friends appreciate hoppy & big flavoured brews

& the new craft scene seems to attract a lot of people unwilling to engage with people they don't know,

unless they are brewers or minor beer web celebs.

I hate to play to the stereotypes but perhaps I need a crash course in how to speak Hipster.

The electrics were also playing up, cutting out every five minutes.

Me losing my debit card was no fault of IMBC just made a lacklustre night, a bad night.

On the plus sides the Celt Experience Brigid Fire was a great use of flavours

the Against the Grain Citra Ass Down the best beer pun I've seen in ages

being able to sample Estonian craft was enlightening

& I had no trouble tasting the huge flavours of Weird Beards Triple IPA Defacer.

I've had a lot of people say they are interested in going to the Independent Salford Beer Festival

but can't do that & IMBC as well

& IMHO they are missing out

okay there may be half the beers but it's half the price both entry & serving.

(last year Blackjack's King of Clubs was exactly half the craft bar price)

but I venture ISBF15 will be more than twice as friendly & welcoming

What's that got to do with the price of beer?

First of all let me make it clear

I have no problem with brewers of quality ales making a (hopefully healthy) profit

& I am well aware that good beer costs money to make & distribute.
I could buy four cans of basic lager for a pound & if that's your thing, then good luck to you
but that's not really for me.
I've been trying to be a bit more 'Live & Let Live' with folks who drink fizzy pis...
beverages that do not meet my exacting standards, even those who pour profits into Belgium's
worst big brand beer whilst quality local brewers struggle (to keep my disdain
for, oh, lets say the 40,000 that voted IDS into his cosy expenses furnished nest)
 you shitty bastard Stella drinkers..
ooops!
But a really witty blog post from the

BOOZY PROCRASTINATOR

(howsabout that for a plug lmao) how awful Victoria Station's Beer house is, in particular the prices,
a pint of Thornbridge at £4.80 almost £1.50 more than you would be charged at another high priced
(but admittedly top quality & place I really like) bar that will remain nameless on Port Street.

Along with being well over twice as worse off financially next year due to the budget
than I spend on beer made me think of what we hand over for our ale (again).

It's something that occupies my mind more that I don't command a large income,
rather than I think that beer is overpriced (& sometimes it is as BP shows).

You see, as I've said I hoped to mix social justice with ales
"Let's go, let's sit, let's talk"
"Politics go so good with beer" - The Pixies
acknowledging nod to BeersManchester.

Now wages have not moved with the cost of living, so we compare, say our hourly wage,
& every year how long we work for the cost of a pint increases.

However, if you look at that other vice (that I still miss so much after 5 years since quitting)
Smoking.
I do acknowledge has the extra burden of the Government looking after our health
by making shed loads of extra tax.

If the same price increases were to be applied from tobacco to beer
the price of a pint would be £20.

I've quite happily handed over £5 for a half, because of it's strength by abv
or if it's travelled from overseas from an artisan producer.
Also there is a part of me that loves the bargain shops when some half decent bottles appear
and I walk of with something worth sampling for a quid or so.

What I'm trying to say, is that we should try & exercise some sense
grab the bargains while you can, enjoy quality produce without quibbles.

Most of all don't throw good money on bad beer
many times we find ourselves at social events etc where there is only say
John Smith's Smoothflow for £6 a pint.
Perhaps you could have a soft drink there & a good beer later.

Because those are the occasions when beer is really overpriced.

https://boozyprocrastinator.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/the-beer-house-manchester-victoria-station-why-bother/

https://beersmanchester.wordpress.com/

Beer Club II :Taking delivery

The second part of the Beer52 trilogy

Now nine working days after payment the beer has arrived
10 actual days after the voucher arrived that I thought was the actual beers
and actual 3 days after were promised
okay only 3 days late

BUT THAT PROMISED DATE WAS NEW YEARS EVE

so that was a right pisser.

But the main thing is I got the beer, that is the actual clincher
now this will be the real revelation, what beers were actually sent

Okay there are pictures on their site & adverts
but as my dad said to me 'It says Typhoo tea on buses but they don't serve it'

Also a couple of big beer bloggers & reviewers have listed what they received
but there was no way of saying that their packs weren't specially picked
for 'beer celebrities' knowing that it would be great advertising

But I've got the beers & I've no real connections in the industry

So having ticked over 1100 beers over the past 3 years
it was a fair achievement that I got four beers I've sampled (one in the last fortnight)
and four new brews.

The Four I've had Fourpure Session IPA
a decent enough hoppy ale
and a fair argument for new quality canned beers

Crafty Dan 13 Guns
Actually this Thwaites off shoot provides a pretty good standard
and 13 guns is among the best, just not difficult to locate
"not found on supermarket shelves"? Do they not get out much?

Moorehouse's Black Cat
One of the rare breeds of Dark milds that converts to bottle
But they are on the shelves of Tesco
and ASDA & even in discount supermarket B&Ms

Brewdog Libertine Black Ale
Big name craft ale but not a favourite of mine, I don't rate it.
I don't think it's well balanced
but it's a whacking 7% & not part of Tesco or Sainsbury's regular BD line up

and
The Four I've not had
Hardknott Continuum
Knops Musselburgh Broke
St Andrews Brewing Oatmeal Stout
Stewart's Hollyrood 
(which includes two new breweries for me to tick off)


So was it all worth it?
I paid £10.99 with a voucher deal and for that price it's a fair enough deal
at least a couple of pounds saving & brought to you
but at the full ticket price of £24?
Hmmmmmm,
you would have to not be able to access a Booths & B&Ms

so if your stuck in the middle of nowhere or have mobility issues
or if that random element appeals which I'm sure it will
it might be a good thing

But the final part of the trilogy as well as a appraisal of the untried ales
will be documenting my attempts at opting out of the beer club?
Is cancelling going to be the issue I've heard it to be?

BEER CLUB! Liberté, égalité, beer not tea

There's 2 rules to Beer club & paraphrasing fight club is both of them

So I've been planning this blog for a while

a full account of the Voucher deal on beer club

but I still haven't received the ale so I haven't got the full experience but enough taste of it to blog a little about my experiences up to now

So here is the Mightydeals & Beer52 situation update

Julie got me the first month on discount via Mightydeals 

& I am not happy about whats happened

It would seem that the online discount voucher service is mainly to blame

they made it seem like you just paid them & you got 8 beers delivered, no reg, no sub.

It has since been changed on their website to include the details of the rolling subscription 

but since Beer52 upon redemption of the offer sent me a package with the code to get the first month & therein subscribe & give card details etc makes Beer52 complicit in this

Why wasn't I just emailed the codes with instructions to subscribe

because whilst that code & bottle opener was being sent to me & I could track it

it seemed that I had been bought the beers for the offer price with no subscription 

& would encourage all my friends to do likewise, luckily I waited to see what beers were actually sent before recommending.

I was for a time really made over, I ordered on the 19th of December and the 'package'

was received on Christmas eve but when I returned from work to find a voucher

that was a let down 

I subscribed & even then my thoughts on Beer52 were largely positive 

I thought £24 for 8 beers, when you see the specialist beer shop prices it's OKAY

but the P&P being free makes it tempting because of the hassle of going out of your way to those spec shops. 

I was going to let the subscription run.

I only work part time so my beers for Christmas were a bit limited so with the time frame of the previous package I'd have the beers for New Year's eve 

Like previously the Monday morning I got the tracker & this time it didn't update

just before midnight I received another tracker that has shown the package stuck at the depot local to beer 52

So I ended up celebrating Hogmanay with the bottles of Fursty Ferret & Ruddles County that a friend dropped off hearing I was beerless on NYE

I was drinking Weird beard & Cheshire Brewhouse, what a bloody comedown.

Now the second tracker had 'Fragile Glass' which the first didn't so reading between the lines
perhaps the first one got smashed by the courier 

in which case why the hell didn't they inform me?

So I won't let the subscription run now,

I've spent most of the day reading about peoples further experiences with Beer52
and it seems the main gripe is how difficult it is to cancel their membership/subscription.

I'll cancel my subscription when (or maybe IF) the beers arrive 

and if I have problems I'll just cancel my card if 

which will be such an inconvenience I probably start a campaign highlighting Beer52's flaws