There were 12 casks in the cellar at Sharp’s this morning. A
monstrously-record pre-Christmas week of sales reduced a stock level of over 17,000
casks to 12 like Christmas piranhas decimating a cow carcass. The buzz you get from a
week like this is one of the best feelings in brewing. When I joined Sharp’s we
were selling just over this amount in a year.
I was in Germany last weekend. Cologne to be precise. My
second time in the vibrant city, home of Kolsch, a pale ale that really wants
to be a lager. I tried about 6 different versions of the style and enjoyed their
cleanness although none really impressed. Spending the evening before in
Brussels meant that these beers were measured with a tight gauge. My judgement
may also have been influenced by what I think is the stupidest way to sell beer ever
devised.
In Cologne you get beer in a slim cylindrical 200ml glass
(less than half a pint). The reason for the small size is to
ensure that your beer is fresh. Waiters with a special basket-like tray full of
fresh glasses work their way between the tables and will replace your empty
glass with a full one unless you cover your glass with a beermat. Great idea,
no one likes flat, warm keg beer. What is a great idea in theory becomes a
torture of deprivation when there aren’t sufficient waiters to replenish
glasses when they are empty.
I spent what felt like half my life waiting for a beer. In
the first pub I waited for 10 minutes with a mouth like the Sahara before I
finally got a beer. As you would expect 200ml went in two sips and fewer
seconds. My empty glass then sat on the table for another 10 minutes (leaving
occasionally to be licked clean of beer by a desperate drinker). When the
waiter came back I asked for 4 beers. I got one.
If
you go to a Brauhaus in Cologne and find forehead-shaped dents in the table you
know why! The scene of the red-faced Englishman going from hope to
despair via anger and frustration was repeated in another 3 pubs before I gave
in and went back to my hotel via the off licence. I wasn’t desperate to get
blind drunk I just wanted to drink steadily and not spend all afternoon
preoccupied with the likelihood of getting another beer before I needed to
catch the train back home.
The first thing I did when back on English soil was to walk
up to the bar and order a pint, drink it and order another one. Ah freedom.
So as the year comes to a close it’s time to look back to a
year of change and plenty of high points and forward to bigger challenges and
rewards. I wish you a great midwinter celebration and a successful and enriching
New Year.