Today we started our journey from London to Leeds for the European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012.

Day 1 was a relatively easy 55 miles to Milton Keynes but tomorrow will be trickier; 100 miles to Youlgreave in the Peak District, just a stones throw from Thornbridge Brewery. We’ll definitely have built up a thirst by the time we reach Leeds!

So were going to start doing our top breweries at the end of each month, mainly because we just LOVE to rate stuff and rank stuff, but also because we think its important to share with you our thoughts on whats going on in the beer world.  Were no experts and not aware of everything gonig on, so these are the ones that have stood out this month:

1.   Beer Bloggers Conference Breweries

Pilsner Urquell, Badger, Molson Coors, Camden, Wells and Youngs, Fullers, Adnams, Shepperd Neame, Brains, Marble…and any others!

2.  Thornbridge

For getting their beers in Waitrose (at last) and bottling up Raven (a Black IPA), cant wait to get our hands on that.

3.  Brewdog

For announcing that they will be opening a bar in Camden, London (at last), although we would have preferred Bethnal Green or Shoreditch!  Maybe next time.  Plus getting 5am saint and Hardcore IPA in Sainsbury’s alongside Punk!

4.  Wells and Youngs

For delivering 10 cases of beer to the Flat (won during the Bloggers Conference).

5.  Camden

For continuing to get into as many pubs (and bars, which are just as important, if not more, as the choice is sometimes poor) in London as possible.  Plus for calling us ‘cool’ at the Night of Many Beers at the Beer Bloggers Conference (the feeling is mutual).

Cheers!

1. Beer Bloggers Aren’t Cliché Ale Drinkers

Beards, bellies and geeks. That’s who we were expecting at a Beer Blogger’s Conference. Much to our relief, the attendees were younger, fun and sociable plus… there were girls!  Apparently Wells and Youngs were expecting the same us though… all their t-shirts were L or XL.

2. Beer Bloggers LOVE to tweet

We’ll confess – we’re not really Twitterers. We’d never even used a hash tag before. But after following #BBC11 over the weekend, we understand what the fuss is about. In just 3 days, there were around 220 tweets, working out around 1 tweet every 8 minutes.

3. BrewDog splits the field

There’s no denying we’re big BrewDog fans. We love the beer and the advertising, but apparently not everybody does. I think most people struggle to deny their beers are good – it’s their advertising that causes a stir.

One of the highlights of the conference was BrewDog James denying that they openly attacks other beer brands. Well, everybody knows that’s just not true.

4. Big Breweries Aren’t All Bad

A lot of people have the preconception that all big breweries are big, bad, corporate and evil, devout on crushing the little guys and forcing everyone to drink the same lager piss. Well, that may be true for some but not all of them.

Molson and Coors have proven their dedication to producing quality beer by building the William Worthington Microbrewery last
December, acquiring and investing in Sharp’s Brewery in February
and of course, sponsoring the BBC11 (apparently the venue was quite expensive!).

5. Never EVER Buy Beer in a Clear Bottle

It will be light-struck. It will taste like licking a skunk’s arse. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true but it certainly sparked a slightly heated debate at the conference.

(more…)

A few weeks ago we figured it would be a good idea to get some ‘business’ cards made* for the Blogger’s Conference. It’s a pretty strange thought that a beer blogger would ever need a business card and sometimes it felt a bit like this handing them out (Mr Drink N’ Eat’s card was definitely the equivalent of Paul Allen’s).

We met some great and interesting people from the beer world and now have a long list of blogs to read on Monday morning. Stay tuned for our coverage of the first ever European Beer Blogger’s Conference…

*When I say ‘made’, I actually mean me stamping 100 blank business cards with our logo and web address.

Now we all love free stuff. And we love it even more when that free stuff is beer.

We just got back from the ‘Night of Many Beers’ at the Camden Brewery and now both have very sore backs. It was the last session of the second day of the European Beer Bloggers Conference 2011 and an amazing night with 14 breweries from across Europe setting up shop (a free shop) in the Camden Brewery premises.

At the end of the night, the generous breweries (Camden, Marble, Rogue and William’s Bros, to name few) unloaded their extra beers into our bags leaving us to waddle the distance to the nearest tube station.

Not only do we have to get through the beer above, but I also won the snail race at Dirty Dicks and a year’s supply of Wells and Young’s beer! You could say it’s been a pretty good day.

Also, below is our attempt at ‘live beer blogging’ until we gave up and decided to concentrate on drinking…

All the European BBC attendees were given a little present from Badger Brewery; a bottle of Hopping Hare with their new label design and a beautfully engraved tasting glass…

Thanks Badger!