The best of times

Sally Toms introduces herself as Editor

Here’s a shocker: I’m a girl (wait, that’s not it); I’m a girl who loves all kinds of beer.

Surprised? Not really I guess. The beer world is changing and it’s an exciting time to take the helm of this magazine.

Dominic used to say that being a good Editor is like being manager of a football team; you don’t need to be the best player, you just need to know where to play them. So, as Editor, that’s what I’m going to do, and with Roger Protz, Adrian Tierney Jones, Jeff Evans, Ben McFarland and everyone else, I think we’ve got a pretty good team.

So, rather than use this space to teach granny how to suck eggs, I’ll use it to write about my own experiences on the way to Beervana.

My first mission was to spend a couple of days at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF), and having never been before it was something of an eye opener.

The amount of different beers available was mind boggling. In fact there were so many that it would be impossible to try them all – you’d have to get through 90 different beers a day, and if the smallest glass is a third pint, that’s 30 full pints.

Each day! The most I ever managed was 10 and I’m never doing that again.

The really impressive statistic is the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) gets 1,000 volunteers every year; they’re like a private army in Hobgoblin t-shirts.

One of the highlights for me was Yona Yona Ale and Tokyo Black Ale, from Yo Ho Brewing Co – so good that they sold out on the first day. The Black Ale went first. I was the person behind the person who bought the last glass. He must have seen how disappointed I was (or heard me wailing and stamping my feet) because he let me try some of his. Thanks, whoever you are. Very delicious it was, too.

I did manage to get hold of a full glass of the Yona Yona Ale. Clear as a bell and almost orange in colour, it had a gorgeous flowery hop aroma with chewy fruit flavours on the palate. Immensely drinkable but difficult to get hold of unless you live in Japan. Still, it’s better to have loved and lost… and there were plenty of other excellent beers to try.

Congratulations again to the Champion Beer of Britain, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, the first time any brewery (let alone any beer) has won the award two years running. It’s a huge achievement and just reaffirms my opinion that only the best things come out of Essex (ahem).

But perhaps the most positive thing I noticed at the GBBF was that, amongst the CAMRA devotees and off work recruitment consultants, there were plenty of young women – there not just to bring their boyfriends home, but who actively had an interest in beer.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to bleat on about women drinkers on this page every issue. But they are out there and it’s important we recognise that in this magazine (therefore we might be seeing a few less bosoms and a few more six packs on the Beer Matters page – sorry gents, I’m in charge).

It hit me when two attractive young women came to the Beers of the World stand. One sniffed at her glass, made a face, and asked “Do they put cheese in cider?” “No,” said her friend. “It’s the way they ferment the apples.” And she went on to describe the process with technical infallibility.

You go girl…

By Sally Toms

Section : Editor’s comments

Page number : 5