PlanetSeth

I made my last post in the hope & expectation that it would propel me back into the habit of updating the blog. It’s been a busy couple of weeks or so since then. I’ll attempt to give the edited highlights for now & explicate later.

I started this compact journey of the soul drinking beer in Boston & commenting how English it tasted. IPA’s based on East Kent Golding & Fuggles rather than Cascade, Chinook & Centennial. Of course the irony of this is my well known love for the citrusy Pacific hops in these situations. Not that I won’t make an exception for 60 Minutes whenever the opportunity presents itself.

And then I arrived back in Britain. Where serving a pint involves a bit of elbow grease, or those of you Atlantically-challenged, the operation of a beer engine. At which point the beer in Boston tasted just like the beer in California. There is just some special about the way we serve beer in the British Isles, but especially the North. A hand pump is without doubt a better way of serving beer but it only fulfils it’s true potential when operated with a skilled hand & more contentiously a sprinkler. That little gadget on the end of a northern hand pump may look like the most miserly water-saving showerhead but it’s impact is closer to that of gravy on roast potatoes – it bring the flavour out.

I guess I still haven’t told you anymore of what I’ve drunk over the last few weeks or how it was but I think I’ve given you the ambience. And that first pint of Bushys was like finding an oasis after an eternity in the desert.