Beer blog roundup w/c 19th August 2012

On time this week. Here's hoping this preternatural punctuality is a one-off.

Good to see Fergus Fitzgerald back in blogging action again. The Head Brewer of Adnams has some interesting observations on CAMRA's Champion Beer of Britain competition: maybe the judges shouldn't make that decision at all.

A blog that's new to me - and now added onto our Blog Roll - is Beer Compurgation. There's plenty to think about when considering terms such as taste, style and character and how certain brewers become thus defined.

No apologies for including Adrian Tierney-Jones again this week. He doesn't really review pubs, it's more like a good grope around their viscera. If I read a better 448 words about a pub this year - in this case the Union Tavern - you can hunt me down and slap me with a fat kipper.

Proof positive next that Pete Brown can still rustle up irreverence. So, how many beer bloggers *does* it take to change a lightbulb? Or are they too busy debating the merits of the traditional UK platinum-wired incandescent lamps versus the American carbon filament?

Every year I think about getting down to Kent in September for the hop harvest. Every year I manage one way or the other to forget. This year I may have to actually get off my lard and do it. Particularly with the likes of Eddie Gadd ready to brew green hopped beers.

I like where Boak and Bailey are going with their beer-geekery inflation piece. Except I suspect the numbers of 'enthusiasts' who are chasing their geek ideal are in ever decreasing circles, comparatively speaking. Meanwhile, some are still waiting for that one decent pint to be available at their local...

As some of you who've witnessed me in full-on spittle-flecking mode will know, I have no problem and every problem with Black IPAs. No problem drinking the little feckers. Every problem with the Mobius-strip arguments of what they are and are not. But props to Fuggled for attempting to introduce some technical clarity. FWIW - it's an over-hopped, under-roasted porter. Surely?

Last but never least is Tandleman. His tales of the Berlin festival act as a salutary reminder that, sometimes, the beers are really only an adjunct to the rest of the event. Unless you like hoppy beer. "All in all though you would be pretty fussy not to find something. Unless you are a fan of the hop of course. Then you'd be in deep shit".

Now go inspire joy-joy feelings in all those around you. Same time next week, folks. But, probably not...