Rock Stars

'Tis December, time of Christmas parties, Christmas drinks, and dull industry awards.  Across the world people are gathering to celebrate the best in Local Business Banking (as I know from my past life), Toner Sales (why isn't it called ink?), Refrigeration Engineering and Beer Writing.  Except beer writing isn't dull, it's brilliant, and thought provoking and exciting, and the British Guild of Beer Writers annual awards bash is one of the highlights if my year.

I was lucky enough to attend this event for the second time on Thursday.  An event where the great and the good of the beer industry gather.  Brewers, writers, bloggers, thinkers.  These people are my rock stars.  

I get just as excited about the chance to talk to a brewer for a while and spend time with beery types as the chance to stand in the front row of a Greenday gig.  That's pretty excited.  I know that's not normal, and will freely admit that my beer geekery may be getting a little out of hand, but it's true.  Sitting in a room with the likes of Roger Protz, Pete Brown, Adrian Tierney-Jones and many others was brilliant, and inspiring.  And listening to speeches about particular writers and the things they had done or written about wasn't dull, it was wonderful.

From a slow start my short blogging life has fizzled and died, one New Years resolution, a total of three posts, it's definitely not setting the world on fire.  On Thursday, sitting surrounded by members if the British Guild of Beer Writers I was inspired to write about something that I (along with them) get excited by.  Beer.  Not to copy, or for praise or acknowledgement (although of course those things wound never be turned down!) but because if I don't put my beery thoughts somewhere they would never be heard (plus my husband will eventually get sick of me wittering on about new hop varieties) and the thing that stuck with me from the other night is that spreading the beery message is a great thing to do, and if I can spread some beery love to just one person, that's pretty cool.

So that's my toe in the beer blogging water, making a tiny ripple rather than a big splash.  But, I hope, a tiny ripple is better than nothing at all.