I am a man who likes a beer. I like good quality beer and in fact must admit I'm a bit of a beer snob. Why in the name of Saint Christ would anyone drink shitty lagers? And so many fools out there do. What's the best selling beer out there? Yeah, unless you had your head in the sand talking shit to an ostrich friend of yours, you'll know it's Budweiser: King of Beers. The King of bland watery, shitty beers, in fact some of you philistines out there will probably have one in your hand now while you read this. If so, 'you can just giitt out'. In my home land of Ireland we make Guinness, quite possibly the greatest alcoholic beverage ever crafted and yet the lion share of people in Ireland drink the unholy trinity: Bud, Miller and Coor's Light. I mean for fuck sake - Coor's Light, even the advert tells you 'It's a light tasting beer'. So go on kids, grab a bottle - you can be just like an American fraternity douche too, all you need is a backwards cap.
Having moved to England a few years ago my eyes were open to the world of ale and bitter. It's a good job too, as the Guinness here can be weak to say the least. A good buddy of mine Joe Bobby Manasalieve and I taste, discuss and at times binge on these quality crafted beers. It's actually quite pathetic, as it's got to the stage where if one of us is in a boozer and comes across something tasty they feel the need to take a picture of the bottle/glass/tankard and text it to the other with a little caption explaining the taste or experience. I know it's not cool but damn we all need our hobbies. Below, if your eyes work, you will see a little pic of what looks like two beers in a sink being keep at an appropriate temperature by a decanted bag of ice. Why did this happen? Why did I take a picture of it? Both good questions, both hard to answer. In a nutshell, I was working in Greenock, Scotland for a few days and spent one evening walking the streets looking for a decent pub that could serve me some food and a decent beer. My search was in vain as all I found were shit holes that served Tennants and aggression. So the only option was to bring the bar back to my hotel bathroom sink. Why did I take a pic of it? - Christ, because I'm a tit.
Anyway, I digress. One day while Joe Bobby and I enjoyed a bottle of Old Thumper, it dawned on us that we should be brewing our own little gems instead of giving the barkeep a lot of money. So from that day forth Beast Ale was born. He made good on our idea and within a few days a brewing kit had been purchased and was on it's way to my office. At the time it seemed like a great idea to get it posted to my work, but then when it arrived I realised it made me look like a piss head. Everyone else in the office might get clothes or tickets delivered and here's me getting a fuckin 1m x .5m x 1m brewing apparatus box sent to my place of work. Anyway, after getting the box home, it was on like Donkey Kong. I live in a one bed flat with my wife and when I suggested that I would like to set up a little brewing operation in the kitchen, she told me to 0121...do one! And with that were off to Bobby's.
With the kettle on the boil, our minds full of knowledge and purchased beer in our hands, Beast ale here we come.
