A belated New Year's greeting
I've been busy on many projects but this doesn't mean this newsletter has been forgotten
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Disclaimer: this newsletter often mentions beer and pubs. You do not have to read this if your life has been affected by substance abuse.
This is a very short email to welcome new subscribers and to give readers an idea of what to expect in 2024. Because of an increase of my workload needed due to a mortgage rate rise - thanks Liz - I probably won’t be able to maintain 2023 levels of Substack output.
Last year I published 30 posts, which is prolific considering this is an unpaid newsletter and I favour deep dives into pubs. I don’t believe in doing things by halves and that’s why this blog picked up two awards last year at the British & NA Guild of Beer Writers.
But I do believe in keeping in touch with you, so if I haven’t got an essay (and there will be many this year) I’ll send a short message like this one.
This week for me - at first glance - seems to be one that freelance writers often dream about. Commissions have been green-lit, work has been published and praise has been given. The worst days are the ones where you don’t have much to write, have nothing published and you end up doing admin. I even did a book event in the May Day Rooms. Living. The. Dream. Now to send them an invoice…
I’m really proud of this podcast put together by DW (the German equivalent of the BBC) on the thorny subject of the IPA’s colonial legacy. It came about after the producer Sam Baker stumbled upon my first piece for Good Beer Hunting, which changed how we looked at how IPAs were marketed.
(I have mixed feelings about that article as none of my subsequent ones for GBH ever reached the same mass audience)
The Don't Drink the Milk podcast seeks to explain a subject ubiquitous but misunderstood. The IPA episode had a huge scope with numerous recordings in different countries but is easily accessible for listeners new to the subject of empire. It placed mine and beer writer Pete Brown’s stories central to the narrative and even gave international listeners a flavour of what the Gladstone in Borough is like.
It’s what I want Radio 4 to be when I switch it on - and then quickly turn off as I feel alienated by a lot of the subject matter. And the best news is shortly they’ll be producing an episode solely on desi pubs.
I also was named top of a list of people to watch in craft beer in 2024. Not bad for someone who likes drinking Ruddles County in Spoons for £1.71.
All these accolades are nice but I want to be supplying you with original stories and will work hard so I can afford to do so.