Beer Writer of the Year 2023 - David Jesudason
Very happy to announce I'm the first non-white winner of this great accolade
Disclaimer: this newsletter often mentions beer and pubs. You do not have to read this if your life has been affected by substance abuse.
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My acceptance speech is here.
To be named Beer Writer of the Year is an absolute honour and to be the first non-white winner in the award’s 35-year history has left me deeply privileged. I feel like this because my work has changed the beer narrative and the default of what pubs are worthy to be written about.
I also feel like this because of what it’s taken for me to get to this position and how long I’ve strived to be heard.
I started out in journalism more than 20 years ago, working on a local newspaper which became defunct. I loved that job because it meant something to the people I interviewed and to those who needed their stories told.
I always the remember the couple who I spoke to who wanted to complain about the hospital after their child had died, the various obituaries and the campaigns to save local amenities - the now dead boozers.
And I also loved visiting pubs to get stories - the Anchor, Sevenoaks with Barry the landlord, holding court. That’s when I realised that’s what I wanted to do - interview people about pubs.
I didn't have confidence, though, in my twenties to even research if this was possible and resources on how to pitch in those days were scant, especially online. Instead I did various sub-editor shifts on national newspaper sports desks working with grumpy white men and feeling existential dread despite the privilege of reading a lot of good copy about cricket and football. (It wasn’t writing but it made my copy tight)
Funnily enough, fellow beer writer Will Hawkes also worked on one of these desks. We’ve become good friends now but in those days it really wasn’t an environment that would foster personal connections. I wasn’t valued and most of the time I was referred to as my login on the computer by the revise subs - humiliating ‘downtable’ subs was a popular pastime for many.
The work started to dry up after a few years and I took a semi-permanent role on the (now defunct) Guardian media desk which included tech and TV. It was during the phone-hacking crisis and it was another toxic environment to work in. Bullying was rife as was being shouted at in a public setting. I left and went to join a business website where I was paid well for what was a truly awful job.
It allowed me to get a mortgage but, again, I was bullied. I stuck it out for years and years until I complained, and was given a pay-out to shut up and leave. I took this blood money and, a huge hammer blow to my mental health - I spent most of the payout on counselling. I really lost my sense of self.
I decided then to freelance. I spent months sending out pitches to no reply. I got the occasional writing gig on music, green issues and video games, but it took a year for major publications to take me seriously - and only because the murder of George Floyd caused a clamour for stories written by non-white writers.
I sent a pitch to Pellicle in June 2020 that was pretty bold for someone they’d never heard of, especially as the article would lead to the likes of Garrett Oliver, Dr J and Sir Geoff Palmer being interviewed.
Despite that article’s success, I didn’t feel like a beer writer for a long while after and it wasn’t until July 2021 that this piece on the history of the IPA’s marketing that I started to believe I could make some-sort of living from writing about beer and pubs. (Someone recently called that Good Beer Hunting article a legacy piece)
And I’m only here because no other beer writers covered desi pubs before. But it shows that drinks writing can change and be more inclusive especially as I wasn’t the only desi to be honoured for their endeavours. Jessica Mason, beer editor at the Drinks Business, was named ‘Best Beer Communicator’, a fitting prize for someone who has striven for so long to be heard - and puts up with a lot of rubbish on social media.
Her father was Indian (pictured below with her white mother).
Look at these accolades alongside this year’s LGBTQ and female winners and nominations then you can see how far we’ve come.
But most of all, I’d like to thank you for supporting this email - which gained a silver award - and all my work in general. I suspect 2024 might become an even better year for all things desi and - you never know - I might stop being asked “what’s a desi pub?”.
The other honour is to win a prize named after Michael Jackson. It’s fitting because he was an anti-racist campaigner and a keen supporter of beer from South Asia. Take this review of Lion’s Stout - my friend Mark (whose hands you’d often see in my book holding spiced lamb chops) has a Sri Lankan cricket podcast sponsored by Lion’s.
Although Michael obviously was white he was a keen ally and was instrumental in giving the incredible beer writer Garrett Oliver a platform. And without the allyship of my publisher and editor Alan Murphy at CAMRA Books, then I would also not have been given a voice. In these polarised age it’s important to remember: together we’re stronger.
So it’s time to celebrate and as Michael Jackson said: “Moderation is all right, as long as it’s in moderation.”
I guess as an acclaimed beer writer I should tell you about beer! This week I’ve been in Fowey, Cornwall and had a pint of Hicks Special Draft for the first time. It was raisin-y and toffee-like (almost toffee apple) on the nose, with hints of red apple and caramel. Served sparkled, with a nice head because the original brewer, Roger Ryman was from the north. The pub, the Lugger Inn, it was poured in was part of the St Austell estate and had beautiful stained glass windows. Friendly too.