Thursday 21 February 2008

Whitbread and the ZBF

Just over a week to go to the Zythos Bier Festival. It's always good fun. So many people to talk to, so many beers to drink, so little time. This year will be especially exciting for me.

Why? I should have a few bottles of my Whitbread 1914 Porter and Whitbread 1914 Stout with me. I'm going to collect them next Monday from de Molen. "How can I get to try these wonderful beers?" you ask. Well you could try coming up to me and saying "You're Ron Pattinson and I claim my bottle of 1914 Whitbread." Waving a 10 euro note (or the equivalent in beer) in front of my nose at the same time might help.

A couple of caveats:
  1. I will have a very limited number of bottles and some are already reserved
  2. The Porter will be just about conditioned, the Stout will need another week or two

Could you be one of the lucky individuals leaving the ZBF with a 1914 Whitbread beer?

8 comments:

Alan said...

Are you at liberty to set out the details of the economic side of the transaction?

Stonch said...

Ron can you take some photos and do a write-up of Zythos, please. I want to see your perspective on it. Is it any fun, or just an
trade expo combined with a geekfest?

I'll be in Rome when its on so sadly can't make it myself...

Ron Pattinson said...

Alan, the economics of the transaction will be on a whim. I get more generous after an hour or two's drinking.

Stonch, I'll try to get Andrew to act as my photographer. I'll try to write it up, but I take very poor notes at festivals. At the Kerstbier Festival my notes didn't add up to much more than 50 words. And 48 iof those were about St. Bernardus Kerstbier.

The festival is great fun and there are always wonderful beers. It isn't quite geeked out yet as lots of normal Belgians turn up, too. It's a great chance to meet up with old friends. I'm worried that this year I'll have no time to drink with all the networking/socialising I have planned.

You should try to get to a Belgian festival. The atmosphere is very different from fests in the UK. Maybe you should try to make the next Hasselt Festival. It's a particularly good fest and you can combine it with a trip to the National Jenevermuseum, which is also in Hasselt.

GenX at 40 said...

Sorry Ron - I meant the expense to you not the inestimable degree of your generosity.

Ron Pattinson said...

That's a good question, Alan. One to which I wish I had an answer.

Alan said...

Are you awaiting the stark reality of the presentation of a soul-chilling invoice or is this a friendship based transaction that transcends mere lucre?

Ron Pattinson said...

Yes, it is a commercial venture. The plan is to sell the beer in the US. Not that there's a great deal of it: about 600 75cl bottles of Porter and 500 of Triple Stout.

I don't expect to retire off the proceeds. If it goes well, I'll get historic beers brewed on a regular basis. I was thinking of getting two Burtons made next. A KKK from the 19th century and one from the 1920's. Or maybe a pair of X Ales. That's all assuming I can find people to buy the first two.

The Beer Nut said...

I'm sure KKK will go down a storm in some parts of the US.

As long as it isn't too dark, of course...