Regional Rivalry

You will notice I have started to split my tasting notes into north/south distinctions. Any student of English culture will notice that the English in the south count them selves as being very different from the English in the north and vice versa. Like the exchange between Barry the Baptist and Lenny in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Barry “Fucking northern monkeys!” Lenny: “I hate these fucking southern fairies!”) the world of beer is not immune from these rivalries, in fact it’s a hot bed. Sparklers, swan necks and hopping levels all cause debate. In the beer blogging world we have the northern camp firmly represented by Tandleman, in the south we get Paul Garrard saying all sorts of controversial things about Yorkshire bitters and then there is Stonch, a northerner living in the south who seems to get represented as a southern fairy more often than not.

My own ancestry is all from the south, one side London the other Devon, add to that she who must be obeyed is from Sussex and my allegiances are clear. I do enjoy beer from Yorkshire though. Right I’m off to prance in my fairy wings…