EmperorBevis

From being of drinking age I was made a real ale fan due to the influence of my father but by 2009 I wasn't getting to the pub as much as I would have liked, the decent ones in Manchester/Stockport felt a little out of reach aside from the very limited supermarket fare I had inadvertently stopped being a fan of beer.

Then the craft beer scene finally hit the supermarkets. back then American and Australian craft beers it seemed to, like me, given the U.K. brewing scene a reminder or the importance of easily accessible bottled and canned beer.

Improved transport links in my home city of Manchester and it becoming being such an ale-centric place has also brought me back to supping good stuff.

My ode to mild

That sudsy, soapiness that you only get from an English ale.
That taste of roasted barley that quenched Spitfire pilots thirsts and washed down miners lunches.
That drink of heritage that sits
in the back room with the more elderly gentleman
their youth all spent and their pipes now unlit
stubbed out by bureaucracy.
There are times to be fierce and times to drink mild.

I like beer, me and on the very odd occasion brew some.