A year ago I started this blog after the prompting of my friend Milla. At the time I thought I would only be documenting my beery adventures in Europe and the UK for a few friends back in the US. I hadn’t yet considered brewing my own beer. I wouldn’t have forseen the possibility that a year in, an international group of beer hounds might be reading.
Daily I’m amazed at the traffic this blog receives, and the wonderful people I’ve met through it. Though it was a rocky start with some surprising hostilities, I’m grateful to the beer blogging community, most notably Jeff/Stonch and Pete Brown who originally pointed readers my way. Beer lovers remain in my mind a group of eccentric sensualists who pursue their strange love in fascinating ways. Just when I think I’ve run out of things to say about beer, I’ll read Boak and Bailey, Mark at Pencil and Spoon, Ron at S.U.A.B.P. (He might hate this acronym) or Wortwurst and they will renew my wonder at the ways we can talk about this simple drink.
I never wanted this blog to be a list of tasting notes, or some kind of culinary meditation on the good life. Other people do that much better than I. Beer is a forbidden fruit, something some would say that as a woman I’m not supposed to like or be seen drinking. It’s the contrarian in me that has continued this blog even when it was unpleasant to do so. In searching for the infinite variety of this ancient brew I’ve ventured to places I never would have found otherwise: pagan pub crawls, dodgy taverns, village fetes and even the desolate cliffs of the Outer Hebrides. Along the way I’ve met many kindred souls who’ve made a life drinking, making, and chasing the stuff. I’m glad to know you.
Cheers!
Impy Malting 