Beer, Networking and Unicorn tears

Anyone who knows me knows I hate networking. It feels like sales disguised as false social niceties. Both of these things I hate. If I have to go to a 'networking event' I do my utmost to be straightforward. "Hi I'm here from company X and we do Y. Does any of that interest you? No? Great, what do you think of the vol-au-vents?"

Last night I was asked if I wanted to attend the Norfolk Food & Drink Network's first networking event for my day job.

"I don't really like networking"
"Redwell brewery will be there and they're talking about brewing."
"OK, I might be interested."
"There's free beer."
"Why didn't you lead with that?!"

So off I went, with the apprentice (who doesn't drink) to schmooze and drink beer. One of these things is my favourite thing in the world. The apprentice politely refused free samples of beer while I made the most of mine. One of the founders of Redwell gave a talk about setting up the business and her background and the mistakes they made along the way (and of course the debacle with Redbull). I got to try unfiltered Steam Lager (which I actually preferred unfiltered), as well as the West Coast Pale Ale (which I don't think I've had the pleasure of before, but I will definitely keep an eye out for) and finally the Kofra Coffee Stout. I don't like stout and I don't really like coffee, but this I could drink. The burnt taste was subtle and not cloying and didn't make me feel as though I was drowning from the inside.

At the end of the talk one attendee was saying how he'd spent time in America and hadn't had a nicer beer in the whole of the States. I like Redwell beers, but even so. Was he just drinking Coors Light and PBR over there or something? (Actually I quite like PBR but that's another story.) Someone actually started talking about buying and recommending beer to go with certain types of food. It was clear I was a different kind of beer drinker than most in the room.

As is probably evident by the offhand and slightly gonzo nature of this blog, I know no more about beer than any other average beerlover. I couldn't tell you how different beers are made and I certainly can't taste grapefruit in anything. I like a decent pint in a decent pub and if something amusing happens on the way, then fantastic. I desperately wracked my brain for an interesting, non-networking question to ask at the end of all the talking and all I could think of was asking about Unicorn tears (see a previous blog where I visited the Redwell Brewery). No one else knew what I was talking about, apart from the people from Redwell of course, and they didn't feel the need to explain (making me feel smug, like the little anarchist beer-snob that I am). They said the brewery had a dedicated room on site, filled with crying unicorns. The image this conjured up made me very happy indeed.

I gave my Bullards gin sample to a friend (it did smell lovely but I draw the line at shots of neat gin), gave a few business cards out (boss will be happy) and went home, happy with an evening well spent. I might have to email Redwell asking for a tour of the miserable unicorn room though...

PSB is on twitter, if that's your bag, and sporadically on instagram. But drinking beer is always better than tweeting about it.

Mine's A Pint Of Unicorn Tears

I was invited on my first ever brewery tour recently. I know, it's shocking that someone who likes beer so much has never been on a brewery tour. I think I would have booked myself on one much sooner had I known how much free beer was involved. Yay!

The Redwell Brewery is local to me, being a Norwich lass n'all, but even so I got a lift down there (save my strength for the beer tasting). I almost didn't find it as the brewery is located directly under the railway bridge, under an archway with a small sign saying 'Beer Shop Tours'. After stepping through a small door, I was in a large open plan room with barrels and fairy lights on one side, shiny brewing equipment on the far side and a small makeshift bar next to the door. It reminded me of a pop-up bar I went to in Hackney, except that this one had real pumps instead of bottles in ice buckets. It also had the Norwich game playing, something the temporary Hackney pop-up had neglected to include.

On the bar were some awesome beer mats that I did consider stealing (they had unicorns using their tears to make beer on them!!) but thought better of it as I was handed a beer. While we waited for a few stragglers to arrive (who actually did get lost) I studied the beer mat to see exactly how unicorn tears made Redwell, and felt slightly awkward having turned up on my tod. That didn't last long though as beer makes fast friends of strangers. Especially when all those strangers really like beer.




We followed Nate, our Redwell tour guide and all-round beer aficionado, as he went through the brewing process. The parts I found most interesting were more to do with the history of brewing, like

where the term 'lager' comes from, and what beer might have been like when was first created with the ingredients and knowledge available at the time. It was also interesting (and this is going to sound weird) to learn about wild yeast and how dangerous it can be to commercial brewing and modern flavours. I knew something of the basic process (my parents had a Guinness cartoon showing the 'adding of the yeast'. I did say my knowledge was basic) but I had no idea it was filtered quite so much. Or the different kinds of hops and when they're added to the process to change the flavour. Ok, so I liked the majority of the facts too, as well as the beer samples. I was already a fan of the Redwell lagers but it was really good to see behind the scenes. They really do brew in small batches. And they really do love their beer.

I got to keep my pint glass as a souvenir and I could hear it clinking in my bag as I wobbled home for a nap.



I'd still prefer it if their beer was made by actual unicorns though.