Ticked Good Beer Guides

ticked 1982 Good Beer Guide

Strange day, today. I'm flying off to South America. Again. But my flight leaves quite late in the evening. Leaving me a good chunk of the day to fret whether I've packed everything. I really should have a checklist.

What have I been doing? Continuing with my totally superfluous beer guide to the 1970s. I'm really cracking on and am up to Jennings. Which, due to the crazy number of breweries starting with the letter "H", is just about halfway through the independent breweries.

It's a lot of fun. Remembering all these defunct breweries and their beers. I drank loads of them, having volunteered at the Great British Beer Festival in 1977, 1978 and 1979. Remembering exactly which ones I sampled is more of a problem. I wish I'd ticked beers off in the Good Beer Guide like my mate Simon did. And many others.

Including previous owners of my vintage Good Beer Guides. I did have copies of my own. Once. Not after a couple of international moves. Funny how stuff goes missing then. My second-hand 1980 edition is ticked. All Bitter, as far as I can see.

1982's first owner was another Bitter drinker, only straying with Boddington Best Mild.

I hadn't thought about it before. This is an insight into one particular beer drinker's preferences. Or perhaps into which beers were available to him. Really, a combination of both. Given the broad geographical spread of the breweries ticked, I'm guessing a fair few were drunk at beer festivals. Where Mild probably was an option. Not judging here. Just observing.

1984 isn't ticked. 1987 isn't. Neither is 1990. A shame.

Ticked Good Beer Guides are an amazing resource. A glimpse into what one drinker drank in one year. A sort of beer diary. Did they carry ticks over to the next years Good Beer Guide? Let me know if you were a ticker.

Anyone else have ticked Beer Guides? Either their own or someone else's? I'm particularly interested in ones from the 1970s and 1980s.