I do my best to focus. If not, I'd be all over the place. Literally. In time and geography. That's the curse of being fascinated by all aspects of brewing everywhere. Sticking to the UK helps. Without being 100% effective.
After assembling a mass of material while putting a talk together, and seeing how little there was about beer in the VLB book on the DDR brewing industry, I'm extremely tempted to write a second book about East Germany. But who the hell is my expected audience? It's a bit of a niche topic.
Sometimes, you know, you stumble into writing a book. I do, at least. Quite often. It's an example of my ability to get side-tracked. Because I had lots of lovely fresh brewing records from Youngs, I published quite a few recipes. Then I had the interview with former Youngs brewer John Hatch. It just made sense to collect it into a book format where I wouldn't lose or forget about it. Currently 32,000 words, the manuscript.
My principal project is "Free!". UK beer 1880-1914. Another of the chapters from my Meisterwerk documenting UK beer from 1700 to 1973. I've been doing it in a random order. With these published so far:
1914-1920 Armistice!
1918-1939 Peace!
1939-1947 Blitzkrieg!
1946-1969 Austerity!
1970-1979 Keg!
Being totally honest here, I have a thing for late Victorian an Edwardian beer. And pubs. They still exist. The beer doesn't. And I wish it did. Publishing a shitload of recipes from the period will hopefully give me the chance to try a few beers from the Golden Age of UK brewing. As I've chosen to call it, based purely on my own prejudices.
411 recipes so far. Quite a few more to go.
Which of these three books would you like me to finish first? (DDR! vol. 2, Youngs!, Free!)
Let me know. Then I'll decide if you're right. Or not.
Free, please.
ReplyDeleteFree!
ReplyDeleteFree!
ReplyDeletePersonally, It would be Free.
ReplyDeleteNo brainier. Free for all those historic recipes.
ReplyDeleteYoungs
ReplyDeleteYoungs
ReplyDeleteFree!
ReplyDeleteFree! seems like it would fill the larger void ... but, I'm looking forward to all three!
ReplyDeleteI like Free beer
ReplyDeleteDDR Vol. 2 Would be great!
ReplyDeleteFree
ReplyDeleteFree, then Youngs
ReplyDeleteI'm in the minority, but if you could flesh out DDR to talk about how beer was a reflection of East German society and the challenges of living there, I think that could be a great book.
ReplyDeleteI was just reading about the massive strikes in East Germany in the 1950s and their brutal supression, followed by both growth in the secret police machinery and attempts to improve material comfort to maintain order.
DeleteI wonder if beer was a part of the second half of that strategy.
I'd like to see some more information on the DDR and other Warsaw pact countries during the late 40s through to the early 90s, although I'd imagine it would be hard to get recipes from many of those countries.
ReplyDeleteDDR for me too. I don't know if it's the lost world element or the fact that I studied German in the mid to late eighties when it still existed, but the DDR in general fascinates me, and especially the beer brewed there.
ReplyDeleteDDR Vol. 2
ReplyDeleteFree!
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ReplyDeleteYoung's, then Free. Free seems like a principal work so please don't rush it.
ReplyDeleteFree! But honestly all of them as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteFree! I would read that here and now (1am united states)
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