Mountains again

It's another very early start. I'm up at 6:45. I love getting up early so much. So much I’m going to carry on rising before 7 AM every day when I return home.

It's the usual drill at breakfast Scrambled egg and bacon, with a pudding of fruit.

A breakfast of scrambled egg, bacon, orange juice and coffee.

The bus is due to leave at 7:30. Amazingly, it leaves at 7:40. Unbelievable.

Traffic is really bad. It takes forever to get outside Santiago. As we're crawling along Andreas notices a billboard advertising a Shakira concert.

"We should go." he says. He checks if there are still tickets. Amazingly, there are. He books tickets for himself, Richard and Uwe.

We take a different route today. Which goes through some dodgy-looking residential areas. Where dogs roam and there’s a shack-like shop on every corner. It takes even longer than yesterday. A full two hours. I’m well in need of a piss when we pull into the car park of Tübinger

After a comfort stop, I grab myself a coffee and some juice and get ready for the first talk.

Karsten Zufall gives a very technical talk about keeping yeast viable when you're not brewing. It's in Spanish, but I can work out maybe 75% of it. Way more than I understood of the Spanish native speakers. Interesting that.

Did I ever mention my love of languages? Beer isn’t the only obsession I’ve ever had. I’ve a bit more fucking depth than that. A good bit of the 1980s and 1990s, I spent studying languages. In my own particular way. The novel and dictionary method. The linguistic equivalent of learning how to swim by being thrown in at the deep end.

I had a couple of goes at Spanish. For some reason, it never stuck. Well, not enough of it. I can still understand a fair bit when it’s written or people speak slowly. It’s not like I’m in Budapest.

Richard talks about oxidation and how to avoid it. Also very technical. But at least it’s in English. He’s very passionate on the topic. I hope the brewers in the audience are paying attention. Oxidation is the most common fault I come across when judging in South America.

Ben Wood (left) and Matynn Cornell (right) on stage for "A History of Porter and Stout in South America"

I'm presenting with Martyn. He kicks off with a discussion of Porter and Stout history in general and in South America in particular. It’s as erudite as you would expect from the absolute expert on the topic. I learn loads. Hope I can remember some of it.

I come in at the end with seven London Porter recipes from different periods. Followed by two Irish and one Scottish. Obviously, I can’t restrain myself from talking way too much. There’s just so much to say about 19th-century Porter grists.

We go outside for lunch. The sun shines. Though the mountains are hazy today, they’re still there. I have a Hoppy Helles in front of me. And no commitments over the next few days other than to having a good time.

Gabi sits next to me and I finally hand over the copy of Vintage Beer I brought out for her.

Sweetcorn mush with a lump of meat.

The food is pretty good: ground sweetcorn with a lump of beef. We’ve been eating well so far. Maybe a little too much pizza. At least it’s been decent pizza.

We leave, on schedule, at 4 PM. Heading for the brewpub Cervecería Intrinsical. It doesn’t take quite as long as the outward journey. Probably because we’re on the motorway for longer.

I recognise where we are as we approach our destination. It’s just around the corner from where I stayed with the kids last July. This is weirdly nostalgic.

We sit upstairs. I didn’t realise they had an upstairs.

“It’s much warmer than last time I was here.” I remark.

“When was that?”

"Last July. It was so cold everyone was wearing their overcoats. Inside."

The price list upstairs in brewpub Intrinsical.

For my free beer, I get a West Coast IPA. It's OK. But I'm after something a little stronger.

"Could I have a gin and tonic?"

"I'm sorry, I can't serve you that.”

What the fuck?

“I've no tonic. Will ginger beer do instead?"

Phew.  "That's fine.'

It comes with rather too much ice. Which I fish out. When I order a second, I ask for just one cube.

After that Sandy, me and Karsten get an Uber back to the hotel. None of us feel like staying up much later.

Other than quickly nipping to Lider for a little food and drink, I do bugger all for the rest of the evening. Just watching Youtube and drinking some cheapo pisco. I turn in about 10:30.



Cervecería Intrinsical
Av. Brasil 88,
8340554 Santiago,
Región Metropolitana.
https://www.intrinsical.cl/



Disclaimer: a fee, my hotel and some meals were paid by the Chile Independent Beer Week.