Midnight Bell | Beersay

It’s been a barren couple of months on the blog front, weekdays have been incredibly busy, weeknights I can’t face the laptop again and weekends generally have been full of pleasant beery days out (on a happier note). However this weekend just past was a little different and I can’t let it go by without putting fingers to keys, it was the second European Beer Bloggers Conference!

Now before your finish those cries of “GEEK’, “How Exciting”, “BORING” or even a carefully hidden titter, I suggest you read on as things are perhaps a little “different” at our church of learning, we have beer and lashings of it for starters!

I should just say for those of you who have read several reports on the same subject already, I’m going to keep things brief and stick to a photo timeline of events with the odd comment thrown in, if that’s you, enjoy a trip back to memories of Leeds and a great weekend.

The ~~festivities~~ err learning experience commenced on Thursday night with a whistle stop tour of Leeds finest pubs and bars led by Leigh Linley. Starting at Mr Foleys we took in some of the lesser known pubs or at least to non Leodensians they were, The Cross Keys, Midnight Bell and the excellent hidden gem The Grove. (For anyone familiar with Stoke On Trent for The Grove think The Coachmakers, surrounded by modern high storey buildings.) The plan was to finish early for the night and be refreshed for the first EBBC session, this failed as we stumbled out of North Bar at 2AM after a rather interesting bottle session. The highlight of which was a Westvleteren 12 and St Bernardus 12 blend at the hand of Will aka Ghostdrinker…

Friday morning and a hearty breakfast/lunch followed before it was time to register and join the sponsors for welcome drinks. The full afternoons itinerary is below, sparing you the content details all were good sessions which held listeners attention with lots of tips picked up across the afternoon.

Friday, May 18, 2012
12:30 PM        Registration and Trade Show
1:45 PM          Conference Officially Starts
2:00 PM         Blogging – Beer Blogging in Europe
3:00 PM         Blogging – Improving Your Beer Writing
4:00 PM         Technology – Blog Platforms and Website Design
5:20 PM         Comparative Beer and Glass Tasting with Spiegelau

Williams Bros stand which was the star of the show for me, a great selection on show including a rather potent new version of Fraoch 12 (YUM)

Moray Neame preparing herself for the arrival of the thirsty hordes…

Badger Ales and some rather delicious cheese pairings. The Cheddar and Poachers Ale worked wonderfully.

More cheese please?

A little something to help lubricate the learning muscles as the conference commenced..

When was the last time you saw a conference table like this?

The most interesting session of the afternoon was an interactive one led by German glass manufacturer Spielglau, this was held classroom style but with an interesting twist. We were presented with four different Spielglau glasses one each for Pilsner, Wheat Beer, Lager and a Goblet/Tulip style for strong ales etc. These sat on a place mat beside your bog standard pub pint classic. The idea was to try each of the supplied beers in a selection of glasses dependant on style to see if it improved said beer in any way on aroma, taste, presentation etc.

Preaching to the converted here my friends as I’m a bit of a glass freak and I firmly believe that a proper glass does all of the above. Definitely worth seeking these out for your stay at home drinkies, they feel lovely in the hand and really do enhance the beery pleasure.