Announcing International #IPADay August 4th!

INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATION OF IPA, IPA DAY 4th AUGUST

We are humbled to have been chosen as the sole European Host Brewery for this event:-

Announcing International #IPADay: A Social Celebration of Craft Beer 

Attention all craft beer evangelists, brewers, bloggers, and suds-savvy citizens! On Thursday, August 4^th 2011, you are cordially invited to participate in the largest international craft beer celebration and virtual conversation the world has ever seen.

International #IPADay is a grassroots movement to unite the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide through social media. On Thursday August 4^th, craft beer drinkers across the social sphere and across the globe will raise pints in a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India Pale Ale. This celebrated style represents the pinnacle of brewing innovation with its broad spectrum of diverse brands, subcategories, and regional flavor variations – making it the perfect style to galvanize craft beer’s social voice.

#IPADay is not the brainchild of a corporate marketing machine, nor is it meant to serve any particular beer brand. #IPADay is opportunity for breweries, bloggers, businesses and consumers to connect and share their love of craft beer. Getting involved is easy; the only requirements are an appreciation for great beer and the will to spread the word. Anyone can participate by enjoying IPA with friends, making some noise online with the #IPADay hashtag, and showing the world that craft beer is more than a trend!

http://ipaday.eventbrite.com/

OFFICIAL #IPDAY LOGO

Tips on How to Take Part:

1.       Organize an #IPADay event at your brewery, brewpub, restaurant, bar, home, or office (Ex:  An IPA dinner/cheese pairing/comparative or educational tasting/cask night/tap takeover…). Share your events on the official #IPADay forum at http://www.ratebeer.com.

2.       On August 4th, share your photos, videos, blog posts, tasting notes, recipes, and thoughts with the world. Be sure to include the #IPADay hashtag in your posts Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress, RateBeer, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Untappd or any other social media site.

3.       See what other people are saying by searching “#IPADay” on Google, search.twitter.com, et cetera…

4.       Track down your favorite IPA’s, ones you’ve been meaning to try, and ones you’ve never heard of; share them with friends and share your thoughts with the world.

5.       Have a good time and know that by sharing your experiences online, you’re strengthening the craft beer community at large.

 

We have managed to team up with some of the UK's top craft beer outlets, The Port Street Beer House, Manchester, The Free Trade Inn, Newcastle, The Rake, London, The Southampton Arms, London, The Dean Swift, London,  Mr Foleys, & Northbar, Leeds ...  To run #IPADay events, mini fests, live blogging, tastings & more! Also being the week of The Great British Beer Festival what could tie in better with the UK's largest beer festival than a day dedicated to the world's most loved beer style!

 

You are encouraged to share links, blog & tweet about the event & above all use all types social media to promote International IPA Day on August 4th. The twitter hashtag is #IPADay.

Get involved in this Worldwide collaboration & give IPA it's very own day!!

Register Yourself on the Event Brite IPADay Page.

The Good Ship SWB Goes Port Side...

Monday July 25th sees the good ship SWB go Port Side, for an evening of exclusives, great beer & informal chat. We have the great honour of hosting The Port Street Beer House's FIRST 'Meet the Brewer' event, we are deeply honoured as we know the guys & gals at Port St. go to great lengths to be avante garde in everything they do, check out their fabulous American Beer Festival & the amazing beers they sourced in all formats.

The evening starting at 6pm is going to be one not to be missed, the beers we will be showcasing are:-

(Cask '7 C's of Rye', Rouge Hop, Valencia & Teleporter) 

(Keg 'Diablo IPA' *Exclusive* Summer of Saison 'Lime & Coriander' *Exclusive*) 

Port Street will be amongst the first to take 7 C's of Rye in cask form, & have national exclusives in the first ever kegs of Diablo & the first Summer of Saison brews (Lime & Coriander).

The event will kick off at 6pm sharp & will involve a tasting session of beers with an informal talk through by myself & Andy. Finishing by 8pm for casual drinks with whoever wishes to join us.

There are 60 tickets available, priced at £8 & they're available from the bar at Port St.

So come along & join us at arguably the North's finest cutting edge craft beer house for national exclusive beers & great conversation. We look forward to seeing you!

Your Beverage Needs You!

So this weekend saw the online beer Twitterati lay siege on Saturday Kitchen on BBC1 at 10am. The idea championed by Hardknott Dave & others using the #saturdaykitchen hashtag was to suggest beer to match foods that were being prepared on the show. The show has previously been entirely biased in only recommending wine matches to suit the food so much so it prompted Dave to make a complaint to Ofcom regarding the complete ignorance of beer as a versatile beverage suitable for food matching by the BBC.

I myself back Dave 100%, the point which he is trying to readdress is the fact that compared to beer, wine gets an inordinate amount of coverage by the national media.

As people who care about beer we saw something completely organic happen in our time lines on Twitter happen on Saturday. Something wonderful, something incredibly positive & a joy to behold. A huge number of beery twitter folk spontaneously backed Dave's suggestion by using the hashtag & taking part.

It was the use of social media at it's best, being used by a group of people who care about something enough to make their voices heard completely off the cuff. During the show there were approximately 1500 beer/food related tweets directed at the programme, recommending a huge diverse range of beers suitable for a range of dishes on the show.

These suggestions were almost certainly certainly picked up by the production team. Hopefully we will see some impact on the show & get the amazing cornucopia of exciting beers in the UK some national television coverage as a great & versatile accompaniment to food.

We may have already seen an acknowledgement from Olly Smith who is Saturday Kitchen's resident wine expert as this morning a piece about beer for wine lovers appeared in the The Mail. A piece for which Olly should be praised for as it brings some balance to the wine over beer coverage imbalance. You can & should follow him on twitter @jollyolly as he appreciates & is knowledgeable about his beer.

The main message that spoke volumes to me on Saturday was that for all of the negativity that permeates the online beer world it was incredibly refreshing & powerful to combine instantly over common ground to unite & the promote the beverage we all love!

When we unite together & fight under the beer banner we ARE capable of doing great things. I will certainly think twice before I publish any blog post in the future & ask myself;

'Will this forward the cause of beer or add value?'
'Or foster conflict & negativity?'

If it's the latter I will now think long & hard before hitting the publish button, I urge you to do the same. It IS possible to bring lots of new drinkers into the amazing world of modern British beer.

IF we talk about the positives!

See you next Saturday 10am sharp on Twitter with the hashtag #saturdaykitchen

If we get a result here, we can go elsewhere into getting Beer the coverage our national drink deserves.