What every good microbrewer should know
The assembled group comprised a smattering of the great and the good of the cask-beer world.
The location was the Edgar Wallace pub in the centre of London, just up from Victoria Embankment.
And it could so easily have been an appropriate setting for one of the crime novels written by Wallace, the prolific author who gave his name to the pub.
Among the characters present were Michael Hardman, one of the founders of the Campaign for Read Ale (Camra) and spokesman for the Society of Independent Brewers (Siba); Roger Protz, Morning Advertiser beer writer and editor of Camra's Good Beer Guide; Carlola Brown, Siba past president and the boss of Ballard's Brewery in West Sussex; Ted Bruning, former editor of Camra newspaper What's Brewing and now a freelance journalist; veteran microbrewer Martin Kemp of Pitfield Brewery, in Essex, fame; Nigel Farmer of Farmers Ales, also in Essex; Roy Crutchley and Julie Hogg of Hoggleys Brewery, Northants, and many more of that ilk.
They were gathered to celebrate the launch of a landmark and ground-breaking book about brewing, The Microbrewers' Handbook.
And a very worthy cause it is too, providing a beginners' guide to starting your own microbrewery; giving the lowdown on developing skills, raising finance and finding premises; showing how to obtain the correct equipment and brewing recipes; offering advice on design promotion and marketing; and listing a handy directory of services and suppliers.
In other words, this little treasure sets out to be a one-stop shop to show the way ahead for would-be microbrewing candidates to set up their own businesses.
So, who dunnit? Well, Snifter didn't need to hone his sleuthing skills to get to the bottom of that one. A quick peek between the covers reveals that the book was indeed written by King Edward VII-lookalike Ted Bruning - and interestingly the foreword was penned by Dame Helen Mirren-lookalike Carola Brown.
And what did the throng drink to salute the birth of this new tome? Nothing less, indeed, than a barrel of Pitfield's finest bitter.
The Microbrewers' Handbook is published by Navigator Guides at £7.95. Visit www.navigatorguides.com or call 01263 861141.
