"Bring a growler" suggested the Station House landlady. Well I dont have a dog so after some brief research a light bulb went on in my head. Of course - an empty carton for a takeaway.This was on the 17th March, a mere 2 weeks ago. This seems like a lifetime away and it was the last night I was in a pub.
My growler was an empty 2 pint cider flagon, so came away with 2 pints of cider in a flagon, sorry growler. Told Mrs Ken when I got in as likes the odd cider so I said, "Well that's Ok, a pint each then " " But I'll be asleep after a half!" " Dont worry about it, I can manage yours !"
Preempting the apocalypse, two days later I was at Maxim brewery stocking up. 2 mini casks and 12 bottles of Maximus should keep me going I thought. I set up a little bar in the garage ( pictured). It wont win any prizes for ambience, but keeps the beer cool. The only drawback is having to keep nipping out to top up, especially if watching the telly.
My birthday is 5 weeks before Xmas and family and friends had gifted me with plenty of bottles. Then came Xmas and more booze! So a quick stock check revealed I had enough to keep me going for a few weeks from when the inevitable was going to happen.
Sure enough, 23rd March -the inevitable happened - Lockdown Day. A couple of days later came the news that takeaway beer from a brewery was classed as essential items. Quite right to. There was news that supermarkets were restricting sales (well sort of). You could only buy 3 bottles of beer (3 items) but you could buy 3 multipacks of pissy lager, - 36 cans ....3 items, work that one out !
Anyhow, back to Maxim for some more bottles - Raspberry Porter.....this lockdown could last a while so best to be prepared. It is safe to say I now have more bottled beer in the house than toilet rolls now !
Ive gone through the first minicask and am looking forward to the next one ( Cherry Stout) next weekend.
Last night late on I opened a bottle of Robinsons Old Tom. At 8.5% this is a fantastic beer and made a great nightcap. Clearing up after, Mrs Ken said , "You've left some in the bottle". Panic set in until I realised all that was left was the size of a single raindrop. I think she was taking the piss.
So that was March. Hope to do this every month from now on till normality returns.
Cheers .
