My very own beer, even if I can't drink it!

It is with immense joy that I announce that I am expecting my first baby, due on the 8th September 2012. We and the hubby really happy and thank you all for the well wishes and congratulations we have already received.

But what happens to a real ale girl if she can’t drink, I hear you cry? Well, she drinks a lot of tomato juice and goes to bed early, in reality.

However, it isn’t all slippers and soft drinks- I am determined to keep in the beer world loop an actually, there is a lot of beer fun to be had without actually drinking it.

Brewing it, for a start. I wrote a month or so ago about my trip with Jane Peyton and Marverine Cole to Brewster’s brewing co. in Grantham Lincolnshire, to spend the day brewing. Three weeks ago, at Tap East, we and a lot of beer loving friends (and some other who just came to be supportive!) cracked open two casks of that very beer, Chocolate Cyn, a chocolate an cinnamon porter style beer which went down a storm. I allowed myself a half, which my pregnant body found difficult to actually drink, and so despite they absolute deliciousness of the beer, that half lasted me all night. It’s going to save me a lot of money, this pregnancy lark.

Since the fun and success of the launch party, the beer has been available in The Rake and three Fuller’s pubs: The Mad Bishop & Bear, Paddington Station; The Victoria, Bayswater and The Artillery Arms near the Barbican. I’m currently awaiting for a delivery from Brewster’s of a couple of cases of bottles (so that I can drink more than a few sips once the baby is born!) while a shipment of quite a few bottles is winging its way to Fuller’s brewery shop in Chiswick.

Once again, I’d like to say thanks to Brewster’s for letting us loose on the brewery, to Tap East and the lovely Glyn for hosting the launch, to Fuller’s for supporting and selling the beer since, and of course, to my beer brewing buddies, Sara, Jane and Marverine. When are we doing it again? (If it after September, we’ll have a mini person for extra company!)

Oh, and thank you to Susanna Forbes and the Cocktail Scholars chaps for the lovely photos.