Another thing keeping me busy is that I’m writing up thirty beers for a new coffee table book on great beers from around the world. This involves phoning the brewery to check a few facts and see if there are any nuggets of trivia that will make my (very late) copy more interesting.
Every small to medium sized brewery I have approached has referred me to the brewer. Whereas tomorrow I’m talking to a large multinational brewery tomorrow, and they’ve put me on to the brand marketing team.
I’ve got nothing against beer marketers. They pay me more to talk to them than publishers pay me for my books.
But I just thought the contrast was quite telling.
About 5 years ago, I had the astonishing good fortune to interview (by phone) the UK brand and marketing manager for (then) Anheuser-Busch. After each question, there was a slight pause, and I swear that I could hear him shuffling through a pile of papers for the correct scripted response.
After I was done asking all the sensible questions, I started asking increasing preposterous ones, culminating with "Are there any plans to release a bottle-conditioned version of Budweiser in the UK?"
Much to my delight, he had no idea what bottle-conditioning was, and when I explained it to him, there was a brief burst of paper shuffling, followed by a doubtful "Erm, I don't think there any plans to do that, no".
So Adrian got you to do your bit for the Magnum Opus too ? Considering the sheer scope of the book, it's going to read like a beer writer's directory – full-time or occasional. :oD