Well we’ve been taken aback by the positive response we’ve had at our early season events. The nods of approval from beer aficionados are nice, but nothing beats witnessing a ‘real life’ beer conversion. The man or woman who tentatively points at the label, cannot even bring themselves to announce the name of the beer, just about managing to suppress their internal annoyance at a lack of household names on the bar. Their first sip then visibly transforms them into an inquisitive enthusiast bursting with questions and waxing lyrical about how good ‘this’ tastes. I don’t want to proclaim the Hop Box staff on some sort of missionary crusade, nor can I take much credit for the great beer craft brewers are providing, but we’re making our own small contribution – we’re converting people. If you can just save one life, rescue one sole from the grips of mass market blandness in a can, then you’ve done your bit – right?
Its not all been Hugs and Kisses though. The rather erratic weather has occasionally made for some dreary customers and regularly left the jockey wheel of the horse box rooted firmly in the sodden earth. There’s nothing like finishing a 10 hour shift with an hours humping of a 1 tonne horse box (only a mild exaggeration).
Waiting for the stampede
We must also admit that we have some refining to do, the scarcity of diet soft drinks, the childish blackboard handwriting and the lack of oft mentioned Hop garlands on the bar will all soon be corrected. Though we cannot and will not apologise for the horse related jokes that will continue to be a key feature of the summer ahead.
We look forward to seeing you at future events, and to keep you interested we’ve included some select shots from recent events at The English Festival Medway and Goose Green Festival. Look out for twitter updates @thehopbox for where we are appearing next.
Long awaited sunshine
