Q & A with Pete Brown (Author)

Over the last several years Pete Brown has travelled the world and drank beer. The fruits of his labors are two extremely entertaining books; Man Walks into a Pub and Three Sheets to the Wind. Currently, while running his own marketing consulting firm and also keeping up his beer blog, Pete is writing another fascinating book about beer (IPAs in particular). That is obviously a lot of work (almost all of it devoted to beer no less!) so I am thankful that he was nice enough to take some time to answer some of my questions.

Cheers Pete!

(RHP) Your career is pretty much centered around beer, both as a writer and a marketing consultant, when you have a chance to unwind on a Friday evening what is your beer(s) of choice?

(PB) The first pint on a Friday would ideally be a well-kept Timothy Taylor’s Landlord – just a perfect session pint, not too strong, perfectly balanced. It goes down so well it virtually evaporates from the glass!

(RHP) In Man Walks into a Pub, you really did a lot of soul searching for the British beer drinking populous. What do you think was the most interesting thing you learned about the history of beer in the UK? Anything odd?

(PB) There were so many. When I started Man Walks into a Pub I was only going to do a couple of chapters on the history of beer, and then spend most of the book talking about modern-day advertising campaigns. But the history just kept growing until it took over the whole book.

Overall, I was fascinated by the role that beer plays throughout our entire history – how it helped win and lose wars, build industry, drive technology, and keep us alive.

(RHP) Three Sheets to the Wind was a great read as both a travelogue and a history guide, you definitely went a lot of places but were there any that you wish you could have added to the quest?

(PB) I had a much longer list of countries I wanted to get to but I ran out of time and money. The three places I was really gutted about missing out were Russia, Brazil and Nigeria. I’ve since been to Russia, but only overnight, and I got to spend a week checking out Brazil as part pf my next book. But the Guinness drinking culture in Nigeria is something I’m still looking forward to experiencing one day.

(RHP) As an American, I'm always interested to learn another perspective on our beer culture and how it compares to others. What do you think are some of the biggest difference between our two beer drinking cultures?

(PB) From a global perspective our two cultures are more similar than most – we have similar attitudes to beer and alcohol in general. But the biggest difference would be around ale and craft beer. The American scene is so optimistic and forward-looking, and so you get ale being quite cool and fashionable, and lots of experimentation taking place by brewers. Here ale was a tradition that almost died out, and we fought to preserve it, so the industry is still quite backward-looking – it’s all about keeping old traditions alive. This makes us less experimental. And we have a downer on our own old traditions – so a bottle of Bud here would be regarded as far higher quality by many drinkers than, say, a pint of Landlord or a Sam Smith’s Oatmeal stout. The Bud would certainly cost a lot more. The craft brew movement in the US took its inspiration from British ale brewing – now we’re starting to see some signs that Britain is finally starting to learn from the US.

(RHP) Your trip to the US in Three Sheets to the Wind had you visiting NYC, Milwaukee and Portland, Oregon. Were there any beers that you had over here that really stood out in your mind?

(PB) Bridgeport IPA was my first love. I know there are better IPAs out there and more extreme IPAs out there, but Portland was the first time I ever experienced that piney, grassy, citrus fruit hit of North American hops, and something like that never tastes as good as it did the first time. Nowadays I’m a huge admirer of what Dogfish Head are doing – I just wish we could get their beers over here!

(RHP) I've heard that you are writing a third book to do with beer. What is that one going to be about? Any idea when it will be availble?

(PB) It’s my epic recreation of the voyage of India Pale Ale, from Burton-on-Trent to Calcutta by sea, via the Cape of Good Hope. I did the travel between September and December last year and am now deep in to finishing off my first draft. As well as the travel element, I’ve been into the archives and I’ll be dispelling a few myths about IPA, telling the story as it’s never been told before. Hopefully this one will get a US publication deal, and we’re looking at spring 2009 as a release date. Hope it all works out because I’d love a reading tour across the States, trying as many IPAs as I can!

Pete Brown's books: