by Robin Cowlyn
The idea of a bottle share had been discussed in the before times but took on an almost mythic quality during the first lockdown.
When Mick from The Free Trade Inn was delivering beer to me when I was shielding, we would chat – me in the doorway, him at the end of the drive. One of the things we discussed was what we would do when things got back to normal and what came up was the idea of a bottle share. The idea of a group of people getting together to enjoy some good beer was very appealing; as I said it achieved an almost mythic quality. So time passed, we talked about the possibility but there were the restrictions, the outside only, the social distancing.
However, as Christmas 2021 grew nearer Mick felt that there was a possibility we could do it.
As I’d thought about it, it seemed that the bottle share might offer an opportunity to be more; that if sufficient people were interested we could use it to raise some money for charity. The Free Trade has a long-term relationship with the Westgate Ark Cat Homing Centre charity, who are housed in Arthur’s Hill in a building in which I previously worked for about 14 years (if that isn’t fate I don’t know what is), so that was obviously a candidate for receiving any money we raised. I was also really impressed with what I read about Men’s Pie Club after Danny from McColl’s Brewery started brewing ‘Let’s Eat Pies…’ and they are also based in the North East, so I decided we would split the money 50/50 between the two.
The Bottle Share
So here’s the concept – yes it’s a bottle share and it would be great if you could bring a bottle to share but as we are asking for a charity donation of £10. I (BombGirl) will provide enough bottles to make the ticket price worth your while. The idea is that even if you don’t bring a bottle, for your £10 buy-in donation, you’ll get to try some interesting beers and ciders.
My stash has got out of hand and I’ll never be able to drink it all so I’m going to put a significant number of bottles and cans in. Mick has said we can use The Free Trade as the venue, and that he will provide a magnum for us all to share.
The bottle share takes place on Sunday 23rd January from 3pm, see you there!
Guest blog post by Robin Cowlyn. Tickets for the bottle share are £10 with all of the money raised going to charity and being split between Men’s Pie Club and Westgate Ark.
Check out more from Robin Small Moments of Bliss and In Search of the Perfect Pils, or follow his journey over on Twitter at @BombGirl.