The new way of life we have all adopted during lockdown has changed our way of being, and how we view the outside world. John Keeling is no different but, when the time is right, he’s raring to get back on the road, meet friends both old and new, and see what pleasures the UK has to offer.

Well there are positives in everything, so I told myself. Where are the positives in lockdown, then? I can find lots of negatives, chief of which are the loss of friends but also when I look at the world outside my personal bubble I see everything has changed.

The travel industry, music, theatre, cinema and of course, the one I have spent my life in, the brewing industry. They are all linked by the transmission of this dreadful disease through human contact. So, let’s be positive and imagine a world where there is a free vaccine for all and mixing with people does not risk a death sentence.

Well, I for one will be down the pub drinking a pint of cask and maybe having a pie and chips, too. Looking up all my friends and living life to the full. However, I want to do more. I have been inspired to take a road trip around Britain, to meet new friends, and try new beers in their own local habitat (where naturally they are at their best).

So, as soon as lockdown is over and the risk of Covid-19 has been diminished, I’ll be off. I am planning to stay in locations which I can use as basecamps for little trips into the local area. The first basecamp of the first leg of my trip will be Exeter, then Shrewsbury, Liverpool and Glasgow before returning to London via Manchester to wash some clothes to get ready for the second leg. I will stay in each basecamp for about four days giving me ample opportunity to visit local breweries, pubs and do some sight-seeing, too.

My first stop will be Exeter, I intend to visit St. Austell and have a beer in memory of Roger Ryman who I regard as the best of my generation of brewers. I also want to visit Palmers and hope to bump into Darren the head brewer.
Now I have visited both of these before so it will bring back some good memories however the idea behind my trip is to try the new as well. 

I think Utopian Brewing are within an easy drive of Exeter so why not give them a visit? Sounds a good idea to me. 

Of course, I will have to do some sight-seeing too, just to keep my driver and baggage handler Symone happy. Glad she never reads these articles.

The next base camp will be Shrewsbury, somewhere I have never visited but having been a fan of Cadfael, it’s somewhere I have always wanted to visit. I definitely want to visit Charles Faram, the hop merchants to see my old friend Paul Corbett. Fuller’s have always been a big user of Worcester/Hereford hops and I remember many a visit to the Teme valley. 

Shrewsbury is a good location from which to explore Wales and I am strangely drawn to Monty’s Brewery and that will be a nice drive too, with hopefully a good lunch as well. Just like I am strangely drawn to breweries Symone is strangely drawn to scenic railway trips. She is always watching them on the TV, and I know there is one in Wales she wants to go on, I just have to find out which one it is. 

I can also get into one of those kill two birds with one stone situations by visiting The Bailey Head pub, which has some great reviews but is also situated next to a heritage railway.

My third base camp will be Liverpool. On my list to visit is definitely my old friend Allan Rogerson from ABM. ABM were the first company we used to computer automate Fullers brewery starting in the late 80’s. Theirs is and still is the best software I have come across for brewery automation. I have known Julie and Les O’Grady for some time now.

But I have never visited their brewery, Neptune. I think I will put that right on this trip. We can also use Liverpool as a base to explore North Wales. There are obviously some classic pubs in Liverpool, and it is the home of the Beatles, so some music nostalgia is in order. I won’t be short of things to do.

On the way to our next basecamp, Glasgow, we will stop in the lake district for a day, we both have visited in the past so we will spend some time revisiting old favourites. Now I know Symone wants to visit the Kelpies whilst we are in Glasgow. I think I might need a beer after visiting them, so I hope there is a good pub nearby.

Glasgow is a place I have visited but never stayed overnight so a fun four-day exploration is in order. One place I definitely have to visit is Simple Things Fermentations who have been kind enough to invite me. 

Finally, we’ll stop off in Manchester. I will be visiting brothers and friends for a catch up.  I definitely want a pint with Tandleman and I need to meet Edd Mather to talk about Wilsons brewery with him. I’ll try to pop into J. W. Lees, too.

Once we have had a brief rest at home, we will set off for the second leg hopefully visiting Brighton, Kent then into East Anglia, looking in on Lincoln, definitely visiting Newcastle and Edinburgh. I have got to fit somewhere in Yorkshire as well. Looks like I will have to do some thinking. How do I fit in the Highlands and Northern Ireland, too. Blimey, that looks like I’ll need a third leg?

So much to do and only the rest of my life to do it.