Featured Beer Blogger: SIMON JOHNSON

DRINK WITH THE WENCH PRESENTS:

The Beer Blogger Interview Series

Curious what goes on in the minds of your favorite beer bloggers? Well, The Beer Wench is and she has embarked upon a mission to interview as many beer bloggers that she can — from all over the world. Are you a beer blogger? Do you want to share your story? Send me an email!

INTRODUCING: SIMON JOHNSON

AUTHOR OF: RELUCTANT SCOOPER

Full name: Simon Haddon Johnson
Internet nickname: Reluctant Scooper or haddonsman
Twitter handle: @reluctantscoop
Name of blog: Reluctant Scooper
Current location: In front of a PC having a beer. Duh

Background “Snapshot”

1. Where did you grow up?

Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. Birthplace of writer D H Lawrence. We both left to seek our artistic muse – he went to Mexico, I moved ten miles down the road to Derby.

2. What sports if any did you play growing up, through college and beyond?

Rugby, volleyball, cricket, badminton. Then I discovered beer.

3. How old were you when you had your first beer?

Probably my late teens – my first love was cider. I used to spend summer holidays by the sea in Devon drinking suicidally strong, cloudy cider.

4. If you can recall, what is the story of your first beer? Where did you have it? What style and brand was it?

It was Guinness – in my village pub (The Vaults). I ordered it because they ran out of cider and I recognised the name.

5. Where, if applicable, did you go to college? What did you study? What additional activities, organizations, sports did you partake in during college?

I studied Geography and International Politics at Staffordshire University, mainly for the field trips. I held the ‘most rollmops you can eat before puking’ award, Rotterdam 1989 . A few years later I picked up a Masters degree in Human Resource Management. I was clearly very bored in the nineties.

Craft Beer Epiphany

Every craft beer enthusiast has at least one pinnacle craft beer experience that completely changes ones perspective on beer. I refer to this mind-blowing moment as a “craft beer epiphany.”

1. What was your first craft beer epiphany? Recall as many details about it as you can:

The bar of the Grande Hotel Oude Burg in Brugge, Easter 2004. I’d written onto a card the names of ten beers that the guide books recommended to try when in Belgium. On the first night, I ventured into ‘happy hour’ at the hotel bar, saw a tap with a beer name I recognised and ordered a pint of it. The barman told me that I’d pronounced it like I was French and the beer was only served in a tulip glass, not a pint. After that, we got on like a house on fire. I drank Duvel for most of the evening. And then the barman said; ‘What else is on that list….” The rest, as they say, is history.

2. Have you have additional craft beer epiphanies since the first? Detail as many of them as you wish:

The first time I drank hot, sweet wort at Thornbridge brewery. Stood amongst the steam and the sounds, fingers sticky from weighing hops, I began truly to appreciate the art and science of brewing.

Beer Blog Background

1. How long have you been writing your beer blog?

July 2007, on and off.

2. What inspired you to start writing your blog?

Mark Edwards (Maeib on ratebeer) was writing one and I knew I could be funnier

3. Why did you chose the name of your blog?

A scooper in the UK beer scene is someone who chases after new beers. I used to, but more often preferred to drink what I know and love. Given the choice, I’d take a beer I love over a new one, hence, Reluctant Scooper.

4. What are you personal goals for your blog? What do you hope to achieve with it?

“Have a good time, all the time”

5. What is one of the coolest things that happened to you as a result of being a beer blogger?

Be invited to brew with commercial brewers. When I say ‘brew’, I do of course mean ‘clean the mash tun out and make the tea’.

6. What are you top 3 favorite beer blogs/beer websites?

Zythophile (for the history), Scoopgen (for the attitude), ratebeer (for the banter)

Beer Talk

1. What are your top 3 favorite beer styles?

Cold ones, large ones, free ones I’m not hooked up on style.

2. What are your top 3 favorite breweries?

Today? Thornbridge, Hopshackle, De Molen.

3. If you could work with or for any one brewery, which one would it be and why?

Thornbridge – I love their attitude and ambition.

4. Are you a homebrewer? If yes, what is the most unique and interesting beer recipes you’ve brewed as a homebrewer?

Almost – the problem with being invited to brew commercially is that I can’t be arsed to homebrew. I really ought to as homebrew gives you the opportunity to experiment madly.

5. Do you have any beer certifications (BJCP, Cicerone, Siebel, American Brewers Guild)?? If so, what are they?

No. Beer understanding isn’t about a syllabus.

6. What is your favorite beer and food pairing?

IPA and pizza. Anything else can border upon pretention (unless you’re Sean Paxton. His menus rock).

The Personal Side

1. What is your current day job?

Marketing analyst for a business consultancy company. Yes, I do own a pair of red braces.

2. If you could change your career at this very moment, without any restrictions on what you could do, what would you want to do and why?

Absolutely nothing. I like to see how things work out.

3. Are you married? Children?

Yes. No

4. Outside of beer and writing, what are some of your other hobbies?

Juggling. Pickling eggs. Knitting mittens out of navel lint.

Off The Beaten Path

1. If you were a style of beer, what style would be an why?

Barley wine; feisty and headstrong when young, nuttier with age, best kept in a dark cupboard.

2. You were caught smuggling beer illegally, which has now been made punishable by death. Right before you are sent to the executioner, you are offered one last beer. What beer would you chose and why?

Bud. I’m going to hell so I may as well start practising…

3. If I contracted you to brew a beer (or design a beer recipe) called “The Beer Wench” — what style would you chose and what, if any, extra ingredients would you add?

Something young and sassy – perhaps a madly over-hopped pale ale

4. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

I’d be Duff Man, only barrel-aged. Able to turn watery stouts into imperial gods with a single thrust of the hips. Oh Yeah!!

5. What is one of the craziest things you have ever done and lived to tell the story?

Walking into a MacDonalds dressed as a clown, shouting ‘Ronald says all the burgers are FREE!!!’ and then nearly getting crushed in the stampede to the counter.

6. What are your thoughts on bacon?

A week without beer is excusable; a week without bacon is unforgivable