What annoyed me most in the end was the sheer disingenuousness of all the “of course the celebrity names won’t shift units in this tough market” talk.

(“The boys” were suitably contrite – for the only time in the whole series – when the beer tester failed their homebrewed pints.)

things that annoyed me = 1. their basic dilettante sloppiness (basically they need the brewer’s equiv of gordon ramsay breathing fire at them for their lazy mimsiness: “do you want to do this or not? if not FUCK OFF”); 2. morrissey’s pleased-with-self ref to the amount of time he wouldn;t have to help ftb he is an FAMOUS ACTOR

obv this is a set-up to sell a more interesting programme hidden inside it, viz what exactly goes on in a successful micro-brewery — except the makers believe it needs a “structure of quest” and well-known-ladfaces for viewers to stay tuned to the nittygritty — but the lesson of the watchability of hell’s kitcehn usa and kitchen nightmares is that the ultradetail of “how to get it right” is married, in science and art, to an ethic of “doing it badly should HURT YOU THE SCIENTIST/ARTIST — in your heart if not your pocket”

all this heehee it’s-a-lark-innit amateurism is an insult to the foax (doubtless naff and uncharismatic, mediawise) who already do this well, an insult dressed up as a tribute

(edited to add: something else that put me off buying it was that, on watching the programme, I remembered the focus group only wanting men and the APPALLING SEXISM of it all etc etc)

There was plenty of conversation about Neil Morrissey’s “image” made in the focus group including me telling a tale about his Crouch End days. Only afterwards did I consider he might be in the room next door. Oh well, if they wanted their revenge they could have pointed out that despite being quite disparaging of the beer, I drank far and away the most of it!

Oh and one other hint for anyone doing any kind of taste test. Always claim you get notes of elderflower. Its the kind of bollocks people always fall for!