Goatee Phil's Beer Blog

Where I'm at Well, let's be honest. I feel in much better shape at the start of 2024 than I did this time last year. I had just been diagnosed with cancer and I had no idea what the prognosis would be. I only knew that I felt grim. You can tell how grim by looking at the picture here. This was taken in early March, at the newly opened Drop Bar in Brighton's Open Market. It had been my intention to go from there to the Amex, to watch Brighton thrash West Ham (which they did - the score was 4-0) but I felt too sick. Instead, I went home and spent the rest of the weekend in bed. Twelve months further on and I am now on medication which is making a difference. And I feel a whole lot better!  But what the whole experience made me realise was that perhaps, at 70 years of age, it was time I considered retirement so, at the end of October, I finally gave up work. I'd recommend it. Drinking around Now that my health has stabilised, holidays are back on the agenda. We managed tw

 Another day, another scan, another beer Outside the Royal Sussex Hospital My last blog entry was many months ago, and it was written not long after I had been diagnosed with cancer. At that time I had no idea how treatment would affect my ability, or inclination, to drink beer but it seemed highly likely that there would be an impact. Little did I know how quickly that would happen, and also why. Alcohol is liable to interfere with the effects of many medications, but it wasn’t that that stopped me drinking. Once I began treatment, I just didn’t fancy beer, or anything at all, food included. That loss of appetite was the worst side effect of the drug that was prescribed for me – Osimertinib, if you want to look it up. Paradoxically, the other major side effects eventually worked in my favour. After two months of the drug, I suddenly noticed a significant increase in breathlessness, and I reported it to my GP. Twenty four hours later, a chest X-ray and MRI scan revealed an inflammati

  What's occurring, Phil? Phil "relaxing" in hospital It had an already been an odd, unsatisfactory year for me beerwise when we reached December and it was time to look back and reflect. I hadn't sorted out my typical drinking week post-COVID, largely because I was still working mostly from home. When I did make it to the pub I generally drank cask, which was fine, but I was becoming increasingly disappointed with the beers I drank at home. The IPA style seems increasingly be dominated by hazy or New England IPAs and very few seemed to stand out, even amongst the Double IPAs. My other go-to style, the imperial stouts, were too often sweet, although I did discover the wonders of Pohjala, the jewel of Estonia, and their extraordinary portfolio of strong, dark beers. But into this scenario of alcoholic frustration came a medical condition even more alarming than COVID - the  Big C. Cancer. I had been suffering with back ache for several months before a face-to-face GP a