Simple Pleasures and The Joy of Community
And Cheese ....
(Apologies to Subscribers - I pulled the piece to re-edit!)
When The Boss and I returned from a group trip to Edinburgh in late February 2020, little did we know the depth of change around the corner…. For ourselves, yes. For our friends, absolutely, but for the industry that I love, Brewing & Hospitality generally, that change was stark.
My friends and I? We adapted. We had to. We looked after each other, kept in regular contact via phone, then Google Meets, then Zoom chats. Every Friday, we'd meet up, have a beer, chuckle. Some of us still do.
For breweries and beer outlets, it looked like the Apocalypse.
But then, webshops and direct sales. Online MTBs and the like. We even had 2 Virtual ISBFs!
One afternoon, I was persuaded to join in on a Twitch chat. Hosted by Tom's Tap and Brewhouse & Primordial Radio.
Just a beer or 3.
I hadn't bought the package of beers, so felt like a fraud, but I was struck by the sense of Community. Like minded people, coming together, chatting about not just music, but stuff. And it felt like the next best thing to being in a pub.
Then I heard tell of a Cheese Night….
I was coloured intrigued. I love beer. I love cheese. What could be finer than indulging myself whilst helping two small businesses?
I soon became hooked.
At Tom's Tap, in Crewe, Sean Ayling - and his then brewer, Chad - brew some of the finest beer in the UK. And I'm happy to die on that hill. Pale Ales, Stouts, WC IPAs, Barley Wines, Sours. Across the entire beer spectrum of styles, they make excellent beers.
(Those who were at ISBF8 - and attended the WC IPA tasting - know all too well how EXCEPTIONAL Sean's WC IPAs are)
The operation is tiny. But what Sean & Jacqui had done - up to that point - was build something a little special. Something that - for a fledgling small business - was needed to survive.
Community.
Those Cheese Nights (with Nick from Nantwich Cheese Shop - if you live anywhere close, you really should go!) had been going a while before I started. And that was obvious from the first one I “attended”.
You see, everyone seemed to know each other. But not in a closed way, they welcomed newcomers with open arms. It felt like home.
This “home” became a monthly routine of joy and anticipation.
Purchase.
Email re dispatch.
A small box turning up with 5 half litre cans of joy and 5 paper wrapped parcels of delight.
I thought I knew cheese. How wrong I was.
Rupert Reserve, Vieux Cantal, Baron Bigod, Alp Blossom….. Names I'd never heard. Flavours I'd never forget.
I never even knew that there WAS such a thing as Single Gloucester! (And it was utterly delicious….)
And I almost daren't mention the sublime oozyness that is Delice de Borgogne. 🤤🤤🤤
Nick is a star. Through these nights - and the enthusiasm & knowledge of himself and Sean, I've learned so much about cheese and - via Sean's skills - learned to match my favourite drinks with my favourite food.
These nights are Unmissable.
But. As simply magnificent as these Cheese Nights are, with the most lovely bunch of people, there's more to Tom's Tap - and Sean & Jacqui - than that.
What they've done, in a little Taproom in Crewe (15 minutes walk from the Train Station) is build a fabulous sense of community.
I'm an infrequent visitor. But what has struck me, during these infrequent visits, is that this isn't just a place that people come to drink.
There's a palpable sense of ‘belonging’. A sense of place that you just don't get everywhere. A warmth that only the best of Local's have.
The beers are simply exceptionally good - not any old brewery can win Beer of the Festival at The Independent Salford Beer Festival (ISBF) you know.
But it's not just the beer.
Through Comedy Nights, Rock, Indie & Goth Nights, continuing online events, there's an emotional edifice that has been carefully built.
There's a warmth, inclusiveness, an embrace to the place. A hug.
That's Sean & Jacqui.
Speaking of “Comedy Nights”, Did I tell you the one about Ed Byrne? 🤣
Back soon.
Be kind to one another.
Jx
You’ve really captured what’s so special about Tom’s (and cheese) 🧀 🍻