This is the first of what will be a short series of occasional, vaguely entertaining posts relating to some individuals I would like to nominate as a Beer Hero.
What is a Beer Hero realalein140? I hear you cry (note for new readers: artistic licence is employed to the full on a regular basis in this blog, it has to be or I'd just be asking myself questions, which gets a bit boring after a while).
Loosely defined, and lets face it, loosely is about as good as it gets around here - it's a bit like being a superhero. Except I don't require anyone to wear their pants outside of their normal clothes, or indeed actually have any super powers.
What a Beer Hero does have in common with a superhero, is that they have to have a clear link with a place. Batman has Gotham City, Superman bosses Metropolis, Spiderman dosses around New York, and Supergran I think is probably drawing her pension in Edinburgh. Frankly, I can't be arsed to double check that last fact, so if it is wrong (and how many of you are googling it already, shame on you, your attention span is rubbish), please don't bother letting me know in the comments.
I'm not sure if there is a precedent for superheroes living in the same city, but I'm presuming it leads to some sort of ruckus. Again, I'm not taking this to extremes and so will not be employing this as part of the criteria.
Wow, I've really weakened the superhero analogy here. Anyway, I've started typing now, so you'll have to bear with me, no matter how tortuous it gets.
Ok, so maybe a dictionary style definition would help?
Beer Hero
/bi(e)r/ /h'(e)ro/
A person that Realalein140 has nominated to be one.
Phew, well, I'm glad that cleared that up.
Anyway, onwards and outwards (you may have noticed from my videos that upwards isn't a thing with which I have every really engaged).
Today's beer hero is a Beer Hero for Cardiff.
Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you Ali, the proprietor of Discount Supermarket in Roath, Cardiff.
It's an unassuming looking place from the outside - and I don't think enough is made of the fact that there is beer inside. That's not a criticism by the way and clearly I'm biased, but the point I'm making is that you might walk past without incident if you didn't know what was inside.
Ali has created a little beer haven. In this shop in the last few months, I have rekindled my love of finding something new, from what might be a fancy London brewery, one of the brilliant west-country brewers (e.g. Bristol Beer Factory) or an established northern one (Saltaire), but there is a massive range, I've even started working my way through the saisons and various Belgian brews. To top it all, there is a brilliant range of American beer available, with brewers like Ska Brewing, and Anchor making regular appearances. You want Danish beer? Icelandic beer? Jamaican beer? Welsh beer? He's got them all.
I've had my first tastes of Beavertown, Brodies, Partizan and Weird Beard from this place. They are all sublime, and I can't believe it took as long as it did to get them in my belly.
So - the man himself? Who is this masked crusader? Is he a bird? Is he a plane? (Ok, I'll stop) This is him...
The final piece of the Beer Hero jigsaw is that he knows his stuff and he remembers the regulars. What more could you ask of a Beer Hero? Especially one who is only only 8.5 miles from my doorstep.
This photo was taken under duress and on the hop, I will be filming at some point soon with him, so you'll get to see the shop and Ali almost live and on Youtube if you keep your eyes peeled.
Ali, I salute you, and all who buy beer in your shop.
Until the next blog post, cheers.
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