Last week's Uppers & Downers event in London was special to me for a number of reasons. The beers were fantastic, of course, and each brewer in attendance added to the energy in the room each time they enthusiastically poured some beers for the waiting crowd. Bringing together the UK's coffee and beer communities under one roof felt important in that the two cultures have so much in common, but rarely spend time geeking out over the same things at the same time. I very much doubt it'll be the last time we all party together.
Perhaps the most significant moment though, was when I saw GBH founder Michael Kiser jump behind the bar and start doling out pours himself. Here, he holds court with a group of folks attending from our Fervent Few community. They'd made their way to the festival from all over the UK, as well as Ireland, and even as far as San Francisco. I remember when the Fervent Few was just an idea floating around in Kiser's head, but here he was entertaining members of that community IRL, members who directly support GBH—not just financially, but also in the voices they add to both our site and our podcast via their very own Slack channel.
Thanks to all the folks who attended Uppers & Downers London, including the brewers and roasters, Bleecker Burger for keeping us fed and, of course, the members of the Fervent Few who came to party with us. Special thanks go to the folks at Brew By Numbers for letting us fill their space with more than 100 totally wired coffee and beer enthusiasts. Let's do it all over again next year, eh?
