BRAPA is ..... WAITING FOR THE GREAT LEAP BACKWARDS (GBG 2024 IS HERE!)
Drop everything! The 2024 Good Beer Guide 'privilege scheme' copy has landed, one week before the official release date. Let the cross-ticking exercise commence.
Likely debuts for Ozan Toucan and Jean-Michael Celery in the 2023/24 season
Some people received their copies a week ago. It seems that it has been dispatched in two runs, one about Wed/Thu last week, and the same again this week.
My fellow tickers Eddie and Jim reported receiving theirs this morning as I travelled back from Hull, Rich in Notts swiftly followed, giving me renewed hope that today would be the day. But that was evaporating by 3:30pm when there's a knock at the door, and a square headed Yodel bloke from Luton passed me a rectangular package, and I just knew!
So why did some folk receive theirs a week before and why was I one of the unlucky second weekers? Initial speculation was that they'd been sent out in alphabetical order, but that didn't work.
The only correlation I can spot is that the older generation received their copies before the more youthful BRAPA types of this world. 'But why?' you may well ask. Well, because their little grey cells are harder, it takes them a bit longer to react to GBG events, so they need that extra time to digest the information. That is my theory and I'm sticking to it.
"How the blinkin' eck did THAT pub get in again?"
We now enter an embargo period until the official release date a week today, so my quest is cross-tick the whole thing by then, sneaking in the odd 'pre-emptive' tick between times. Late nights will be needed. Only lots of tea and fig rolls can save me now!
I lock down at 2680 pubs, that is 59.55% completion. 216 up for the year, better than both Covid years and my debut 2014 season. I'd have taken that last October.
But how much will I lose? 315 last year was a killer, I would like to think it will come in below 275 this year, but I think that might be optimistic.
Early signs have been promising though. In fact, the first county I ticked, Bedfordshire, I've actually made a gain of 2 without having visited the damn place all year! That's the progress we like.
In fact, none of 'East England' has been too bad, with the exception of Norfolk, which has been painful, but then it is even if you there in amongst it. East Yorkshire has been decent too. I'm going to get stuck into West Yorkshire and Scotland before Neighbours and bed!
My final tick of the 2022/23 season - Golden Acorn, Glenrothes
See you next Thursday morning where we'll see what the damage is, and I'll give you an idea of the counties I'm going to concentrate on in the 2023/34 season. Wish me luck!
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