After a day at the Spring Fair in Birmingham I have to take my hat off to retailers everywhere. I had no idea you had to go through so much pain to fill your shelfs with object d’art. We’re doing more and more retail related ecommerce and software systems so we figured a trip to the UK’s leading retail fare would be a good idea. We wanted to get a glimpse of what our clients get up to and get a bit of an education. We are now educated.
The show spreads across endless halls at the NECC like a giant Gift Shop that has rather over bought. Greeting cards by the mile – just how a retailer decides what and who to buy from bewildered me. I worked hard to avoid opening the little doors on enough Advent Calendars to last to the next millenium, some looking like little cardboard works of art. Glazed pottery and ornaments featuring everything from comic Bassets to a bronzed Santas Sledge being pulled by 6 reindeer. Kitchenware, knives, kettles, plates, spoons, you name it if you had enough time and enough corn plasters for your aching feet you would find it. Enough Halloween stuff to make you think that we all live on Elm Street.
But the one product that stood out for me was The Beer Machine – http://www.beermachine.com/ - promising litres of beer for pennies for an initial investment of less than a hundred quid. I saw a couple of guys actually taking them away from the stand such was their enthusiasm for saving a few quid and for moving into the brewing business. As a teenager I once bought a Boots Homebrew kit and with the help of a plastic bucket and my mothers airing cupboard successfully made the bed linen smell of a musty yeasty smell for several weeks. The resultant brew was completely unlike any other drink I have ever tasted. In the end it was used to clean the drains – not a success, though no doubt due to my lack of proper equipment, temperature, patience, skill etc etc.
So the Beer Machine, a little pressurised barrel of a device with things to twiddle with - simply mix some stuff with water and wait till it’s ready. Sounds ideal. Love it. Though I did resist the temptation to take one away. In these cost conscious times I’m sure it will do really well with home brew wannabees everywhere. I wonder if they do one for Chianti Classico?
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