Well, well, well, here we are with a slightly late second installment of Pints & Perfect Moments! Seems a bit needless to be throwing together our Feb round-up but it is business as usual after all!
Just when I thought 2019’s cease and desist “fun” was the biggest challenge the business would face, here we are with 2020’s global pandemic with a prediction of the worst yet to come. To reiterate our most recent post on social - It’s business as usual and most definitely community as usual! We will be open until the government guidelines state otherwise and as long as we feel healthy and safe ourselves. Even if a full lock down is imposed like in China and Italy then you bet your bottle dollar we will try and figure out a way to continue to serve the Hanwell Massive in some way, shape or form! I mean, we really have to for business survival but we are still very mindful this thing is about human survival rather than just a single small business.
Despite reports from some of the hospitality sector experiencing a plummeting performance (a tweet from restauranteur Adam Handling stated 56% drop and closure of his Covent Garden site) , we haven’t yet been too badly affected.
Of course the Hanwell Massive has been rallying and supporting pre lock down and I cannot tell you how much that means!! This community really is flipping heart warming!!
Before I even get in to the official “Pints & Perfect Moments” part of this blog here are 3 examples of kindness and fabulousness that have astounded me over the past few days -
Pam came in with her 4 pint take out growler and pledged to buy take away beer in lieu of not physically being in The Dodo as much!
Jen DMd on instagram to say “If this starts hitting you let us know. Happy to buy vouchers against future pints to help with cash flow”! Hadn’t even thought about this myself!!
Kathryn threw a cold hard cash figure donation at me in order to not see The Dodo go under!
Not forgetting to mention everyone single person who has been in over the past couple of days, there’s been a lot of you supporting local knowing us small outlets are going to almost certainly be thwarted this year and your actions and kind words speak volumes and mean A LOT!!
Right, business as usual right?
Time for the gripes, the good and the magic of The Dodo Micropub because it’s not just beer is it? It’s clearly so much more!
VENT THE CASK
Starting with the vent and then swiftly moving on. Here’s something that is not a good conversation starter or ice breaker. Even more so as we’ll get quieter and I will clearly get much more sensitive about my business going under (ha ha) … If you walk in just as we open at 12pm, or heck, if you’ve caught me on a good day when I’m actually open 10 minutes before our official opening time, do not proclaim “God, it’s quiet in here!" or “Jeez, seen more life in a mortuary!” Firstly, we have literally just opened, give people a chance! Secondly, that jokes been done a lot and it’s not funny anymore I’m afraid. New material please!
TAPPED IT, TASTED IT
Last month’s stand out cask beer that you all thoroughly enjoyed and smashed through was Northern Monk’s, Don’t Mess With Yorkshire. A golden pale ale at 4.5%. The minute I tasted this one I knew it would go quickly, it’s exactly the smashable pale ale that I know you all love. A light, refreshing, citrus pale ale with a hint of ripe stone fruit brewed with oats for that silky body. It tasted like springtime was coming and that the storms of February were over!
Can’t really ignore our Omnipollo drop in February. Absolutely the other end of the beer spectrum with my personal stand out being Lorelei, a coconut maple toast imperial porter. Not smashable, not subtle in any way but made you feel like Augustus Gloop living his best life! Ahh, the memories!
PINTS & PERFECT MOMENTS
A guy called Calvin walks into The Dodo having had a date cancel on him last minute. I’ve been there, it’s not pleasant. What could have been a sh*tty evening of course turns into a great evening when he took a punt on walking into The Dodo as a way to take a spot of rejection on the chin.
You’re in The Dodo, of course you get chatting to people. Calvin gets chatting to Katie who is waiting for the twins to arrive, Mel and Sammi arrive, everyone exchanges chat across tables, the chat continues, a bit later that night Calvin ends up joining the girls on their table (by invite), more random conversation and laughter ensues and a new friendship is born!
So a date cancelled on him and by Dodo chance he ended up on a night out with 3 of the most excellent ladies in West London and all have gained some awesome new friends. Bloomin’ winning if you ask me and exactly the sort of random wonderfulness that we love to see down The Dodo!!
All hail the joy of talking to strangers over a beer or two!!