Pethau Da 2021

“I did not become famous but I got near enough to smell the stench of success. It smelt like burnt cloth and rancid gardenias, and I realized that the truly awful thing about success is that it's held up all those years as the thing that would make everything all right. And the only thing that makes things even slightly bearable is a friend who knows what you're talking about.”

Eve Babitz - Slow Days, Fast Company

It feels weird acknowledging the end of a year that I think I’ve been mentally clocked out of since June. But ended it has, and with it come the rounds up and listicles as categories attempt to separate order from chaos. This time last year I wrote about all the people and projects that brought Burum joy in 2021 and reading back on it a year later it struck me just how many of the people that we have been lucky enough to know this year, were strangers to us in the last. I wonder which paths we will cross next year that as of yet haven't been on our map, I’m excited to find out. 

For many reasons we have decided not to produce a similar list this year. For one the concept of deciding who is deemed significant (and subsequently who is not) as well as which content has been best, has never sat well with me. Another being that so many of the voices and stories that have formed our conversations and challenges in the drinks industry this year have been anonymous. Those who have shared their stories in this way, as well as those who had stories but felt safer in not sharing, will make no lists or win no awards, but are deserving of the world. 

What I will say is that myself and Helen are so grateful for all the support and the connection Burum has received this year. From everyone who has engaged with our content in any way, to everyone who attended the Common Ground Conference as well as our gorgeous, gorgeous patreon subscribers and collaborators. The goodest of good things about Burum has always been the collective that forms it and my god do we have an abundance of amazing people in our weird and wonderful community. 

I am immensely proud of the fact we achieved anything this year, let alone the following: Helen moved to Manchester and was a Wayfinder with the dream team at Cloudwater whilst I went slowly and irrevocably insane living by myself in lockdown. Together we organised our Common Ground Conference and I am so proud of the people and the conversations that involved. The blog became home to so many wonderful pieces of writing, mostly by people new to writing professionally. Editing and curating these pieces was a joy I have learnt so much from and I refuse to rank any of them. 

The team grew from three to four as Alex joined us to run our UK Beer Kulture jobs board and we cannot wait for that part of Burum to really come into its own under her guideship. Elliot has continued to illustrate every piece, as well as design the can label for our Best Bitter collab with Coudwater, his talent knows no bounds. 

Also: We collaborated on multiple beers and ciders! We made some merch and didn’t fall out in the photography process! There is an Education page and a Jobs Board in partnership with Beer Kulture now! 

Even thinking about next year makes me want to take a four hour avoidance nap. Some tough choices have been made that Helen will brief you all on soon no doubt. Whilst it will be business more or less than usual, for a myriad of reasons we want to focus on doing less, better. If this year has taught me anything it's that we get little say in the cards we are dealt so planning can only get us so far, but I hope that we can continue to work towards better at all levels.

In my reluctance to binarise the year into good or bad I’ve been thinking a lot about how the appreciation of light so often relies on the absence of it.

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer '' wrote Zora Neale Hurston and this, to me, has definitely been a year of questions. Perhaps this has been the same for you so I hope you take comfort in the knowledge that much of what is bad so often becomes the foundation of what can be good. 

We hope you have a restful and restorative end of this tumultuous year and however you choose to look back on 2021 we hope you find time to celebrate all that you are. We cannot thank you enough for this year and we’ll see you in the next for more of the same.

Stay Excellent,

Rachel, Helen, Elliot and Alex x