South West brewery brings laughter to the streets of Bristol on ‘Blue Monday’
Blue Monday – the ‘most miserable day of the year’ – is now an annual event, and was forecast for Monday, 16 January 2017. But relief was at hand, courtesy of Box Steam Brewery.
The award-winning independent brewery, based in the jolly village of Holt, near Bradford-on-Avon, hosted a pop-up comedy festival on the streets of Bristol on Monday evening. Featuring free beer and performances from nine local up-and-coming stand-up comedians, the festival aimed to cheer up the City’s workers as they trudged home from work through the winter gloom.
The Brewery enlisted the help of Bristol promoter Bubble Comedy to serve up a bevy of laughs. At 5:30pm three Box Steam Brewery comedy tents materialised simultaneously at three central locations across the city centre (The Victoria Rooms, Pero’s Bridge and The Horsefair) and three comedians and a compere each delivered their sets. And the Box Steam Brewery team were there to provide complimentary halves of Golden Bolt ale to the needy.
The event was the perfect platform to launch Golden Bolt, the latest edition to the Box Steam line-up. Golden Bolt is a 3.8% pale ale with a soft, floral nose and a refreshingly dry fruity finish.
Box Steam owner, Andy Roberts, explained: “This time of year is a downer for almost everyone. But we want everyone to down a Golden Bolt and have a laugh instead. As a brewery, we’re in the business of raising people’s spirits, so we’re answering the call for a little happiness on the streets of Bristol.”
Blue Monday was first identified in 2005 by psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall, who created a scientific formula for the most miserable day of the year.
The mirthless algorithm was:
[W + (D-d)] x TQ/M x Nawhere W is weather, D is debt, d monthly salary, T time since Christmas, Q time since failure of attempt to give something up, M low motivational level and NA the need to take action.
Andy added: “It doesn’t take a mathematician to see why this time of year is depressing. The weather is awful, with very little sunlight, and we’re all struggling with the aftermath of Christmas, in particular heavy stomachs and light wallets. But Box Steam Brewery have the antidote – it’s pretty hard to be miserable when you’re watching great comedy with a free beer in your hand.”
