BEERWOLF - Wolverhampton Campaign for Real Ale

A Very Unusual Event
This year an event is due to occur just before our Wolverhampton CAMRA Beer Festival and it
is much rarer than Jubilees and Olympics.
It is The Transit of Venus. This is the apparent passage of the planet Venus across the face of the
Sun relative to Earth. These events happen at intervals of 8 years and then you have to wait well
over a century for the next pair, the present ones are 2004 & 2012.
The best place to see mid-transit is in The Pacific ( the aptly named Midway Island would be
good), we shall still be in darkness at that time on June 6 2012.
Why is it still significant for us today? Captain James Cook undertook his first great voyage to
observe the Transit of Venus on Tahiti in 1769. On the way back he mapped the coast of New
Zealand and Eastern Australia. Without that we would now be watching Vecinos or Vizinhos or
Buurmanen - instead of Neighbours.
I am wondering whether any of our local breweries would consider brewing and naming a
festival beer to celebrate this.
Beer wolf Spring 2012 35