IF YOU read this and wonder what I mean by ‘Twissup’, then it must mean you weren’t there. And if you weren’t there – where were you?

Seriously, you missed out – wandering round the best craft beer pubs in Newcastle, heading to a brewery to see where the magic happens, all in the company of important beer people from across the country?

But this was about more than just a fun get-together – it highlighted how great the North East beer scene is, raised its profile in the country, and also reminded us what beer is all about. Cue a bit of sentimentality.

These events, where brewers, writers and enthusiasts get together in a city to see what it has to offer, have happened in several locations over the past few years and this time it was the turn of Newcastle. It was the perfect opportunity to show what the North East can do and, like bringing out the best silver for honoured guests, some exciting and hard-to-find treats were put on tap.

Whether spying a beer you’d been coveting or chatting to someone and discussing the merits of a particular hop variety; we were in the company of people who understood.

The first rule of Twissup is: to talk about Twissup as much as possible. After all, this is the craft beer revolution, right? We’re the cool cats now, yeah? Sipping our cutting-edge keg-conditioned black IPAs in our skinny jeans and faux-faded emblem T-shirts.

Anyway, back to Twissup. I arrived at Bacchus at about 12.30pm and ordered a pint. First mistake. I quickly realised I’d showed myself up as a complete amateur as I looked around the chatting groups and realised that, for once, it was more than acceptable to order a half.

After all, halves mean you can sample twice as many beers. I think I even spotted a couple of tasting glasses brought from home. These guys can teach me a thing or two.

There was a great selection to be getting on with, including the Kelso-based Tempest Brewery, and then beers from outside the region; imported kegs like the well-known American producers Goose Island and Flying Dog.

And on to Ouseburn. A bewildered Q2 driver watched as a clutch of 30 people, fresh from the cashpoint and clutching their crisp £20 notes, drained him of his change and prepared for the next installment of Twissup.

The beer world’s great and good from across the country marched into Tyne Bank Brewery, with us Newcastle-based enthusiasts scampering along behind.

Tyne Bank, just along from the Quayside, answered the perennial question of whether you can organise a Twissup in a brewery.

Handing out glasses as we walked in, Julia Austin and her staff had put out a selection of their beers for us to try, including the exciting new cherry oatmeal stout which will only get better with a bit more age.

I finally got a chance to try their Southern Star, which took over from Silver Dollar after the supply of Centennial and Amarillo hops from America dried up.

I’m not normally a light beer fan – the darker and thicker the better as far as I’m concerned.

But the grapefruit flavour of Southern Star was awesome and, like their Monument Bitter, was balanced; it wasn’t overpowered with the modern trend for imploding your mouth with a grenade of hop bitterness. Mark McGarry is my kind of brewer.