Closing Time

Seven years, four conferences, myriad gigs and podcasts, and a lockdown remedy during COVID. In one way or another life changing for everyone concerned. Oh and thousands raised for various charities.

Not bad.

On that note, this post is to announce that The Beer Farmers are no more. They have ceased to be.

We achieved many things. Not all of the things we did were to everyone's taste and we get that, but know that everything came from a genuine place and with the best intentions of making the information security world a better place for those in it, and those who would aspire to be in it.

Personally, I'd like to thank, Ian, John and Sean, who with myself brought the project to life and gave it meaning and validity. Andy and Chrissy for joining us for a brief spell. Scott more recently for his material input into evolving us further, and finally Lisa and Nikki for helping form the final lineup over the past couple of years.

To the many people that joined us on the ride; supporting our events, or by taking a punt and having us at theirs - I thank you. I'd like to give special props to Mark, who at the time he was running BSides Leeds, was the first UK event organiser to give The Beer Farmers a gig.

To the roadies, the mentors, the locum 'members', the DJs and other entertainers and every single person that took the time to pitch up and deliver a testimony at one of our events - many thanks indeed.

Some of the finest and most ridiculous mementos in infosec exist as a result of people and firms that gave us money. Cherish them, their like will never be seen again, although imitators be imitatin'. Praise be to the sponsors.

And thanks go to everyone that got involved by simply being there; turning up at talks, online or physical events and whatnot. This was as much about you as anyone else.

I think we made a difference. A positive one, and one that will ripple out into the future for those that were involved. Not a boast. A matter of fact. If you made friends, developed careers or indeed romantic relationships as a result of being involved in what we did, then that's pretty cool.

We also had a blast and why not? The industry is often tagged as a toxic dumpster fire, mostly because that's what it is. What we did was to try and quell those flames a little. At least for a while. But remember, everything's about people and people can change stuff, if there's sufficient will.

And that's it. You can still watch our videos on YouTube and if you want to read our historical social media posts (why?), the Twitter account will remain.

You're gonna want some more cowbell.

[ENDS]