Quaffing Gravy
A riddle, wrapped in an enigma, inside a screen-printed bottle. A beer launched by an art director and partner, aimed to be an ‘easy-drinking pale ale’, yet thrust into the market with a grunt of the hips and a sweat-laced high-five. A website with more t-shirts on sale than beers, linked to quirky tumblr accounts […]
England v Scotland – the live beer challenge
Last week, for the first time in fourteen years, England and Scotland met on the football field. To commemorate the welcome return of the home international, we thought it only right to emulate the occasion in the only way we know how – by drinking beer (and in an orderly, pre-defined, yet rapid manner). Not […]
Under the Helmsley Arches
Short pub crawls are the new long; back in the day, a dozen pubs, lengthy meanderings, and numerous stumblings en route (not to mention kebab stops) made ‘the crawl’ more of a marathon. Now, as the hair turns to silver in front of my eyes, it’s quality that counts above all. When the time comes […]
The hottest ticket in town
At the end of last month I droned on at some length on the subject of Meet the Brewer events – one of the very best ways for beer-makers to build interest in their products. There was a time when these sorts of evenings were rapid, shouty affairs as the brewer wobbled on the bartop […]
A trip to Redchurch
“We smelled you from two streets away, and came over to check it out.” Surely, this is the best thing a brewer can hope to hear – prospective converts following their noses, Bisto-like, to discover a brewery.* This applies even more to producers who have recently opened an on-site bar, perched above the brewing equipment. […]
Meeting the Harbour Brewing Company
For those who know Cornwall, it must seem like something of an oxymoron. Land-locked Bodmin – about as far from the sea as you can get in that part of the county* – being home to the Harbour Brewing Company. The reason for their location is water-related, it turns out, as the overwhelming need for […]
