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And the winner is … 961?
I’ll forgive myself for never having heard of 961 Beer, because its products are apparently not yet on sale in the UK. But they ARE available in Hong Kong – and 961 Lager has just been declared the...
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The Graveney Boat, a hop history mystery
In the history of brewing in Britain, the Graveney Boat is an archaeological anomaly almost as great as finding the skeleton of an Anglo-Saxon warrior with a hole in his skull that could only have been...
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Shades, dives and other varieties of British bar
The public bar, for working men only When I lived in Hertfordshire, I was puzzled to discover that around the time Edward VII ended his long wait to become king, there was a pub in the small market...
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Last words on the Oxford Companion to Beer
It’s a year since the Oxford Companion to Beer arrived to some small controversy over the number of inaccuracies in its 860-odd pages. Time enough for some calm reflection, perhaps. I apologise for...
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Pea beer
The jokes write themselves with this one, so I’m going to try to keep it as straight as possible: brewing with peas is an ancient tradition, going back at least 400 years in Britain, and it still takes...
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Worthington ‘E’ is NOT a Burton Ale
This week’s letter comes from a Mr R Protz of St Albans, who writes: Martyn, I took a snap of the clip for ‘E’ in the National Brewery Centre Bar y’day. I’ve included it in 300 More Beers … in the Best...
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The REAL 20 most influential beers of all time
‘Guys, you’ll never believe this “20 most influential beers” list’ An American website called First We Feast has just announced what it declares are “The 20 most influential beers of all time”, a list...
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Where to find Britain’s Viking brewhouses
Merryn and Graham Dineley, she an archaeologist specialising in exploring ancient ale-making, he a craft brewer specialising in actually making ancient ales, have produced a fabulous downloadable...
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Designed in Japan, brewed in Belgium, drunk in Hong Kong
For a young Japanese entrepreneur, Shiro Yamada has a perhaps unlikely-sounding hero: Baron Bilimoria of Chelsea, lawyer, accountant, son of an Indian army general, and the first Parsi to sit in the...
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Twenty beer quotes that deserve to be better known
There are plenty enough well-known quotes about beer. Some of the best-known, unfortunately, are made up. However, it’s still possible to come across great, genuine yet little-known snippets. Here are...
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Baird beer and breakfast
Beer’s not my usual breakfast tipple, though I’d agree with Tim Martin, founder of the Wetherspoon pub chain in the UK, that Abbot Ale is an excellent accompaniment to the traditional Full English. But...
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When Brick Lane was home to the biggest brewery in the world
Black Eagle sign, Brick Lane The huge sign on the outside of the building on the corner of Hanbury Street and Brick Lane is clear enough: Truman Black Eagle Brewery. Nobody passing by could have any...
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In defence of old men with beards
It happened, I’m guessing, about the time that the first wave of Camra members were hitting their late 50s and early 60s, that is, at the beginning of this century. If “real ale” had been pejorated...
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Revival of ancient barley variety thrills fans of old beer styles
Chevallier barley, revived after seven decades In a move that has thrilled beer style revivalists, a beer has been brewed from what was Victorian Britain’s most popular barley variety for the first...
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In Bruges
In Bruges I first drank in the Brugs Beertje in Bruges in 1985. I didn’t realise at the time that it was then only a couple of years old: it already felt like a classic beer venue, small, comfortable...
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The earliest use of the term India pale ale was … in Australia?
The continuing fantastic expansion in the number of old documents scanned, OCR’d and available on the internet is presenting the lucky historical searcher with constant opportunities to push back the...
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So who are the big beery twitterers?
Jamie Oliver, the thick-tongued TV chef and hugely successful restaurant entrepreneur (and son of an Essex pub landlord), has 3.3 million followers on Twitter. Which is, you’ll not be shocked to hear,...
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How long have English brewers been using American hops? Much longer than you...
How long have British brewers been using American hops? Far, far longer than you might have guessed: for around two centuries, in fact. The earliest evidence I’ve collected so far of hops from the...
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India Session Ales – tremendous new trend or oxymoronic category fail?
“All the IBUs, half the ABV” is how the American beer writer Brian Yaeger describes the newest (?) beery trend in the United States: the “India Session Ale”. As you’ll have gathered, the ISA is meant...
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The ten best songs about beer
Singing about beer: almost as good as drinking it. Except there are as many rubbish songs about beer as there are rubbish beers: which is to say, far too many. When the Beer Crimes Tribunal is...
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