Opening the special bottles

It’s Christmas soon and inevitably you’ll be opening some special bottles. You know, those bottles which you are saving. The ones which grow in increasing numbers in the cellar/cupboard/garage/whatever. The ones which you pin imaginary labels on, such as ‘first child’, ‘when I get that promotion I deserve’, ‘wedding day’, ‘my next birthday’, ‘when I [...]

Fantasy Christmas Drinking

I’m betting there will be quite a few blogs about what beers people will be opening on Christmas Day this year (I’ve done one of my own for Pencil & Spoon that I’ll be posting soon). It’s my favourite day of the year, a day to celebrate and a brilliant excuse to open some good [...]

A pint of imperial stout, please

The UK drinking culture is built and based around sessionable, low ABV beers in the pub and they are drunk in pints. Of course, we have half pints too, but these are the reserve of the beer festival, or for the beer hunter who wants to drink lots of different ales or for the odd [...]

Trashy Beer

Loving beer isn’t just about drinking the one-offs, the famed rarities, the high-octane, super-stouts or insane IPAs. It’s not just about looking for the next tick, the next Top 50 beer, the latest hyped-release from your favourite brewery. Loving beer is more than that. And, sometimes, bad beers are good.

*That* Question

You know the one. I’m sure you’ve been asked it, like, a million times. I’m sure you’ve stood there opposite the asker, beer in hand, squirming, trying to come up with your answer, readying a monologue and then cutting it back to a few stuttered and uncomfortable words along the lines of: “Oh man, that’s [...]

My Beer and Me

Beer is a little piece of created magic and I love it. I’ve been called geeky and obsessed and that just about sums it up. But you see, the thing is, beer is endlessly fascinating. And I don’t just mean what’s in your glass, it’s everything: the history, the present, the future; the creativity; the [...]