Sally Toms experiences a touch of seasonal cynicism.
Well it’s 2008, and the new year has brought with it its usual dose of guilt and financial hardship. I for one am sick to death of people telling me to ‘kick-start’ the new year with detox, diet and exercise. It’s utterly depressing to be constantly told don’t eat dairy, don’t eat fat, don’t eat mea...
From the Editor
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
A selection of letters and postings from our forum www.beers-of-the-world.com/forum
The best letter or internet posting in each issue wins a London Pride Rugby shirt & a London Pride coffee mug.
Letters
Part time experts
Dear Editor, With reference the article in the current issue of your excellent magazine on Wells & Youngs, Jim Robertson is seriously deluded if he thinks the Y...
The Beer Forum
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
Two Irish archaeologists say that beer, not bread, civilised the savage beast, writes Tim Hampson
So what came first beer or bread?
Most ancient historians will have you believe that it was farming and breadmaking that tamed our nomadic ancestors and turned hunter gatherers into people who lived in a stable community.
Not so, say archaeologists Billy Quinn and Declan Moore. They believe that o...
News Analysis
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
DORSET APPLE CAKE WITH
BADGER BLANDFORD FLY
A contemporary twist on an age-old classic. Serve on its own or with a crème
anglaise flavoured with Blandford Fly. Serves 6-8
INGREDIENTS
225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
25g cornflour
110g butter
110g golden caster sugar
225g cooking apples (p...
Beer and Food
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
Each issue we feature some of beer’s stranger and funnier stories as well as all sorts of other nonsense.
Toast tribute
A brewer and eccentric Antipodean artist has paid a personal tribute to the late great Michael Jackson using the underrated medium of toast.
Maurice Bennett, beer lover and small brewer, created a portrait of the beer hunter using more than 4,000 slices of cocktail toast.
“I had a d...
Beer Matters
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
Ye Olde Cider Bar
Stepping into Ye Olde Cider Bar is like taking a trip back in time. Outside, the main road is crammed with speeding traffic and all the nonsense of high street Britain, inside it’s another world: the furniture is off-the-peg fittings from the 1970s; the floor is uncompromising sto...
Cider space
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
We chat to Alastair Hook, founder, owner and brewer of Meantime Brewing in Greenwich, London.
How did you first get involved in beer?
The call to a life in beer materialised with a typically wild and wonderful escape from childhood. I drank my first pint of beer at the age of 13, Theakston’s Bitter, with my father at a pub in the Lake District – I can taste the fresh hop character to this d...
Last Shout
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
Sally Toms considers how beer can play a part in the search for romance.
I’ve been thinking lately about image. As fairly typical 21st century consumerist slaves, we define ourselves by what we wear, what we drive and, yes, what we drink. And like it or not, first impressions count.
One of the BOTW staff is looking for Mr Right, and on one all-important first date recen...
From the Editor
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
The full results of the first World Beer Awards 2007
Roger Protz, chairman of judges, says: “This is an exciting time for beer drinkers. More and more craft brewers throughout the world are making beers bursting with distinctive and exciting aromas and flavours. The judges have been overwhelmed by the quality of the beers entered for the competition a...
World Beer Awards 07
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
The winners of the World Beer Awards style trophies are:
LAGER
STANDARD
2.5% ABV & UNDER Clausthaler Premium, 0.5%
2.6%-4.5% ABV Simonds Farsons Cisk, 4.2%
PREMIUM
DORTMUNDER DAB Original, 5%
DARK Budweiser Budvar, 4.7%
LOW CARB Simonds Farsons Cisk Excel, 4.2%
PILSNER Veltins, 4.8%
STANDARD PREMIUM Full Sail Session Lager, 5.1%
VIENNA Meantime Union, 4...
World Beer Awards 07
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
Sally Toms looks at the relationship between beer and live music.
Alcoholic drinks make friends easily. Like schnapps and snow sports for example, whisky and hill walking, martinis and James Bond films, sherry and, actually no, not sherry. And you can forget sport, because beer’s true companion is rock and roll.
And like any good relationship, there has to be a l...
Beer Lifestyle
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
Beer and wine go head to head at the Ra!n Bar in Manchester, at an event organised by JW Lees brewery. Sally Toms was there.
It’s fight night and inside the Ra!n Bar, an elegant yet traditional pub in Manchester, a crowd begins to gather.
Invited by regional brewer JW Lees, a small group of brewers and wine merchants glance furtively at one another, wondering who is for the grape and who for the grain?
Two contenders st...
Beer and Food
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
Each issue we feature some of beer's stranger and funnier stories as well as sorts of other nonsense.
It's all in the wrist
CollegeHumor.com offers a list “revealing” what your beer of choice says about you.
It was based on a 2001 study commissioned by Guinness about what can be learned from how people hold their glasses. Dr. Aric Sigman, a psychologist and biologist identified six basic drinkin...
Beer Matters
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
Sally Toms celebrates the life of Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter
In this issue I was going to talk a bit about this year’s Great British Beer Festival and my sad attempts at home-brew.... But this has paled into insignificance next to an extremely sad event.
The news of Michael Jackson’s death spread around the world like fire in dry grass. He died of a heart at...
From the Editor
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
Michael Jackson, respected author and beer legend, passed away on 30 August 2007. There isn’t enough space in this whole magazine for people’s memories of him, for all the funny stories. Instead we devote these pages to some of our favourite Beer Hunterisms, and hope they convey the essence of the man.
The worldwide tide of bland beers will soon have come as far as it can. After that, it can only ebb to reveal the slow brews of lasting character.
Slow Wine, 2001
The ritual of serving a beer in Belgium can be more like a seduction… The tissue wrapping is parted... the wire cage unhooked to releas...
Michael Jackson
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
A selection of letters and postings from our forum www.beers-of-the-world.com/forum
Blind tasting
Dear Editor,
I’m registered blind and I write a short column on beers for a magazine called The Review for an organisation I belong to called St. Dunstan’s (www.st-dunstans.org.uk), a charity for blind exservicemen and women based near Brighton.
Now, as you are well aware beer and s...
The Beer Forum
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
Daniel Thwaites is celebrating its 200th anniversary but as Dominic Roskrow reports, the company's keener to look forward than to look back.
After 200 years of successfully making and selling beer Daniel Thwaites must have a pretty good idea as to what does and doesn’t make a great beer. But everyone likes a pick-me-up from time to time, so even after two centuries the following review from a local paper of the brewery’s celebratory Doub...
Brewery Focus
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
Each issue we’ll feature some of the stranger and funnier stories as well as all sorts of other nonsense
Can car
A student from Hertfordshire, England has built a life-size Ford Mustang from 4,000 empty cans of Bud.
An original 1965 Ford Mustang was being offered as a prize as part of the Bud Bucks promotion in the United Kingdom, giving consumers the chance to buy, bid or win a series of prizes via ...
Beer Matters
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
This issue, we share a pint with managing director of Innis & Gunn, Dougal Sharp
How did you first get involved in beer?
I started working in our family’s brewery in Edinburgh to earn pocket money while I was still at school – filling barrels, helping out on the lorries and the like. The brewery was just down the road from my school so it was very convenient for a quiet glass o...
Last Shout
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
Sally Toms rants about glassware and daydreams about brewing
Another issue, another chapter in the search of beer enlightenment...
This time my tutor was Kentish brewer Shepherd Neame (or Sheps, as it is fondly known locally) and so I found myself sitting alongside pub staff and licensees on its Master of Beer course, the point of which is to ensure that all...
From the Editor
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
Few things are as well matched as beer and curry, but is it as simple as that? Sally Toms finds out
Beer and curry is widely believed to be one of the best beer and food combinations on earth, especially by the Brits. We just can’t get enough of it.
There’s a certain amount of delicious irony in the fact that today, there are more people in India speaking English than people in England, and more ...
Beer and Food
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
While other clothing and accessory stores offer sales, discounts and reductions, North American retailer Crumpler encourages shoppers to haul beer, by the case or can, into its stores in Toronto and New York and exchange them for top quality gear.
The Beer for Bags Wheel, distributed in newspapers ...
Beer Matters
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
Residents of a small Australian town cut off by floods recently received more than just essentials when emergency workers dropped off a large amount of beer.
Hinton in New South Wales was isolated by surging floodwaters following days of severe storms which left nine people dead and caused millions...
Beer Matters
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
The ashes of Montgomery Scott, better known as “Scotty” the engineer on the classic sci-fi television series Star Trek, flew alongside another special payload on a brief space flight.
The companion package held the ingredients of the “first true space beer.” Linda Strine, spokeswoman for Microgravi...
Beer Matters
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
Beer and movies go together like… well, like peas and carrots. And to celebrate the release of Die Hard 4.0, we were sent this Bruce Willis bottle vest courtesy of a wellknown British film mag.
It may be designed to stop the warmth from your hand turning the liquid warm, but we just couldn’t resist...
Beer Matters
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
If you love beer, you might appreciate having one dangling from your phone.
You can’t drink it, of course, but you can gaze at it and daydream about a cold one 100 times its size.
The bubbles fizz up realistically when the pint is inverted, sort of like a snow globe you might have had as a kid...e...
Beer Matters
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
Sounds disgusting? Give it a try and we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We found this one on the ‘net
(www.starchefs.com) amongst many more. Beer ice-creams made from cherry or raspberry kriek sound particularly appealing, but we fancied this recipe made with stout.
You’ll need an icecream m...
Beer Matters
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
What you can expect from this year’s festivities in Denver
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, there is no other place on earth where a beer aficionado can find more beers on tap. The Great American Beer Festival is a three day annual event, dubbed the ‘superbowl’ of beer festivals.
It has been hosted by the Brewers Association since 1982, and...
Beer Events
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
The tables turn on Sally Toms, as she gets a chance to be brewer for a day
There are a few perks of being editor of an illustrious magazine such as this.
Occasionally companies send me strange things in the post, like socks and olive oil (no I don’t understand it either), but my recent experience has to be one of the best.
As part of my ongoing beer education, those nice...
From the Editor
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
Self service
by Lubomir Sedlak
Chocolate, fizzy drinks, over-priced bottles of water; this is the usual stuff dispensed from vending machines, but beer is soon to join the line up.
Czech brewery Plzensky Prazdroj (owners of Pilsner Urquell) has begun to sell its beer in vending machines. Spokesma...
Beer Matters
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
This issue we chat to William Lees Jones, managing director of Manchester brewer JW Lees
How did you first get involved in beer?
With the silver spoon when I was born!
I started formally as marketing manager of JW Lees when I was 28 and eventually became managing director in 2000.
What is fashionable in beer at the moment?
Anything so cold that you can’t taste that it’s beer. The UK be...
Last Shout
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
Sally Toms says you can’t be too picky when it comes to your local
I have recently bought my first house and never have I been so grateful for the humble British pub.
In between bouts of cement mixing, plastering and paint stripping, my local has been a watery oasis, god save her.
I’m sure the landlord isn’t quite as pleased as he sweeps up the red trail of brick...
From the Editor
from Issue 11 published on 23/03/2007
In honour of this year's Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, we've organised our own version, Beers of the World style
This year’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 takes place in the West Indies in March and April. What better excuse is there to taste beers from some different countries around the world?
So we took all the countries that are competing, picked a beer to represent them, and commenced our taste-off.
Unfort...
Beer Events
from Issue 11 published on 23/03/2007
Alright , so it might not be a German beer but we just love puns. Sally Toms gets to grips with some of the true beer styles of Germany
It is widely agreed that there are certain things the Germans can do very well: cars, for example; household appliances; being efficient; and most definitely beer.
Sweeping cultural statements aside, the Germans are certainly proud of their beer. They would like to tell you this is down to the Rein...
International Focus
from Issue 11 published on 23/03/2007
Each issue we’ll feature some of the stranger and funnier stories as well as all sorts of other nonsense
Trading up
A canny internet wheeler-dealer has converted a bottle of beer into his dream motor in just five trades.
Pete Genders, brewer and owner of The Beer Cellar in Lincoln, could not afford the camper van he wanted to take wife Verity on a second honeymoon to Italy. So the 28-year-old set up ...
Beer Matters
from Issue 11 published on 23/03/2007
Sally Toms thinks about the price of a pint
Hurrah for the Spring sales! Like any self-respecting shopper I have been out hunting for bargains amongst the sale rails; there is always something out there that catches my eye, and yes I do need it.
However all this price cutting got me thinking about the price of beer, and its perception in the...
From the Editor
from Issue 10 published on 26/01/2007
Hook Norton in Oxfordshire is part visitor attraction, part brewery. It also makes great beer. Sally Toms went for a
look round
Mention Hook Norton to a real British beer enthusiast and watch what happens. Their eyes will mist over with fondness and they’ll stare off into the distance.
“Ahhh, Hook Norton,” they’ll murmur, smiling to themselves as if remembering a long lost love.
By all accounts, this is a rather special br...
Brewery Focus
from Issue 10 published on 26/01/2007
Sally Toms declares herself unfashionable and bemoans about uninformed bar staff
On a recent holiday to the South West of England with my other half, I could not resist popping in to a brewery (and he did not resist).
At St Austell Brewery in Cornwall we were greeted by the affable and hugely knowledgeable Roger Ryman, brewing director. After a tour of the brewery, a delightful...
From the Editor
from Issue 9 published on 22/11/2006
Sally Toms introduces herself as Editor
Here’s a shocker: I’m a girl (wait, that’s not it); I’m a girl who loves all kinds of beer.
Surprised? Not really I guess. The beer world is changing and it’s an exciting time to take the helm of this magazine.
Dominic used to say that being a good Editor is like being manager of a football team; ...
Editor’s comments
from Issue 8 published on 27/09/2006
Sally Toms reviews the latest beer books
Beer Paul Barnett (Facts, Figures & Fun)
A lightning tour of the world of beer. Barnett gives us an international survey of the facts and legends of the drink, including a wealth of history, health properties, hangover cures, cocktails, festivals and lots and lots of trivia.
For instance, did you ...
Book Reviews
from Issue 6 published on 18/05/2006
