The Works in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, combines quality beer with a contemporary and lively atmosphere writes Richard Jones.
While the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide is an indispensable companion for myself and, I suspect, most other United Kingdom based beer lovers, the outlets selected for inclusion are unashamedly chosen on the basis of their beer quality. Blindly following the beer guide in an unfamilia...
By Richard Jones
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
The world’s best bartenders poured, informed andsmiled for the judges. Alastair Gilmour reports on an unusual competition.
The world high jump record has been shattered by a young Swede wearing a smart suit.
The previous 2.45 metre leap by Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor, which has resisted all-comers since 1993, was well and truly surpassed in late 2007 by Erik Jonsson. Erik, who now lives and works in Norway, also wor...
By Alastair Gilmour
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
Des de Moor visits the City Beer Store in sunny San Francisco.
San Francisco is a vibrant and cosmopolitan place with a reputation for both alternative lifestyles and fine food and drink. And a major tourist destination located in the heart of the one of the world’s most innovative and exciting beer regions. So it’s curious that city dwellers had to wait until ...
By Des de Moor
from Issue 16 published on 25/01/2008
Jeff Pickthall visits Keswick, one of North East England’s best beer hot spots.
The 700-year-old market town of Keswick is in the northern Lake District between Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwent Water. It is overlooked by fells which seem to change colour according to the weather and time of day. The town’s indigenous population of 5,000 is permanently swelled by countless Lake Di...
By Jeff Pickthall
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
Gary Hayden visits Bakusyu Club Popeye in Tokyo, one of Asia's best beer pubs
Forget sake – beer is Japan’s numberone alcoholic drink. Most of it is industrial lager produced by major breweries like Kirin, Asahi and Sapporo, but it’s also possible to enjoy some excellent ji-biru (‘regional beers’) if you know where to look.
One of the best places to look is Bakusyu Club Pope...
By Gary Hayden
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
Adrian Tierney-Jones takes a walk through the hop farms of Herefordshire, England.
Hops and malt are the double act of brewing, the Gilbert and George or Laurel and Hardy of the copper, before being joined by their special guest star: yeast. Malt provides the luscious biscuity and caramel-like sweetness, sometimes lightfingered, other times full-bodied – the soul of beer indeed. H...
By Adrian Tierney-Jones
from Issue 15 published on 01/12/2007
Getting ‘hands on’ with London’s youngest brewer, sounds like it should be fun, right? Our intrepid reporter Melissa Cole thought so too, right up until her first job of the morning was shifting 25 kilo bags of grain around the place
When a good-looking bloke says: “Melissa, why don’t you spend a day brewing with me?” It’s not an offer I have to think about for more than a nanosecond – but a bit of warning about how much hard work it is to brew in a five barrel brewpub (with limited space and technology) would have been nice!
M...
By Melissa Cole
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
Gavin D Smith visits the Real Ale Shop in Perthshire, Scotland
It is one of those ideas that is so simple it falls under the ‘Why didn’t someone think of this before?’ category.
With new Scottish microbreweries springing up in abundance, and much of their output being bottled, the Scottish Real Ale Shop was established last December to offer a one stop shop fo...
By Gavin D. Smith
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
Ted Bruning talks to Martin Sykes from Selby, the Yorkshire brewer that kick started the microbrewing revolution
You might be in a brewpub anywhere in the world, sipping a beer freshly made on the premises. You might be at your local, ordering yet another tasty treat from its ever-changing guest-list. Or you might be at home in front of the television, uncapping a bottle-conditioned ale...
Wherever you are in...
By Ted Bruning
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
Melissa Cole speaks to Paul Van de Walle, head brewer at the Leuven brewery and the man behind Stella Artois
STELLA JOB
Stella may have its many critics but offering consistency of product around the world is no mean feat, which is where brewmaster Paul Van de Walle earns his pay.
More of a chemist than a cook, Van de Walle has a single-minded determination to get Stella out there to the masses and in ti...
By Melissa Cole
from Issue 14 published on 04/10/2007
Tim Hampson visits the Turf Tavern, a unique pub in the heart of Oxford, England
Turf Tavern licensee Darren Kent offers an “education in intoxication.” He is passionate about beer, and is on a mission to educate the world.
The Turf is a historic pub located just outside the Oxford city walls. It is a village pub in the heart of a city. With foundations dating back to the 14th ...
By Tim Hampson
from Issue 13 published on 03/08/2007
The Tom Cobley Tavern in Devon, England is a real magnet for beer lovers. Adrian Tierney-Jones went for a pint (or two)
If you’re going to have an awardwinning pub then a taste for the ale is surely a requirement. How on earth can you resist a well-kept, sprightly, cool glass of the local beer if you don’t drink anything stronger than tea?
However, that’s exactly the tipple of Roger Cudlip who is landlord at the Cam...
By Adrian Tierney-Jones
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
The Fredericksburg Brewing Co in Texas, USA is brewery, restaurant and guest house rolled into one.
What more could you ask for? Leslie Limbo reports
For most travellers B&B means bed and breakfast, but if you’re a guest of the Fredericksburg Brewing Company in Fredericksburg, Texas it means bed and beer.
The oldest operating brewpub in Texas, opened in 1994, features not only a variety of award-winning beers on tap, but also offers lodgings abo...
By Leslie Limbo
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
The Market Town Taverns are a refreshingly different kind of pub in Yorkshire, England. Barrie Pepper reports
Faced with the choice of remaining as a reasonably well-paid accountant or taking a chance and sinking most of your capital into an unestablished and therefore unproved pub company; what would you do?
Ian Fozard chose the latter. And it certainly has been a case of third time lucky for him for he h...
By Barrie Pepper
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
It might look like a conventional off licence from the outside, but step inside and Beer Ritz more than lives up to the splendour implied by its name. Richard Jones reports
Beer has a reputation for, how shall I put it, adversely affecting the physique of the male gender around the midriff area. So when you place a specialist beer shop within smelling distance of Bryans, one of the country’s most acclaimed fish and chip shops, it’s easy to picture the staff sporting wa...
By Richard Jones
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
Andrew Catchpole visits Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey, England
As product development goes, Martin Zillwood Hunt’s philosophy takes some beating. “I start by taking an empty glass and imagine what I’d like in it,” he says. “This is how all our recipes have developed.” It’s no more than you’d expect from a self-taught brewer who began by home brewing small batch...
By Andrew Catchpole
from Issue 12 published on 25/05/2007
Charles D Cook travels to Bierhuis Kulminator in Antwerp, home to some of the rarest Belgian beers
When the subject of vintage brews arises among beer lovers, there is one café that has a well-deserved reputation as aged beer heaven: Bierhuis Kulminator.
Located in Antwerp, Belgium, the Kulminator has been delighting its patrons since 1979 with aged and fresh beers alike.
Husband and wife owner...
By Charles D Cook
from Issue 11 published on 23/03/2007
The Red Lion in Venlo, Limburg is a magnet for beer lovers. Adrian Tierney-Jones had a look around
Even though it’s in Holland, a Heineken is not the sort of thing you order in the Red Lion (or De Roeëje Lieuw in the local dialect), a classy, cosy, thirst-inducing ‘brown bar’ in Venlo in the Dutch province of Limburg. Situated off the town centre, along a pedestrianised street, it is a long, rect...
By Adrian Tierney-Jones
from Issue 11 published on 23/03/2007
Following the recent discovery of some rare, aged beers at the former Bass brewery in Burton upon Trent,
Roger Protz went along to see how they’d aged
Those of us that chip away at the coalface labelled ‘beer’ constantly stress that our preferred form of alcohol deserves as much attention and respect as wine. The juice of the barley can be as complex and profound as the juice of the grape.
But just as some wines improve with age so also do some f...
By Roger Protz
from Issue 11 published on 23/03/2007
The two Lowlander cafés in London are a Belgian and Dutch beer delight. We sent Melissa Cole to investigate
We hear a lot about the European café culture and how in Britain, thanks to flexible licensing, we will be seeing more of it.
But there’s one independent enterprise that has been bringing London beer lovers the delights of this relaxed approach to life for many years, and it’s called Lowlander.
Th...
By Melissa Cole
from Issue 10 published on 26/01/2007
The thirst for microbrewed beers in sunny Australia is growing and growing, none more so than for Little Creatures. Andrew Catchpole visited it
Good beer, shame about the name, what about calling it Dead Croc?” So quipped one Aussie wag upon his first taste of Little Creatures Pale Ale. For those readers who have yet to have the pleasure, it’s a great brew, packed with flavour, coming out of funky Freemantle in Western Australia.
It’s been...
By Andrew Catchpole
from Issue 10 published on 26/01/2007
The Beer Shop at Tuckers Maltings in Newton Abbot, Devon has taken the idea of souvenir store to a
whole new level. Richard Jones reports
You could say I have a sweet tooth. Like the proverbial stick of seaside rock, if you cut open my canines, molars and incisors (don’t, please), you’d find ‘Tate and Lyle’ imprinted in the core. So thoughts of the school tuck shop invariably bring back gluttonous memories of cola bottles, fizzy laces...
By Richard Jones
from Issue 10 published on 26/01/2007
Andrew Catchpole talks to Bart Verhaeghe, one man on a crusade to bring more Belgian beer to Britain
Croydon, an area of London known for its binge-drinking culture and bouncerstudded bar strip, may seem an unlikely venue for a festival of rare and highly original artisanal Belgian beers. But beyond the boozing masses of the central streets is Beer Circus, one of those oasis of fine beer culture th...
By Andrew Catchpole
from Issue 10 published on 26/01/2007
Jeff Evans attends a tasting of the Fuller’s Vintage Ales, 1997-2006
I love the phrase “vertical tasting.” There’s something laughably paradoxical about it. Brewers like to use it when presenting beers of different vintages, so you can see how a brew has matured from year to year. Such beers tend to be rather strong, so vertical is the last adjective I’d choose to de...
By Jeff Evans
from Issue 9 published on 22/11/2006
Pete Genders and The Beer Cellar achieved nationwide publicity earlier this year when it launched a Da Vinci Code tour around the city of Lincoln. The tours continue, but there’s far more to this specialist beer retailer than
conspiracy theories. Richard Jones reports
Here’s something you didn’t know about movie megastar Tom Hanks. During his stay in Lincoln for the filming of the Da Vinci Code, he ate at local pub / restaurant the Wig and Mitre. Upon learning the price of its caviar dish (£42.50!), he henceforth referred to the place as the ‘Wig and Mortgage.’ O...
By Richard Jones
from Issue 9 published on 22/11/2006
Nigel Huddlestone gets to grips with Joseph Holt of Manchester
Head clockwise around the Manchester inner ring road and eventually you’ll come to the ghost of the Boddingtons brewery, unloved and abandoned, a sorry contrast to the sparkling Manchester Evening News Arena that stands opposite.
While the former “cream of Manchester” awaits the developer’s ball an...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 9 published on 22/11/2006
Bev Escott has made a business out of her collection of beer adverts. Dominic Roskrow reports
Bev Escott is a hoarder. She has collected and stored classic old magazines ever since she was a student at art college. She continued her hobby in to her marriage and through to motherhood.
But she knew things had got out of control when her massive collection started to take over the house.
“I s...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 9 published on 22/11/2006
La Rulles is an unusual Belgian microbrewery in that it favours hops instead of spices. Adrian Tierney-Jones reports
It’s Saturday lunchtime in the quiet village of Rulles in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. There’s a sleepy feel to the sultry summer air that wouldn’t be out of place in an English village. Which neatly brings me onto the subject of beer.
Rulles is also home to the brewery of the same name, who...
By Adrian Tierney-Jones
from Issue 9 published on 22/11/2006
Nigel Huddleston visits the smallest beer bar in London
London’s Borough Market has found a new lease of life in the past decade with visitors attracted from across the city and beyond by the fine produce on sale from small producers.
So when the first new pub within the confines of the market for more than a century opened its doors in the summer, it w...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 8 published on 27/09/2006
Dark Star is a British micro brewery with a difference. Nigel Huddleston reports
They say variety is the spice of life but it’s the other way round at Sussex brewer Dark Star. The micro uses cinnamon, coriander and ginger, among other exotic ingredients, in producing a range of ales with depth and quirkiness.
As well as going down the spice route, the brewer has been winning pl...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 8 published on 27/09/2006
No visit to Munich could ever be complete without a trip to Europe’s first public park – the Englische Garten in Munich. Andrew Burnyeat reports
The beer flows almost as quickly as the river which runs through the centre of Munich’s Englische Garten.
Despite being one of Europe’s biggest public parks, you could visit Munich without realising it’s there, surrounded as it is by thousands of trees and several rather unattractive arterial roads...
By Andrew Burnyeat
from Issue 8 published on 27/09/2006
Kent was once the heartland of British hop production. Andrew Catchpole visits the Faversham Hop Festival to report on the future of this vital beer ingredient
There was a nice spot of irony at work as the 8.20 Spitfire Hop Pickers Steam Special chugged into life and pulled out of London Victoria on route for the September hop festival at Faversham in Kent.
A modern diesel employed to help push-start our 70-year-old Black Fives locomotive had broken down....
By Andrew Catchpole
from Issue 8 published on 27/09/2006
It might not be widely recognised, but Carlsberg is a progressive and innovative company, and that’s because of its founder, Jacob Christian Jacobsen. Glynn Davis reports
To most beer drinkers who live outside Denmark the name Carlsberg conjures up only one thing – the famous green-labelled lager. It is this pilsener-style brew that is ubiquitous in drinking establishments the world over.
But it would be a mistake to think this is all Carlsberg produces as there is ...
By Glynn Davis
from Issue 7 published on 28/07/2006
The Ring o’ Bells Brewery in Launceston was born almost by default. Nigel Huddleston reports on how it’s now flourishing
When Adrian Carter and his family moved from the north of England to Cornwall in the south west retirement was the thing uppermost on his mind.
The family settled into a cottage called Ring o’ Bells because of its proximity to the parish church at North Hill, on the edge of Bodmin Moor.
Digging ...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 7 published on 28/07/2006
Jim Helsby worked as a pathology technician in a local hospital before his passion for beer got the better of him. Richard Jones finds his York Wine and Beer Shop in rude health
It’s probably best not to know what happens to your bloodstream after a healthy (unhealthy?) session of beer drinking, but Jim Helsby probably has more idea than most.
Jim worked in the pathology laboratory of a local hospital for a number of years before he decided that beer, unlike water, was ind...
By Richard Jones
from Issue 7 published on 28/07/2006
Pietra is a chestnut beer from Corsica. Jonathan Gregson went there to taste it
The island of Corsica is known for its rugged beauty and for being the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. In gastronomic terms, its specialities are goats’ cheeses redolent of the maquis and mountain dry-cured hams and sausages – the best made from native black pigs that feed in its oak and chestnut ...
By Jonathan Gregson
from Issue 7 published on 28/07/2006
North in Leeds is a beer mecca. Nigel Huddleston reports
When British Sunday newspaper the Observer named North in Leeds at the Best Place to Drink in the United Kingdom, there was no one more stunned than its manager Christian Townsley.
Four months on, Townsley still seems unable to believe that nine years of hard work had earned a prestigious top place...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 7 published on 28/07/2006
British farmers’ markets and home delivered box schemes have become increasingly popular, but it’s a legal grey area. Andrew Burnyeat reports
Farmers’ markets are great. Rosycheeked, Wellington-shod shoppers arrive home brimming with satisfaction and unload their recyclable bags onto their oakwood kitchen table and admire their newlyacquired radiantly colourful fruit and gloriously muddy vegetables.
Later that same day they will prepare ...
By Andrew Burnyeat
from Issue 6 published on 18/05/2006
Norfolk boasts some of the best barley and the best golden ale in Britain. But the county’s Iceni Brewery is offering much
more. Nigel Huddleston reports
If the alchemist’s art was to turn base metals into gold, then the modern brewing equivalent seems to be the desire of brewmasters to turn hops and barley into golden ales.
But if you’re tiring of barrel-detectable shades of amber in your pint glass then the Iceni Brewery in the English country of ...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 6 published on 18/05/2006
Andrew Burnyeat visits the Running Horse in Hampshire, England
The Running Horse in Hampshire, England, is a prime example of a former country pub enjoying a new lease of life as a restaurant.
Who do we blame for the decline of the good old British rural pub? - greedy property developers, stuck-in-the-mud publicans or lazy customers who loved the idea of a loc...
By Andrew Burnyeat
from Issue 6 published on 18/05/2006
A nine-year old Philadelphia watering hole has become a destination pub for fans of Belgian ales from around the world. Jack Curtin spoke to co-owner Tom Peters
Ask Tom Peters if it’s fair to term him the man most responsible for the emergent popularity of Belgian beers across the United States in recent years and he pauses.
The argument can be made, but should one lay claim to such a grand achievement? On the other hand, should one merely shrug it off if ...
By Jack Curtin
from Issue 5 published on 24/03/2006
Rutland is Britain’s smallest county but it is responsible for what was one of the country’s greatest beers. Now the former head brewer is making waves again. Nigel Huddleston reports
It doesn’t take much to be the biggest brewer in England’s smallest county.
The Grainstore Brewery occupies a Victorian building that once acted as warehousing for vital supplies coming into and out of Oakham station in Rutland’s county town.
Co-owner and head brewer Tony Davis is used to his role...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 5 published on 24/03/2006
The Bavarian Beerhouse is bringing a touch of Germany to the centre of London, says Andrew Burnyeat. The perfect place to head during the World Cup?
If you’ve ever been to a Munich beer hall, as a beer lover you’ve had a glimpse inside heaven.
The beer is among the world’s best, the décor and design are gothically outstanding or traditionally Bavarian and the atmosphere, thanks to the sociable long tables and merry musical accompaniments, is ju...
By Andrew Burnyeat
from Issue 5 published on 24/03/2006
Cotswold is a microbrewery with a difference – it makes lager. Nigel Huddlestone reports
Richard Keene takes a call from a pub in the Oxfordshire village of Churchill. It has run out of the beer he brews as a cottage industry microbrewer in a rented barn.
Keene bundles a barrel into the back of his Volvo and drives it round to the pub himself.
It’s a scene that will be recognisable to...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 4 published on 27/01/2006
Juliette Banner is the partner of world-music loving disc jockey Andy Kershaw, and her cosmopolitan choice of food and drink suggests so. Andrew Burnyeat reports
It’s grim up north London, as the brief walk from Highgate tube to Banner’s restaurant reveals.
Looking at the big cars behind the prohibitive iron gates protecting even bigger houses and flats, you start to wonder whether you’re walking if not through the corridors of power, then past the homes of...
By Andrew Burnyeat
from Issue 4 published on 27/01/2006
The Celtic Beer Festival is odd in that it is held in winter. But as Adrian Tierney Jones reports, it’s a great place to taste something different
December in Cornwall and the tourists have gone. The beaches are empty apart from the most dedicated surfers, while the pubs returned back to the quiet embrace of the locals.
Not the best time of the year to have a beer festival you might think, but this is exactly an ideal period for the Celtic Be...
By
from Issue 4 published on 27/01/2006
The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that Wiltshire didn’t appear in our South West feature in the last issue. Printing gremlins were responsible, so here Andrew Tierney-Jones tries once more to get to grips with the county
The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that Wiltshire was mysteriously removed from our South West feature in the second issue of Beers of the World.
Printing gremlins were responsible, so here is our guide to the best breweries in Wiltshire.
Stonehenge, Netheravon, Wiltshire
If you want a gr...
By Andrew Tierney-Jones
from Issue 3 published on 12/01/2006
The United States is the greatest beer show in town. Ben McFarland goes ga-ga at the Great American Beer Festival
Where in the world can you find the most vibrant and exciting beer scene? In Britain where a real ale renaissance is gathering pace? No. Germany – land of lush lagers and wonderful weizens? Nein, Herr. Within the Brewtopian borders of Belgium? Non, non, non. Vous êtes mistaken again.
The answer is ...
By Ben McFarland
from Issue 3 published on 12/01/2006
Tim Webb compiled, wrote and edited the Good Beer Guide to Belgium. Rob Allanson spoke to him
Taking the plunge into another country’s beers, especially one with an array of strange styles, is often an exciting and daunting prospect.
Thankfully for those beer lovers looking to expand their tastes with the diverse styles on offer from Belgium help is at hand, in the form of his Good Beer Gui...
By Rob Allanson
from Issue 3 published on 12/01/2006
St Peter’s Brewery is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary but it’s up for sale. What’s going on? Dominic Roskrow reports
It’s a success story with the buttons stuck in fast forward mode. From nought to the end of the 90s in record time, picking up awards on the way, St Peter’s Brewery has been on a white knuckle ride from the off.
Where did the time go? Is it really 10 years since the words ‘St Peter’s Brewery’ first...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 3 published on 12/01/2006
Two Fat Cats – one a long time real ale mecca, the other CAMRA’s champion pub of Great Britain and the only pub to win the honour twice. Nigel Huddleston reports from Sheffield, Rob Allanson from Norwich
The night when the Fat Cat first opened its doors in 1981 there were people queuing outside to get in.
The Sheffield public had been fed a diet of keg Stone’s and Ward’s by two of what were then the big six brewers and the notion of a pub dedicated to serving quality cask beer was as revolutionary ...
By Nigel Huddleston
from Issue 3 published on 12/01/2006
Could a 150-year-old socialist ideal help keep small breweries and rural communities afloat? Alastair Gilmour thinks so
You’re sitting in the only pub in the village. The next-door micro-brewery is about to throw in the towel. The pub gets its beer from the micro. The nearest city is 12 miles away and the bus runs only on Wednesdays. Basis for a tragi-comic television series, or bitter reality?
Fiction lost out when...
By Alastair Gilmour
from Issue 3 published on 12/01/2006
Want to know more about beer? Then the Beer Academy's for you. Alastair Gilour reports
Advice is appreciated when it has been passed on by someone from the land of Been There Done It.
But it’s only when they have the experience, knowledge, ability, qualifications and personality to support their message that they can buy the metaphorical T-shirt.
As a student at Newcastle University...
By
from Issue 2 published on 16/11/2005
Richard Jones discovers the weird and wonderful beers of Utobeer in Borough Market, London
You don’t have to read Who Moved My Cheese? or The One Minute Manager to know that it’s good to communicate with your customers, but few businesses are quite as attentive as Utobeer.
“When we started our price list comfortably fitted on one sheet of A4,” explains Richard Dinwoodie, co-owner. “But t...
By Richard Jones
from Issue 2 published on 16/11/2005
Alastair Gilmour visits the annual Zatec Hop Festival in the Czech Republic
Breakfast: Potato pancake filled with smoked bacon in a cheese sauce, accompanied by three different types of cabbage. Half-litre of beer.
Time: Just after 6am.
Cost: The equivalent of the News of the World and a Kit Kat.
Location: A bar/restaurant in the North Bohemian town of Zatec in the Czech...
By Alastair Gilmour
from Issue 2 published on 16/11/2005
