Contents
p5
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...
By Sally Toms in the section
From the Editor
p16
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, smi...
By Sally Toms in the section
Brewery Focus
p20
Budweiser Budvar's Czech brewery is a monument to good brewing practice. Dominic Roskrow reports
We’re standing in the grandiose and pristine marbled reception area of the Budweiser Budvar brewery sipping tentatively at the first lager of the day. Back in London it is just 9.15am.
We know this b...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
International Brewery
p24
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...
By Melissa Cole in the section
Spotlight
p26
Dominic Roskrow sees what's brewing in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire
There are a band of counties in a commuter belt round London that don’t fit in to any discernible regional area.
They occupy a no man’s land somewhere between the South West of England, North West Lo...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Regional Focus
p30
Americans have a reputation for doing everything bigger and better, and its breweries are no exception. But is bigger necessarily better when beer is concerned? David Gilbert reports
In the early 1980s the aspiration of many American brewers was to create beers that mirrored the classic European styles.
As the craft brew movement grew and evolved, American brewers began to experi...
By David Gilbert in the section
Beer Trends
p33
Belgium produces the most varied collection of beers in the world; Roger Protz reveals what the beer lover will find there
Belgium is the cornucopia of the beer world. It froths and foams with a vast and diverse offering of the fruits of barley and wheat. A small country rent by political and linguistic antagonisms, unite...
By Roger Protz in the section
International Focus
p39
Richard Jones dons his gladrags for an evening of fine beer and food at the magnificent setting of Thornbridge
Hall in the Peak District
It only takes a cursory glance at the website (www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk and www.thornbridgehall.co.uk) to discover that Thornbridge is not your usual fledgling microbrewery.
The clue comes courte...
By Richard Jones in the section
Beer and Food
p42
Pretty in Pink
It’s one of the last great untapped markets. Just how do you get more women to drink and appreciate beer?
A microbrewer from Ishikari, Japan just might have found a way.
With help fr...
By in the section
Beer Matters
p44
In the first in a new series on the history of beer Dominic Roskrow looks at its earliest origins
The length of time human kind has spent perfecting the production of alcohol from grain is probably matched only by the time spent improving weapons to kill other humans.
Indeed which came first woul...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Beer history
p46
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’...
By Andrew Catchpole in the section
Spotlight
p50
Adrian Tierney-Jones scouts out the best beers and the best bars in the French capital
At the start of the 1990s I was a guest in the house of a well-known French writer, an octogenarian intellectual who reputedly drank two bottles of wine a day.
Neither of us could speak each other’s ...
By Adrian Tierney-Jones in the section
Beer journeys
p55
We've all thought about it...Nigel Huddleston shows us the way
Hundreds of beer-mad individuals in Britain and the States have jacked it all in to pursue the dream of owning their own brewery. But how exactly did they get where they are today and what’s the best ...
By Nigel Huddleston in the section
Beer Production
p57
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 tho...
By Richard Jones in the section
Spotlight
p58
Tim Hampson lets the train take the strain as he explores the age-old romance between
beer and steam power
I love pubs like the Cornmill – modern, lively, sassy and with a story to tell. If location itself made a perfect pub then the Cornmill, Llangollen in North Wales would be one of the best in the world...
By Tim Hampson in the section
Beer Trends
p62
In the first of a new series, Roger Protz looks at the history of India Pale Ale
Is it fanciful to describe a beer style as “revolutionary”?
In the case of India Pale Ale, which transformed brewing on a world scale and paved the way for golden pilsners, the answer must be an emph...
By Roger Protz in the section
Beer Styles
p65
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 ...
By Andrew Catchpole in the section
Spotlight
p74
The busy Witney brewery in Oxfordshire is home to Wychwood and Brakspear beers. We chat to Rupert
Thompson, chief executive of owning company Refresh UK
How do you look back at business in recent months?
For the British beer industry it has been challenging – the summer was not as good as we would have hoped given the football and the warm weather, a...
By in the section
Last Shout
