ANNOUNCING TWO BRAND NEW BEERS // EXCLUSIVE FIRST POURS // PHANTOM BREWING CO (Reading) & THE MAD YANK (Pinner) This is exciting! Happy birthday to us, Happy birthday to us. Happy first birthday to A Hoppy Place, Haaaapy Birthday.. to us! If you haven’t heard, it’s our first birthday this Read more…
Thoughts on an Industry in turmoil As if lockdown wasn’t enough, as if the low rent thundercat that is Tim Martin stealing from .gov to subsidise a pint of Ruddles wasn’t enough, small breweries now have yet another issue to contend with. That of the SBR (Small Brewer’s Relief) review which Read more…
Freshness. Today’s post comes to you frosty yet hot. Because today, my gears were ground. They were ground by a post in an internet beer forum on facebook complaining about an American craft beer with a canning date, but no best before date… The idea that I’d be sad to Read more…
Well, hey folks. I hope this mail finds you well. The day job now has everyone working from home, which is the right call. It also gives me plenty of time to check out the fridge here and realise that I definitely need to order in more beer if I’m Read more…
During the set-up of A Hoppy Place, I was getting fairly regular email shots and calls from local breweries offering samples, trying to get their beer on the shelves in Windsor. For many of our breweries, what with the PubCo tie-ins meaning it’s basically impossible to sell their beer, even Read more…
A young CAMRA member’s thoughts on Cask, Craft, The Pub, and Beer Competition In April 2018, CAMRA decided once again NOT to extend the scope of the organisation beyond real Ale. Unfortunately, for the relevance of our organisation I feel this was a huge mistake. The majority of members – Read more…
What is so exciting about opening up when we are is the astounding selection of fabulous local brewers in our area 15 years ago our most widely drunk local brewery would probably have been Brakspears. But the vast majority of local pubs would have given you the same thing. Fosters Read more…
What do you do when you know that a year from now roughly, you’d quite like to open your own taproom, but then you walk past the perfect property when out for lunch and just know you need to go for it? This was the question faced by Naomi and Read more…
Whilst exploring Southern California’s stunning Route 1 coastline back in May 2018, the differences in the way beer is sold in the USA and the UK could not have been more stark… I’ve been a beer drinker since the age of 15. In my early days, most commonly my pint Read more…
Whilst having a mostly friendly discussion with a Polish truck driver about #Brexit in a basement bar north of the Belfort in Bruge, I had possibly the best beer experience of my life to date. I think. Some of the details are fuzzy. Naomi and I had known for some Read more…