Protz On Beer, by Roger Protz

Feature

Brewers recall hey-day of stout

Great interest is being shown by independent brewers in Porter and Stout, beer styles from the 18th century. Both Hook Norton in Oxfordshire and Heritage Brewery in Burton-on-Trent have produced versions of stout based on original recipes. Hook Norton's version is aged in oak casks for 18 months while Heritage P2 is based on Bass's P2 Export Stout sent to Russia and the Baltic States.

Added: Sunday, January 11th 2026

Feature

Guinness brings brewing back to London

The Open Gate Brewery in Covent Garden restores brewing to central London. Guinness has spent £73m on the centre that includes a 20,000-barrel brewery producing a wide range of beer including Porter that was once brewed on the site by Combe in the 18th and 19th centuries

Added: Sunday, December 21st 2025

Feature

Xmas beer: let it flow, let it flow,...

It's that time of year when Santa gets stuck up the chimney after too many Christmas beers. Here is a fine selection of some of the beers available this year

Added: Monday, December 8th 2025

Comment

Budget business rates blow to pubs

Research since the Budget shows that, far from going down, business rates for pubs will rise dramatically over the next few years. Hospitality experts say thousands more pubs will close, hut not only by business rates but high costs for energy, increases in the Minimum Wage and National Insurance plus a rise in the price of beer as duty goes up.

Added: Saturday, December 6th 2025

Comment

Draught Bass is bouncing back

AB In Bev, the world's biggest brewer, has bowed to grassroots campaigners and has launched a major promotion for Draught Bass. Bass was once Britain's leading premium cask ale, worth close to one million barrels a year, but that has fallen to 30,000 barrels and the beer has become hard to find. But now more than 1,000 pubs will serve it with new pump clips and glasses.

Added: Tuesday, December 2nd 2025