Beer News

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Hogs Back IPA celebrates return of pubs

Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey has launched an East Coast IPA to celebrate the re-opening of pubs on 4 July. Seven hops are used in the beer, including Cascade grown in the brewery's own garden. The hop garden covers 8.5 acres and supplies the brewery with 50% of its hops needs. A malt kiln will be added to dry hops within 24 hours of being picked.

Added: Monday, June 29th 2020

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Carlsberg & cask: remember Burton Ale?

Carlsberg is the dominant partner in the new brewing group formed with Marston's -- and the Danish giant does not enjoy a good track record where cask ale is concerned. It closed the major Tetley Brewery in Leeds and axed the award-winning Draught Burton Ale and there are now concerns for the future of Draught Bass, which Marton's brews for AB InBev

Added: Tuesday, May 26th 2020

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The highs and lows of Draught Guinness

There's been a lively debate on Twitter about an old system used to serve Irish stouts. It was known as the two cask or high and low system. One cask held freshly-fermented beer, the second older, mature beer. The system was phased out when Guinness developed a new keg method that served the stout with a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen gasses

Added: Wednesday, May 13th 2020

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Taste of history: ale brewed for the Arctic

When some bottles of beer were discovered in the cellars of the former Allsopps' brewery in Burton-on-Trent they turned out be to Arctic Ale, brewed in 1875. They had been produced for the crew of ships sent by Queen Victoria to find the survivors of an earlier attempt to navigate the North West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. When a small group assembled in Burton in 2011 the key question was: "Will the beer be drinkable?"

Added: Monday, May 11th 2020

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How a little yeast gives beer some bottle

Are bottle-conditioned beers better than beers that have been filtered? The evidence says Yes. Not only are modern beers with live yeast more flavourful but some beers more than 100 years old remain in fine drinking condition as a result of secondary fermentation in bottle, as a tasting of old Bass "corkers" (pictured) proved

Added: Saturday, May 9th 2020

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It's Curious -- a great British lager

Great lager beers come from Central Europe while Britain is saddled with the mass-produced brews produced by global brewers. But small independent brewers in Britain are now making some fine interpretations of the style -- and king of the heap is Curious Brew, which uses wine techniques including Champagne yeast

Added: Thursday, May 7th 2020

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Brewers come to the aid of the NHS

Brewers in East London and Somerset are launching special initiatives to back the hard-press NHS during the coronavirus crisis. Signature Brew, who specialise in collaboration beers with rock bands, has produced Nightingale Pale Ale, with £1 from each can going to the NHS. Pitchfork plans a virtual beer festival with again part of the proceeds going to the health service.

Added: Wednesday, April 29th 2020

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Sam Smith's horses deliver beer at home

The usually secretive Yorkshire brewer Sam Smith's is up front and out on the streets, using its traditional horse-drawn drays to deliver bottled beers to people locked in doors and unable to go to the pub

Added: Wednesday, April 15th 2020

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Lockdown: what to do with waste beer

Publicans and brewers are worried over what to do with unused beer during the coronavirus lockdown and closed pubs -- can they claim back for lost sales and pre-paid duty? The chairman of a leading regional brewer offers his advice

Added: Sunday, April 5th 2020

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A pint of Landlord gives hope for cask

Should cask beer be treated as a premium product, as suggested by James Calder, the chief executive of SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers? A pint of Taylor's Landlord at £3.50 in a backstreet pub in Dartford, Kent, keeps in the reach of people on low incomes.

Added: Monday, March 30th 2020