The Big Interview

Jacob Collier has been the MP for Burton-on-Trent for only a few weeks but he's busy on the beer and brewery front. He's held a meeting wit Carlsberg to discuss the future for Marston's Brewery in the town and he's also joined the campaign to find a new home for the brewery museum, and its valuable artefacts following the closure of the National Brewery Centre

Added: Tuesday, August 13th 2024

Nik Antona (pictured left) and Tom Stainer, the new chairman-elect and chief executive of CAMRA, have a mission to broaden the base of the campaign and win younger drinkers. They stress that many beer festivals now offer a wider choice of beers and the campaign is about more than handpumps and casks. To boost the fortunes of real ale, they will step up efforts to save pubs as vital hubs of communities offering a range of great beer.

Added: Sunday, March 31st 2019

Alex Brodie has stepped down as the boss of Hawkshead Brewery in the Lake District but he's being kept on as beer taster in chief to keep his eye -- and his tastebuds -- on his favourite brews. Alex trained as a journalist and travelled widely first in Britain and then around the world as a BBC correspondent. But his love of good beer drove him to open a small brewery in Hawkshead that has grown rapidly into a major Cumbrian business

Added: Monday, February 18th 2019

Jaega Wise has sprung to fame in a few years with Wild Card Brewery in East London. She and her fellow directors William Harris and Andrew Birkby are from Nottingham and moved from home brewing to full scale production in 2012. They have won awards for their beers and Jaega was named Brewer of the Year in December by the British Guild of Beer Writers. She's also a regional director for the Society of Independent Brewers and finds time to sing in a group called Hell and Hope

Added: Monday, January 21st 2019

Shepherd Neame may be Britain's oldest brewery, dating from 1698, but it's not resting on its history. Chief executive Jonathan Neame says the future for beer is about flavour and quality and he responds to modern consumer demands with beers with good hop aroma whether in cask, keg or bottle. The brewery is also expanding its pub estate with new outlets planned for London

Added: Tuesday, July 3rd 2018

Adnams Brewery in Suffolk is famous for its cask ales -- but times are changing. Chairman Jonathan Adnams (pictured),in a frank interview, says only a tiny proportion of his production goes to his own pubs and in the free trade there's a growing demand for keg beer -- and sales of keg will overtake cask by 2019.

Added: Wednesday, May 16th 2018

Steve Wellington, a revered figure in brewing circles, is retiring...allegedly. He has retired four times before but this time he means it -- except that the owners of the Heritage Brewery in Burton-on-Trent want him to stay on as a consultant. He is seen on the left in the brewery with his colleagues Caroline Horrabin and Martin Hodson. Steve worked in various parts of the old Bass empire but his main claim to fame was bringing Worthington's White Shield back to Burton

Added: Monday, February 5th 2018

Greg Koch launched Stone Brewing when he discovered there was more to American beer than Budweiser and Miller Lite. Starting with a 30-barrel kit in 1996 he now has breweries in California, Virginia and Berlin and is producing some 400,000 barrels a year, with 30 IPAs in his portfolio

Added: Friday, July 28th 2017

Ralph Findlay, chief executive of Marston's, is bullish about the future of beer and pubs. He has more than 1,560 pubs and plans to bring back more "wet led" outlets to cater for the demand for craft beer. He says the recently acquired Charles Wells's beers won't change and will continue to be brewed at Bedford. He hopes to give greater presence to Courage and Young's beers in London and to boost McEwans in Scotland.

Added: Tuesday, June 27th 2017

Colin Dexter, who died on 21 March, had a life-long love affair with good beer, starting in his home town of Stamford. He took that love with him to Oxford and it helped inspire his great creation, Inspector Morse, In this interview with Roger Protz in May 1990, Dexter spoke of his favourite beers and the crime writers he admires.

Added: Wednesday, March 22nd 2017