The Big Interview

Feature

Joe Stange, the accidental beer writer

Joe Stange, an American journalist from Missouri, is based in Berlin and writes with Tim Webb the Good Beer Guide Belgium. It was while he was working as a freelance in Brussels that he came across Belgian beer and started a journey that led to a Brussels beer guide and now co-author of the Belgian book. He calls himself a "beer conservationist" and is a great defender of European styles. He is critical of American "sours" that discredit the true Lambic tradition

Added: Saturday, July 30th 2016

Feature

Breandan likes the smaak of Belgian beer

Breandan Kearney, annointed Beer Writer of the Year by the British Guild of Beer Writers, is an Irishman who has settled in Ghent to write about Belgian beer and has quickly acquired a big following for his forthright views and tastings on his blog Belgian Smaak. He is seen picking up his award at the guild's annual dinner.

Added: Friday, January 29th 2016

Feature

Moorhouse's in for long haul in north-west

David Grant, managing director of Moorhouse's of Burnley -- famous for Pendle Witches Brew -- says the town has fought back from the nightmare of riots in 2001 and now a real community spirit is aiding the brewery to build its sales. But the beer market is changing and the brewery has had to sell three of its six pubs. Grant is critical of Progressive Beer Duty that doesn't help a company of his size

Added: Monday, January 18th 2016

News

Meantime's Miller answers his critics

Nick Miller, chief executive of Meantime, says there was no behind-the-scenes deal when SABMiller bought the South London brewery in May. Miller had been preparing to put Meantime on the market for a year and a half before the SAB takeover in order to pay back the original shareholders who had never received a dividend. But now Meantime is in limbo, put up for sale by new owner AB InBev

Added: Friday, December 11th 2015

Comment

Mulholland anger at watered-down MRO that's 'in defiance of will of parliament'

Greg Mulholland, the LibDem MP who chairs the Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, says the draft Pub Code put forwared by the government breaches the legislation agreed by parliament before the general election. The code's interpretation of the Market Rent Only option means, he says, that tenants will find it impossible to trigger MRO and go free of the pubco beer tie

Added: Monday, November 30th 2015

Feature

Alan Hinkes: up hill, down ale

Alan Hinkes has scaled Mount Everest five times and is the only Brit to have climbed all 14 8,000 metre peaks in the Himalayas and Karakoram ranges. When he's not climbing, he enjoys good beer, real ale in particular. He recalls his early drinking, the beer deserts of Newcastle and Scotland in the 1980s, and some of his favourite brews at home and abroad. He's seen here (left) with ranger David Tyson on Great Gable, toasting the Cumbrian peak with a special beer

Added: Wednesday, October 7th 2015

Feature

CAMRA's new chief has sky high plans

Tim Page, CAMRA's new chief executive, is impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the campaign's 165,000 members -- but his ambition is to double that figure. He comes from a military background and since leaving the army has run the charity Emmaus followed by a stint as boss of the East Anglian Air Ambulance service

Added: Friday, October 31st 2014

Feature

How Petra Wetzel went WEST to give Glaswegians a taste of real German beer

Petra Wetzel has taken Glasgow by storm. In the course of a few years she has built the success and reputation of WEST, a Bavarian-style beer hall with a brewery producing lagers and wheat beers to the ancient Pure Beer Law. Now she has funding to build a new brewery on the outskirts of the city

Added: Friday, November 29th 2013

Feature

New brewery, new beers as Greene King looks to the future with big choice of pubs

Greene King boss Rooney Anand has transformed the fortunes of the Suffolk-based brewing and pubs groups. Now he's installing a new brewhouse where a wide range of short-run beers will add to the appeal of his pubs

Added: Monday, September 23rd 2013

Feature

Early love of pubs and ale set Sophie on course to become a top beer writer and taster

Sophie Atherton is the first ever woman beer sommelier and in July she was given the prestigious award of Beer Sommelier of the Year by the Parliamentary Beer Club. Now she plans to raise the appreciation of beer and stop it being seen as wine's poor relation. She's pictured at the Great British Beer Festival

Added: Tuesday, August 20th 2013