Features

Publicans packed a meeting in St Albans this week to launch a petition to halt punitive rises in business rates. St Albans with 50 pubs has the biggest number of any town or city in the country -- but 20 could close unless rate increases are halted. The meeting was convened by Sean Hughes (pictured) who runs the 15th century Boot pub

Added: Friday, February 24th 2017

Alex Brodie, founder of Hawkshead Brewery in Cumbria, brewed more than one million litres in 2016 -- and 65% of the total was cask beer. He describes himself as "bullish about cask" and plans a rolling programme of session beers for 2017. He welcomes new wave young brewers but says cask ale is unique to Britain and needs to be treasured

Added: Monday, January 30th 2017

Maigret returns to TV on Christmas day and two more films are planned with Rowan Atkinson playing the famous French detective. Penguin Books is relaunching the whole Maigret series of novels and his creator Georges Simenon, in an interview with the Toronto Star in 1953, explained why a Parisian policeman preferred beer to wine

Added: Monday, December 19th 2016

Veteran pubs campaigner Mark Dodds is back doing what he enjoys best --- pulling pints in a pub. After a long losing and bruising battle with pub companies in London, he is back in the North-east, reviving the fortunes of the Brown Bear in Berwick. He is also planning to raise crowd funding money to help save other community locals

Added: Sunday, December 11th 2016

Belgian beer is no longer living in the past. Plans are under way to convert the Bourse -- the Stock Exchange -- in Brussels into the Belgian Beer Palace that will offer visitors interactive displays about the country's vast range of beer. And nearby the Brussels Beer Project says "leave the abbey" and is brewing new styles in collaboration with brewers in other European countries: including Anspach & Hobday (pictured) from London

Added: Thursday, December 1st 2016

Pioneering Burton brewers Bruce Wilkinson and Geoff Mumford are calling it a day and putting their Burton Bridge Brewery up for sale. They both worked for Ind Coope before opening their own brewery and one of their last acts was to bring Draught Burton Ale back to its native town. They are determined Burton Bridge will be sold only to someone who shares their belief in traditional ales

Added: Wednesday, November 2nd 2016

Audit Ale was once consumed in vast quantities at college feasts in Oxford and Cambridge to mark the annual settlement of rents from college land and farms. The style has been revived by Lacons and Westerham breweries and now Titanic and White Horse breweries have collaborated to brew a version of Audit ale that will be aged until next April

Added: Tuesday, October 18th 2016

Achouffe brewery in the Belgian Ardennes has come a long way from its launch in 1982 with second-hand vessels on a farm. It has become world-famous as a result of its gnome logo: founder Chris Bauweraerts is seen with one his gnomes. The brewery is now part of the Duvel Moortgat group, which exports the beers to more than 20 countries and where it has created great interest with the first-ever Belgian IPA.

Added: Tuesday, October 4th 2016

The legendary barley wine Thomas Hardy's Ale, which disappeared when first Eldridge Pope's brewery closed and then O'Hanlon's brewery dropped the beer, has been restored...in Italy. Sandro and Michele Vecchiato of Interbrau bought the brand and it's now brewed for them by Meantime in London. It was launched in Milan but Interbrau plan to make it available in both the UK and the U.S.

Added: Sunday, September 18th 2016

In just five short years, Logan Plant has moved from his kitchen to a 40,000 barrel-a-year plant in Tottenham, North London -- and he's already planning to expand. Logan comes from the Black Country where his father, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame, introduced him to the delights of Batham's and Holden's ales. Now he's entranced with West Coast pale ales from the U.S. and brews a range of IPAs, including the outstanding Bloody Ell

Added: Sunday, September 4th 2016