Pubs, pies, past and present
When I expounded the principle in the pages of The Publican that the minimum requirement for a pie was that it be entirely encased in pastry, it had a real-world impact.
Brewers in survival mode
Independent brewers are locked out of 60% of Britain’s pubs, due not just to those outlets operating under a formal beer tie, but increasingly because of factors such as brewery loans which include onerous beer supply agreements, and bigger players restricting access to beer dispense equipment.
How Sweet It Is
Before there was beer, there was mead. At least, that’s the theory. While archaeological evidence suggests beer predates drinks such as wine and cider as homo sapiens’ recreational beverage of choice, our ancestors may well have been dipping enthusiastically into spontaneously fermented honey from the wild beehives in primeval forests well before they brewed beer.
When The Chips Are Down
How many chips constitutes a portion? It’s a question that helped to revive the art of conversation between my wife and I when we visited a managed pub operated by one of the UK’s biggest pub groups, on a recent visit to the West End of London.
Return of the Beerstash Chronicles: Hold that thought – Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2020
There’s no denying that beers designed to be put away for drinking down the line often bring out the best in their brewers. Fullers Vintage Ale is a case in point. The 2020 edition marks the 24th year since the Griffin Brewery began producing this limited edition beer.
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Guest Blog: Conor Shaw, CEO of workforce management experts Bizimply
GMs must be front of house to reassure customers and staff post-lockdown The best hospitality operators definitely took a ‘glass half full’ approach when lockdown was imposed and looked for the opportunities in a situation that was beyond their control, rather than railing against it. Enforced closure allowed for the reflection and review that are
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The BeerStash Chronicles 2: Fresh thinking
A blog by John Porter from www.apieandapint.com Beer is best drunk when it’s freshly brewed*. There, I’ve said it. It may not be the most sensible contention to make at the outset of an article which sets out to assess the merits of a beer that’s been knocking around for years, but it’s probably worth
Guest blog: Rupert Thompson, managing director and owner, Hogs Back Brewery
Rupert Thompson is managing director and owner of Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey, brewers of TEA, or Traditional English Ale, one of the leading cask ales in the south east.
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There’s a Starman waiting in the Brewery!
Some years ago, my then-small son came home from primary school and, unexpectedly, asked me “what do you do for a job?” Delighted that he was taking an interest, I explained about journalism and dug out some copies of a number of newspapers and magazines containing articles which bore my byline. He regarded these with
It’s a Trappist!
As someone very clever once remarked, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. They were almost certainly talking about something even more important than beer, such as building an atomic bomb or holding a referendum, but there are also plenty of breweries who would be well advised to have the saying inscribed
The Treasure of the Sierra Nevada
There is much talk of consolidation in beer circles at the moment. It seems to received wisdom on both sides of the Atlantic seems to be that the craft beer boom has left us overbreweried, which will inevitably lead to the big global players snapping up bargains by buying out the biggest craft players, while
Spice up your life! The art (and science) of whisky blending.
In my defence, I wasn’t the only invitee who read “blind tasting” on the email and briefly thought “blindfold tasting”. It wasn’t, however, a 50 Shades of Grey style sensory encounter that bought us to Islington on a wet Wednesday evening, but rather an event organised by the Grant’s Family Reserve whisky brand. As regular
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