At this time of year, there’s no place that I would rather spend time than a proper pub, enjoying one or two (or three or four) sociable pints of cask bitter, and maybe a pork pie if I’m lucky. As we are all too aware now, 2020 isn’t the year for socialising, and we have had to witness pubs closing twice. As I sit at home pondering what’s in the fridge, my mind drifts to thoughts of what it will be like to once again experience that glorious first gulp of hand pulled cask bitter (through a sparkler of course). Dear reader, though I don’t know when my next pub pint of bitter will be, I can shar ..read more

Whilst I made it around a long list of breweries and bars on my first trip to Colorado, time was limited, so I didn’t find the opportunity to make it up into the Rockies. This October, thanks to the generosity and hospitality of hero amongst men, Frank Curtis, I was able to spend the best part of a week in Fort Collins, leaving plenty of time for a good day’s hiking. Since Frank had the Tuesday free, he offered to take me on a hike up Horsetooth Rock. Before we headed for the trail, we had to take care of the important tasks of taking a beer out of the fridge, and picking up a sandwich ..read more

At 6am on the 15th October last year, I left my sisters flat in Lewisham and made my way across London to Heathrow. I thought I’d given myself plenty of time to get to the airport in time for my 11:15 flight, but I hadn’t factored in that anything would go wrong public transport-wise. Rookie error. Things weren’t off to a great start for my first solo trip overseas, but I made it to the airport and through security just in time for my flight to Denver. Eleven hours later, I’d collected my luggage in the Colorado capital and was on the train to Union Station, marvelling at the Rockies in the di ..read more

Coronavirus is having a devastating effect on the craft beer industry. Pubs have had to close, there were big question marks over the opening rights of bottle shops, and breweries have had to make extremely difficult decisions over maintaining a skeleton crew or wrapping things up for the foreseeable future. Luckily, there are a few who are still able to keep our beer fridges stocked in this time of crisis. Nationally, you have plenty of options to order beer in. If you are based in the West Midlands though, you may want to consider ordering from these local, independent establishm ..read more

At the start of the month, I was in the Lake district with a group of University friends for our yearly meetup/reunion. Being November, it probably wasn’t the best time weather-wise to head up to Cumbria, but we had a massive cottage to stay in, plenty of food and drink, and ten years’ worth of in-jokes to rely on for entertainment. After a great night catching up, and a big breakfast on Saturday morning, we turned our attention to the day ahead. It was raining what can only be described as Cumbrian rain. You would have forgiven us for firing up the log burner at the cottage and opening a few ..read more

Getting beer whilst self-isolating or practicing social distancing is a difficult task. Luckily there are still a number of businesses who are shipping cans and cases during the Coronavirus pandemic. That’s why I’ve put together a list of 20 awesome online distributors and breweries still open for delivery whilst under lock-down. For this list I have focused on those offering UK-wide delivery. I have also put together a companion piece detailing breweries and bottle shops delivering in Birmingham and the West Midlands. To see what’s available in other regions, I suggest checking out the fa ..read more

Simon Clarke and Vicki Harding, along with Charles Tustain, are the hosts of Beers Without Frontiers, a podcast that discusses beers, breweries, pubs, bars, bottle shops and beer culture. Based in Warwickshire, the Beers Without Frontiers team are great supporters of the growing craft beer community in the Midlands. I’ve known Simon and Vicki for a couple of years or so now. Having originally seen each other at many of the same meet the brewer and tap takeover events in Birmingham, we finally got talking on a crawl around Coventry, organised by Carl Marshall, formerly of Twisted Barrel Ale ..read more

Before landing on the other side of the world, my partner and I had already booked a weekend on the serene Waiheke island. It’s famously known for its beautiful beaches, stunning views, and abundant vineyards – basically a must visit destination for anyone spending any time in Auckland. Despite being quite the uncultured wine drinkers, we gave it our best and sampled an extensive range over the few days (learning in the process that we both do in fact like white wine). The island may be known for its wine, but one vineyard housed a tiny microbrewery. We happily welcomed a break from all ..read more

You can write all the tasting notes you like, but when it really comes down to it, beer is about friends and experiences. When it comes to my most memorable life experiences, the events of the night of Friday the 19th October 2018 are right up there. After a day wondering around Old Town Fort Collins and taking the free tour at New Belgium Brewery, I headed to Beau Jo’s Pizza to meet up with my new friends Frank and John, both of whom I’d met the day before, along with John’s wife Tee and their friends. After quickly working our way through some Colorado style pizza and a couple of pints, we m ..read more

I’m a committed beer tourist. Whenever I travel to a new city, abroad or in the UK, I’m always thinking about which breweries and bars I can visit while I’m there. My last three trips abroad have been to explore cities famed for their brewing traditions and/or modern beer culture, and when I travel around the UK for gigs or meet-ups with friends, I’ll always be looking ahead for a possible pitstop at any breweries or bars in town I’ve been meaning to check out. Last November, Dave and I had the perfect chance to visit Hawkshead brewery on our way up to the more northerly reaches of the Lake Di ..read more