I enjoyed Sam McMeekin’s presentation on the importance of independence at this weeks Brewer’s Congress, organised by trade publication The Brewers Journal, and held at the Institute of Civil Engineers. Along with a few others—including Paul Jones at Cloudwater—The Gipsy Hill Brewing Co. founder has for a long time been vocal about the value of independence to the small scale brewing industry. It is a strong line, and one I largely agree with.  His presentation included the damning statistic that since 2015 the production volume of what you would ostensibly define as “craft beer” within London ..read more

A Note from the Author Few breweries have impressed me with their progress over the past three years so much as Fierce Beer. I remember well the first time I tasted their beers; co-founder Dave Grant had kindly sent me some samples of some of their first ever commercial brews. Although it may surprise you to hear it, at the time, those beers didn’t leave a lasting impression, especially compared to how fond of their beers I am now.  They were by no means bad, but the unusual nature of them—habanero spiced pale ales and a very early iteration of Cranachan Killer, a raspberry infused pale—was ha ..read more