Posts by Glynn Davis
Bath Ales fresh from installation of state-of-the-art brewing facility
Roger Ryman is renowned for his brewing capabilities – having created blockbusters like Tribute – but he is less known for his engineering prowess, which is on full show at Bath Ales brewery on the outskirts of the Georgian city. On a tour of the site it is clear that the brewing director of St…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
The highlight of May, and almost certainly 2018, was obviously MBCC in Copenhagen. This year my visit extended to six days, so I was able to experience more of the accompanying Beer Week events around the city. As in 2017, I bumped into another regular Bottle Shop couple at Gatwick, early Tuesday morning! A gorgeous, sunny day…
Read MoreWhy I forgave gastro-pubs
In early 2007 I visited young businessman Philip Mossop at Bacchus, the restaurant he had recently set up in Hoxton, London, which provided the platform for little-known Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes to make his name and go on to great success. My interest was in Mossops’ objective of delivering “fine dining in trainers” as he…
Read MoreCamden Town sitting comfortably with brewery takeovers
The days of big brewers taking over smaller ones and ruining them are over because there is now too much at stake, argues Jasper Cuppaidge, founder of Camden Town Brewery, which is owned by AB InBev. Many beer drinkers will disagree with this view but I suspect they will simply have to put up with…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
April’s premier event was SponFest, a week-long celebration of ‘the very best in wild and traditionally fermented food and drink’ at four Graceland pubs, The King’s Arms, The Axe and The Mermaid of which I am very familiar, and a fourth venue, TT-Liquor, a Kingsland Road cocktail bar, that I had never heard of. I…
Read MoreBohem launches new brewery site in Tottenham
North London brewery Bohem has officially opened a significantly enlarged brewery in Tottenham to add to its original bar room premises in Bounds Green. The brewery, which uniquely specialises in Czech-style bohemian lagers decided it required larger premises last year after initially operating out of a small site near its tap-room on Myddleton Road. The…
Read MoreNorth London brewing scene continues its ascendency with Gorgeous Brewery
Gorgeous Brewery stepped into The Bull in Highgate to replace the London Brewing Company and has installed a significantly more serious brewing operation in this North London outpost. On my previous visit some years ago when Dan Fox had taken on the dishevelled pub the small brewery was positioned in the kitchen but under its…
Read MoreAmateur Drinker loses taste for Beavertown and its Extravaganza
After today’s Spurs/Beavertown news, the Editor and I were chatting about whether I should do a quick piece. I was initially reluctant, as it isn’t exactly earth-shattering, and the final Heineken link-up, although now a very short odds-on bet, hasn’t actually happened, and so the precise details aren’t yet known. However, after reading back to…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
March was a strange month as there was nothing exceptional to rave about or anything especially bad to complain about. It is almost certainly a one-off, but if it’s a trend due to a maturing industry, it will certainly make blogging a lot harder! The biggest news came when Brewdog swooped on Draft House’s chain…
Read MoreMagic Rock Brewing Company – magic beers and rock solid business
Established craft brewers moving into supermarkets is a reflection of an industry maturing and is also recognition that selling into myriad independent venues is now the domain of the many newer brewers joining the scene. Having been brewing since 2011 Richard Burhouse, founder of Magic Rock Brewing Company, says the growth for his business is…
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