Posts by Glynn Davis
Around Town with Amateur Drinker
February’s highlight was a tutored Fuller’s Vintage tasting at The Bottle Shop, led by John Keeling. The first beer was Past Masters XX, using a recipe from 1893, although the closest they could get to the barley, of that time, was from Prince Charles’s organic farm. It was brewed in 2010, and is technically now…
Read MoreDon’t change Draft House
For some people among the beer cognoscenti, the Draft House chain of craft beer bars would never be regarded as the coolest places in town because they would always be able to point to quirkier places with more esoteric beer selections. This does these bars a great disservice because when they…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
Apologies for the lateness of this column for which, like everything else that went wrong in the country recently, I will blame on the unseasonably adverse weather! It’s also a bit shorter than normal, but if anyone complains – and let’s face it they may well cheer – then the month was legitimately quiet! The…
Read MoreUniting the brewing generations
Fuller’s move to purchase Dark Star brewery highlights the radically changing state of brewing. Traditional brewers have found it particularly tough in recent years to hold their ground against a massive number of small new craft breweries setting up shop. It feels like there is a new one opening up almost every day. This…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
December, with its Xmas jumpers, office parties and the once-a-year crowd, is the worst month for regular pub-goers, and quite understandably there are far less special events to report on, which is reflected in this column. The devastating shock of the month was the news that Duke’s Brew & Que was closing immediately. As I’m…
Read MoreEver get the feeling you’ve been cheated? – No Fun in beer-land
Beer is fun. Yes, of course it is. Chief among the reasons for consuming the liquid are for its pleasurable, fun, attributes. But let’s be clear, we’re all fooling ourselves if we take the view that beer is just about fun because running much more deeply in the beer world is business. Beer is money.…
Read MoreLittle and local is future of brewing
There is plenty of room in the market for many more breweries but only if they focus purely on supplying their local markets, with the majority of sales derived from their on-site tap rooms. This was the view of Steve Hindy, Brooklyn Brewery co-founder, when Beer Insider made a visit to New York City to…
Read MoreDeviant & Dandy at Beavertown
Byron Knight founded Beavertown Brewery in Duke’s Brew & Que (RIP) having previously done a bit of home brewing and now after a hiatus running restaurants he is back with Deviant & Dandy brewery. His plan for Beavertown was to have a number of US-inspired barbecue restaurants – in the template of Dukes – that…
Read MoreThere’s A Beer For That’s new strategy is missing the target
There’s a Beer for That describes itself as a cross-industry group of brewers, pub companies and beer organisations working together for the good of beer in Britain. It sounds a good idea but I’ve always had my reservations about the effectiveness of these coming-together groupings. There is never likely to be a universal consensus when…
Read MoreAmateur Drinker 2017 Review
Best festival/Highlight of the Year 2017 saw my first visit to the Mikkeller Beer Celebration (MBBC), and it definitely won’t be the last, as I’ve some tickets are already booked for 2018. The festival itself was almost perfect, and there were too many wonderful beers to mention them all over again. A notable new style…
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