Posts by Glynn Davis
Sometimes only pints will do
With so many different beers to drink these days (of serious strength) my consumption of pints has dwindled. But sometimes specific occasions demand beer being drunk in this quintessentially British measure – namely a UK cask ale served in a traditional Victorian pub. Step forward Fuller’s Bengal Lancer and the brewery’s Red Lion pub in…
Read MoreDemise of brewing’s grey accountants
The strangle hold of the bland and the tasteless is starting to weaken, replaced by an increasing number of flavour-packed beers that deliver real taste. The well-known pioneers of this revolution, alongside Innis & Gunn, are brewers such as Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, Brooklyn, BrewDog, Thornbridge and Camden Town. All brilliant brewers who place…
Read MoreInnis & Gunn expanding the proposition
So the story goes…William Grant & Sons wanted a beer to season its whisky barrels that would then be imparted on the taste of the final spirit. The subsequent ale, produced at the Caledonian Brewery in Glasgow, was originally thrown away but the workers at the distillery found it rather palatable as it took on…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
A month that began with a tap takeover, which eerily foresaw an actual takeover ended with two fantastic parties on successive Friday nights in Bermondsey. Brewdog Camden hosted Ballast Point, with the highlight unsurprisingly being the Grapefruit Sculpin. A couple of weeks later the brewery was acquired by Constellation Brands for $1bn. We are fortunate…
Read MoreIs BrewDog sticking too rigidly to ‘craft’ definitions?
BrewDog is considering asking its thousands of shareholders to vote on allowing it to change its corporate constitution that would preclude it from receiving investment from a large brewer. This will likely split its shareholders between those who have invested for fun and free beer and those who have done so for serious financial reasons…
Read MoreHaresfoot Brewery playing its part in UK brewing revolution
There might be 1,300-plus breweries now operating in the UK but the number that manage to gain regular column inches in the media is tiny. The reason is simply that they are not sufficiently cutting-edge. They maybe don’t have a renowned head brewer, they don’t use esoteric ingredients, they don’t push any boundaries as…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
This month was a tale of two festivals, just a fortnight apart, and both dependant on the heavyweight names of the US scene, but completely opposite in the underlying motivation of the organisers and therefore enjoyment. The Rainbow Project was a genuine celebration, hosted at Beavertown and featuring seven American and seven British brewers collaborating…
Read MoreCraft confusion on the beer shelves
Confusion reigns in the beer market with drinkers unsure what a craft beer looks like on retailers’ shelves, which is leading to some of the more clear-cut craft beers being perceived as more mainstream and therefore not potentially warranting a premium tag or possibly losing sales. A survey by Instantly of 3,000 consumers, who were…
Read MoreMarks & Spencer champions UK brewing
While the major supermarkets undertake a serious cull of their beer ranges – the number of lines stocked are already down 2% year-on-year for the six months to July – Marks & Spencer is taking a wholly different tack having just launched its biggest ever range of bottled beers. It recently bagged the ‘Retailer of…
Read MoreCommercial versus Craft
Head over to any fan-boy beer/brewing forum and you’ll easily find a discussion about how evil the big, commercial breweries are and how craft beer is awesome. But somehow the world can’t agree what actually defines craft – or mainstream in any meaningful way. For what it’s worth – here are some of my thoughts…
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