Posts by Glynn Davis
Samuel Smith marches to its own drumbeat
To many beer drinkers Samuel Smith has achieved a status that many other breweries and pub companies would very much like to attain but it takes a lot of effort to maintain ownership of a business for almost 260 years and to incredibly still be up with events in terms of trends. It’s clearly a…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
Any review (albeit delayed by my day job) of a drinker’s month must concentrate on the marathon that was London Beer City. That involved a week of excellent well-organised events. But I’m not going to start there. I’m going to begin with an event that unfortunately is not going to get off the ground –…
Read MoreThe art of exposing yourself
The explosion in the number of breweries and beers has been a welcome miracle for drinkers. Never in my lifetime has there been anything like so much choice. The challenge for brewers is battling it out for distribution. Even when you are close to your market it has become increasingly tough to achieve any sort…
Read MoreBefore the London brewing revolution…
Let’s turn the clock back to London in September 2009 and a piece published in the Financial Times. Off a main road, close by a housing estate in a densely-built corner of south-west London, stands a non-descript 3,000 sq ft industrial unit. It houses two stainless steel fermenting vessels, a large water tank and a…
Read MoreWhat the Romans do for us…
Birra del Borgo, Baladin, and BrewFist are names well recognisable to serious drinkers in the UK as they can often be found on the taps at some of our more interesting specialist beer bars and discerning bottle shops. But there is always something particularly appealing about sampling beers in their natural habitat of their domestic…
Read MoreThe Supporters Club
On a recent Sunday morning, with an ever so slight hangover, I climbed out of my tent suffering from what had been a very good night. Within seconds I was presented with a cup of tea from a friend and good colleague who went on to randomly inform me that I am always late because…
Read MoreMeantime stretches authenticity of London Lager
‘Born and Brewed in London’ it says on the front of the label on bottles of the flagship beer from Meantime Brewery – London Lager. On the back of the label it waxes particularly lyrically: ‘The countryside surrounding London provides the world’s finest brewing ingredients: Kentish hops and East Anglian malting barley. At Meantime’s…
Read MoreLondon Lager + Grolsch = London Lager!
Surely it cannot be true. The quintessential London brew from Meantime Brewery, its London Lager, now contains Dutch brew Grolsch. It is understood that batches of London Lager contain around 10% of the overseas brewed beer. While this is not a crime in itself it is rather disappointing that this blending of London Lager undoubtedly…
Read MoreAround Town with Amateur Drinker
The big news of July would come from Bermondsey and, totally by chance I started the month there with a superb July 4th American Independence Day special as Stone took over the BottleShop taps. The sun blazed down and the Delicious IPA more than lived up to its name. I was then on holiday for…
Read MoreHowling Hops Tank Bar
Beer served straight from tanks is making further inroads in the UK brewing scene as freshness becomes much more of a big deal. The latest player to enter the freshness is best game is Howling Hops, which last month opened a bar in East London selling a full 10 beers from a row of gleaming…
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