Author Archive
How real ale is brewed – a simple guide
By: JimOldfield
March 26th, 2013
Brewing beer relies on the action of yeast on sugar. When yeast feeds on sugar, the result is two main by-products: carbon dioxide and… alcohol. To begin the process, the starch in malt is converted into sugar by mashing the malt in hot water – at around 70C for an hour or so. The resultant Read the full post…
Beer tasting notes
By: JimOldfield
March 26th, 2013
Once again these take many forms – and indeed there are literally hundreds of adjectives used to describe beers. Here is a selection of categories you may wish to employ (starting with the all-important name and strength!), together with examples of some terms in use for each: Name and brewery Strength (ABV) Type of beer Read the full post…
How to taste and rate real ale
By: JimOldfield
March 26th, 2013
There is no set method to perform this most delicious of tasks, and even the most accomplished tasters, tickers and ale judges all have their own ways. But here are a few tips which may help you along the way: Don’t drink pints if you want to rate more than the first two! Drinking halves Read the full post…
It’s Rule Britannia at International Brewing Awards!
By: JimOldfield
February 16th, 2013
British ales rule the world… after UK & Channel Island brewers won almost HALF the medals up for grabs at the prestigious International Brewing Awards. UK-based brewers scooped a staggering 47 medals out of 96 awarded at the world’s oldest international beer contest, including a clean sweep in the cask ale category where British brewers Read the full post…
Escalator ignored as Osborne bails out Broken Britain with beer tokens…
By: JimOldfield
December 6th, 2012
Chancellor George Osborne has delivered an Autumn Statement snub to the tens of thousands of Britons demanding an end to the hated “Beer Escalator” tax which brewing bosses have warned is handicapping the industry and the economy at large. Despite more than 104,000 voters signing a Government e-petition and forcing a debate in the Commons Read the full post…
Last orders for cheap booze?
By: JimOldfield
December 3rd, 2012
The last orders bell is about to ring for cheap booze, as the Government reveals plans to ban multi-buy offers and slap a minimum price of 45p on a unit of alcohol. If implemented, a can of strong lager could not be sold for less than about £1.56 and a four-pack of 4.0 per cent Read the full post…
Brit muscles in Brussels as our ales top beer contest
By: JimOldfield
November 25th, 2012
British brewers showed their brewing muscles to Brussels as they won five medals in a new international beer contest in Belgium. North-west brewers Joseph Holt and Daniel Thwaites both won gold medals for ales at the first ever Brussels Beer Challenge held this month, while Leicester’s Everards took a silver and a bronze. Joseph Holt’s Read the full post…
Graft pays off for Grafters!
By: JimOldfield
November 25th, 2012
The boss of Lincolnshire pub-brewery Grafters Ales has shown that hard work pays, by making his Half Moon boozer a lot fuller… with a £100,000 expansion and make-over! Landlord and brewery boss Phil Troop is celebrating five years as a brewer by quadrupling the capacity of his brew-pub in Willingham-by-Stow near Gainsborough. As well as Read the full post…
So who’s got the X-Factor beer of Britain then?
By: JimOldfield
November 24th, 2012
Regional brewers are gagging to see whose beer has the “X” factor, as SIBA publishes the finalists for its National Beer Competition at BeerX. The brewers association has compiled its annual list of winning pints from its regional heats, after the Northern and Midlands champions were the last to be announced last month. The listed Read the full post…
New ales. and new deals…
By: JimOldfield
November 15th, 2012
Dark days may be here, but our brewers aren’t sleeping in – as you will see here… Award-winning Ilkley Brewery has welcomed in a band of women brewers, to create a new all-American IPA as part of a unique new “Project Venus”. The collective was led by Ilkley’s new lady brewer, Harriet Marks – and Read the full post…
