In this day and age full of hopped-up IP-Everythings, it can be very easy to forget the origins of the style India Pale Ale. Before the Americans brought their big and brash to IPAs, the British had long been taking… Continue Reading →
My most recent Beer 101 column arises from a pub session where, by chance, I found myself drinking only beer whose styles were at one time considered either extinct or restricted to a very narrow local population. The coincidence led… Continue Reading →
Big Rock announced today that its founder, Ed McNally, has passed away. He was 89. This is significant news for craft beer lovers on the prairies, as Mr. McNally was a pioneer in craft beer in Canada and richly deserves… Continue Reading →
This week the annual “Drinks Issue” of the Saskatchewan magazines I write for, Planet S and Prairie Dog, came out (you can read it here – although you need to scroll down past the short blurb stuff to find my… Continue Reading →
My most recent Planet S Magazine column (which you can read in its entirety here) was inspired by Paddock Wood’s summer release Black Friars. They bill it a “17th century porter” and I am told by the good folks there… Continue Reading →
The story of Porter and Witbier are well known. Traditional styles overtaken by the popularity of newer beer (in one case pale ale, the other pale lager). Brewers of the beer withered away until no one was left brewing it…. Continue Reading →
During my trip to Britain, I took a day trip to a little city called Wigan. Most of you will never have heard of it. It is about an hour’s train ride northwest of Manchester. For most tourists there is… Continue Reading →
When you quaff your favourite pint, do you ever get to thinking about Darwin’s Theory of Evolution? Probably not. But recently I did. I was struck at the parallels between his explanation of how species change and the history of… Continue Reading →
Unlike England, which has more breweries than you can keep track of, Scotland has a relatively small brewery network. There is, of course, Tennent’s, until recently an AB-Inbev brand but now owned by cider distributor C&C Group, which dominates the… Continue Reading →
My latest Planet S column takes a look at so-called “regional brands”, their history and how that rich tradition has been usurped by the big corporate brewers for marketing purposes. You can read the column here. Because it is written… Continue Reading →