by Darren | Sunday, September 29, 2019 | Blog
This may sound daft for a fella that writes about beer, but I’m not the biggest fan of beer festivals. Give me a beer that’s been properly looked after, in a cellar until it’s perfect to serve, any day. For some festivals, however, I’m prepared to go out of my way....
by Darren | Saturday, January 5, 2019 | Blog
• This article was written for, but has not appeared in, the Western Morning News’s West Magazine on January 5 There’s a long association of brewers supporting good causes, whether through fundraising beer festivals or fundraising brews. 2018, for...
by Darren | Thursday, December 20, 2018 | Blog
There are just two days left to invest in Treen’s Brewery, based in Ponsanooth, Cornwall, via its crowdfunding campaign. And, on Saturday, there will be a party to celebrate the closing of the fundraiser, whether the target has been hit or not. ...
by Darren | Thursday, June 14, 2018 | Blog
In an experiment that could be said to have revealed the bleedin’ obvious, it has been discovered that a pint beer glass with a handle will keep beer cooler than one without a handle. Brewlab carried out the experiment on behalf of catering equipment supplier,...
by Darren | Monday, June 4, 2018 | Blog
Chinook, Columbus, Summit, Cascade. We all know where these hop varieties come from. You can picture now the sweeping acres of bines in the Yakima and Columbus valleys of Washington state in the USA. Well, that’s what I thought, too, until I received three bottles of...
by Darren | Tuesday, April 17, 2018 | Blog
Cornwall CAMRA chairman, Bob Bunce, presents the award for county pub of the year to Matt Reay, manager of The Front, Falmouth It’s a spring Saturday afternoon and I’m drinking a 5.6% ABV Joe’s Cider, from the Purbeck Cider Company, at the...
by Darren | Wednesday, April 11, 2018 | Blog
I am sitting in the HAND Bar, in Falmouth, an Aladdin’s cave of keg beer, with a gang of brewers from local Verdant and visiting Cloudwater. They have been working on a collaboration during the day and I’ve asked what it is, to be given the answer:...
by Darren | Sunday, April 8, 2018 | Blog
On the first proper spring day, and in a lovely beer garden in just a t-shirt (well, not just a t-shirt — that wouldn’t be great for anybody), it seems counter-intuitive of me to be enjoying a 6.66% ABV beer that rich, roasty and black as night. But Exmoor Beast...
by Darren | Monday, February 26, 2018 | Blog
It was only October 26 last year when I ran the story revealing the plan to open the Beer Merchants Tap, in Hackney Wick, London. Fewer than four months later, the project has been crowdfunded and the venue is open. And no, it doesn’t look hurried. In fact, it...
by Darren | Sunday, February 18, 2018 | Blog
At the end of Simon Treen’s tutored tasting, at Skinner’s Old Ale House, in Truro, yesterday, he asked for a quick show of hands on which of the five beers he presented were people’s favourite. It wasn’t a scientific test, and indeed the...
by Darren | Tuesday, January 2, 2018 | Blog
There’s a lovely cartoon I saw the other day where a fella is stood in his new commercial premises, explaining his business plan to his friend. He says: “I’m going to run it as a gym for the first two weeks of the year, then turn it into a...
by Darren | Tuesday, December 19, 2017 | Blog
XT Brewing, of Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, held a Trappist beer tasting in its brewery tap last week. The brewery’s Russ Taylor says the event was a great success, and here offers his guide to the monks behind the beers, and the brews themselves… The...
