Here’s a summary of our blog posts from last month…
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[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end]We wrote a long post about cult Cornish beer Newquay Steam as part of ‘beery long reads‘.(Suggestions for other lost brands or breweries we might research very welcome.)[/ezcol_2third_end]
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[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end]Here are our suggestions for Christmas gifts for beer geeks — rather heavy on books, but the ‘take away message’ must be NOBODY WANTS NOVELTIES![/ezcol_2third_end]
- We started the month with an entry for Session #81 on the topic of ‘scary beer feminists’.
- On 3 November, we marked the fortieth anniversary of the Campaign for Real Ale’s march at Stone, Staffordshire, in protest at the closure of Joule’s brewery.
- What will be the cutting-edge beer trend for 2014? We’re betting on Kvass. Here’s what Connor Murphy reckons to such fads; and Keith Flett isn’t alone in being underwhelmed by the Beavertown Kvass.
- Our attempt at a crawl in the City of London based on a 1968 pub guide was informative, even if it didn’t lead us to lots of exciting beer.
- A small nugget: we may not know whether John Lennon said anything at all about the Philharmonic pub, but we do now know he and Ringo liked to drink bottled brown ale.
- What gives a pub star quality and gets it on to those ‘must visit’ lists? We thought aloud and people disagreed with us — often the best way to get nearer to the truth.
- Magic Rock Circus of Sour ‘reached into the back of our mouths and tightened all the screws‘. (We liked it.)
- We also liked Fuller’s new Imperial Stout, though it fell down in terms of value for money.
- Just for fun, and because we’re nerds, we devised some Doctor Who and beer pairings. (Red Nev gave some though to this, too; and Alan pointed us to this post about pubs in Doctor Who.)
- Do you think about beer, or drink it? Or maybe you even over-think it?
- Cultural critic Jonathan Meades wrote an essay about beer; we read it and enjoyed it.
- Brewdog’s Unleash the Yeast four-pack is an interesting exercise but the beer isn’t good in its own right. We did, however, very much like their Jackhammer IPA (Facebook post.)
- Returning once again to London in the recent past, here is an extract from a 1974 guide to pubs in the capital.
- Another attempt at a magazine about beer, Belgian Beer & Food, landed on our desks. Here’s what we made of it.
- Oddbins announced a 179% rise in sales of ‘craft beer’. Great news for them and for beer geeks, but how are they defining the term?