Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week – even when we’re on holiday. This time, we’ve got low-alcohol beer, fancy taps, and cheese.
First, some news we’d missed: Ilkley Brewery went into administration at the end of April. And some more recent news we did catch: a local investor has stepped into prevent the brewery’s closure. “The past 12 months have been extremely challenging,” Ilkley’s Luke Raven says in the official statement, which is a phrase we seem to be hearing a lot lately. We haven’t seen Ilkley beers around lately which is a shame as we generally liked them a lot. Let’s hope this new investment will lead to a revival in their availability.
Sticking with the BBC, Jude Winter from BBC Derby has written a piece explaining in some detail why non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beers might cost as much as ‘proper’ ones – which is a question we see pop up fairly frequently on social media. The piece includes quotes from various brewers, publicans, and drinkers:
[Dominic Driscoll of Thornbridge] said they use less malted barley to get a lower alcohol percentage but use more hops to make the alcohol-free beer taste better… “We use the same equipment but we use it in a different way,” explained Mr Driscoll… “Over the last few years we have developed our own method to create our low alcohol beer, everybody does it in a different way.” … Steve Kirk, owner of the Neptune pub in Derby, said buying alcohol-free products costs the “exact same price” as higher percentage products… “The fact we have to sell it at the same price as regular alcohol is not a great incentive for people to choose an alcohol-free alternative,” he added… Amit Gill, 24, from Derby, said: “The price would put me off if I’m being honest. If it was cheaper I think it would be more attractive to people.”
And while we’re sticking with things, let’s stick with the subject of alcohol-free beer. At Pellicle Emmie Harrison-West has written about a Scottish brewery that’s new to us, Jump Ship, which specialises in booze free beer, under the leadership of Sonja Mitchell. There’s lots of interesting stuff in the article, from legal battles with BrewDog to the process of recipe development, but this was the line that really stood out for us:
“Consumer confidence in this space is still fragile,” Sonja tells me. “And I want their first alcohol-free pint to be perfect.”
In other words, people assume alcohol free beer will be crap, or nasty, and you might only get one chance to change their minds. You could probably extend that philosophy to craft beer more generally.
Evan Rail has noticed something interesting: global beer culture seems to be going through a phase where how a beer is poured is as important, if not more important, than the beer itself. As he writes in an article at VinePair:
Across North America, the appeal of draft beer is increasingly becoming not just that it is on tap, but how it is being tapped. Want a tube of 100 percent foam? You can get that. Want a Czech-style šnyt, with about half foam and half liquid? No problem. Want a beer poured in the style of a small taproom in Tokyo during the late 1930s? We got you… So what does it mean that the discussion around beer is shifting from aspects of its production — formerly important marketing elements like celebrity brewers, innovative recipes, heritage malts, unusual yeasts, or new kinds of hops — and focusing instead on simply how that beer is being served to the customer?
At a slight tangent to beer Andreas Krennmair has shared notes on, and recipes for, three cheese-based snacks that go perfectly with beer:
I do love my Obazda, but even though it seems like a very straightforward dish to make, there can be a massive difference in how intense it tastes. I’ve had fairly bland ones, but a beer garden known for its good beer (at least in my experience) usually also serves a very good Obazda… If you want to make it yourself, there are some pretty good recipes available out there. According to legend, Obazda was invented in the 1920s by Katharina Eisenreich at the Weihenstephaner brewpub in Freising. Weihenstephaner brewery has a recipe for Obazda on their website which they claim is the original recipe.
Even non-cooks ought to find these simple recipes quite inspiring – especially as we enter the season of back garden beer gardens.
Adrian Tierney-Jones has stared long and hard at Duvel and reflected on it in four dimensions:
‘Horror, horror, horror.’ … The first words in a diary entry, Tuesday, October 20, 1987… ‘Had a disgusting hangover. Never again that poison Duvel.’ … What did the beer taste like then? I can write on what it tastes like now, but then it was — if my memory serves me right — a taste of difference, not easy perhaps, but difference. This was a totally different beer to what I was used to drinking. This was a new flavour experience, on a par with my first dish in what we used to call a Chinese restaurant at the age of 12 with my father on Saturdays when we used to see him. Or the time in Bologna when an interview with a chef and the subsequent meal I was served made me realise how good a beef ragù could be.
Finally, from Bluesky, a call for submissions for the next round of The Session…
New post up on Beer Diary — a call for submissions to the next round of The Session. During May, have a think about your favourite (for whatever reasons) depictions of beer and pubs in art and fiction (broadly defined). Post them wherever you post things, and I'll round them up.
— Phil Cook (@beerdiary.bsky.social) May 5, 2025 at 8:05 PM
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For more good reading check out Alan McLeod’s round-up from Thursday.