Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got interviews, reviews, and pub guides.
First, some news about Jennings via Roger Protz on Bluesky:
More good news re #JenningsBrewery: not only escaped the clutches of Carlsberg-Britvic, the new independent owners have recruited Buster Grant as Head Brewer, highly respected from Batemans, planning to restore Cumberland Ale, Jennings Bitter & Snecklifter. #CockermouthBrewingHeritage
— Roger Protz (@rogerprotz.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 6:05 PM
There’s more on the story by Bridget Dempsey at the Times & Star:
Jennings Brewery was closed in 2022, but was acquired by Kurt Canfield, CEO of specialist engineering business Delkia, and Rebecca Canfield, proprietor of wine and spirits company Wine and the Wood in February… Since the announcement, Chris France has been appointed managing director, and Head Brewer, Buster Grant has been appointed – he is currently sourcing new brew kit to a more suited size for the relaunch of the brewery… The company hope to be brewing again by the end of May and beers available by early June.

There have been a couple of interesting interviews with UK brewing industry figures in the past week, which we’re going to bunch together. First, for The Grocer, James Beeson has spoken to Russell Bisset of that quiet powerhouse Northern Monk:
Bisset credits Northern Monk’s success partly to its ability to resonate across the north of the UK. Its strapline ‘fresh from the north’ – plus work with Leeds charities including Pyramid Arts and Holbeck Together – evokes a sense of community and pride that connects with beer drinkers, he believes… But Bisset insists the brand also has nationwide appeal… That’s why a chunk of the crowdfunding money will be used to open Northern Monk pubs up and down the country, starting in York and Edinburgh this year, and London in 2026.
Then, for The Morning Advertiser, Rebecca Weller has interviewed Georgina Young, Brewing Director at St Austell:
“You want to give the sales teams what they want, and it is harder for them to sell beer in the current climate with the cost of living, so there’s a lot of cost pressures… We’ve had the energy crisis, there was Covid, the prices of raw material last year and then this year it’s national insurance and the people crisis… But we all live in the state of ‘perma crisis’ and we all feel the pressure.”
In both pieces, it’s worth attempting to read between the lines. Being interviewed when you have a corporate line to toe, and a message to get across is tricky. For example, how do you get across that you’ve made improvements in the process without it sounding as if you’re saying the beers were bad before you arrived?

There’s a lot of talk about community pubs, and pubs and community… but how, in practice, can a pub help people integrate in a new town, and become part of a community? At Pellicle Rebecca Crowe has profiled The Little Taproom in Aigburth, Liverpool, and its owners Aggy Perreau and Si Perreau:
“We’ve always welcomed small local groups to use our space as best as possible,” Si says. “The book club in particular was born from a conversation with one of my best friends Alyssa, something of a book club impresario, that I’d like to host a book club and she happened to be thinking of starting one.” … Especially in cities, there is a loneliness epidemic. Moving to a new city as an adult with no support system makes it extremely difficult to meet people and make new friends outside of work. With this being the case, people are increasingly drawn to community hubs and extracurricular clubs where they can meet people and bond over shared interests, whether that’s crochet, literature, or bonding over unusual cask [ale].

The Beer Nut has been in Brussels on beer consumer union business and has used the time productively, turning out tasting notes for a wide selection of beers you might encounter in the Belgian capital this summer. Excuse the rather chunky quote from this one, which defied our attempts to edit:
I had lunch in Billie, the bar which has taken the space of beloved Brussels institution Monk. Mercifully, it has been left almost exactly as it was before, down to the menu and beer selection. After my spaghetti, I had the house beer, Billie. This is brewed by Belgoo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s simply a rebadge of something else. It’s a straight up blonde ale of 5.8% ABV with lots of very typical Belgian flavours: both pithy and earthy; grapefruits and farmyards, with a sprinkling of white pepper spice for a savoury, saison-like, finish. It’s not an especially distinctive beer, but is classically constructed and made well… I had another from Belgoo at the Wolf food market, where they run the brewery. Belgoo Hoppy Pils is beautifully clear and golden. There’s a slightly worrying hint of perfume about the aroma but the flavour goes full-on citrus, with zesty lemon up front, followed by a gentler satsuma or kumquat effect. That’s set on a very simple malt base, properly lager-clean and nicely full-bodied, as one would expect at 5% ABV. To me, it comes across as something in the Italian pilsner style, but regardless of nomenclature it’s very tasty and easy-drinking. Before this trip I didn’t think I liked Belgoo’s beers. These two gave me pause, and indicated why breweries’ beers are often worth revisiting.
There’s also a second post focusing on sour beers, to complete the overview.

How’s the beer selection at your local supermarket? ‘Velky’ Al Reece isn’t very impressed by what he finds at his on his ritual, habitual ‘bimbles’ around the beer section:
I noted a single brown ale, the excellent Tavern Brown from Alewerks Brewing in Williamsburg, just the one amber ale, Satan’s Pony from Charlottesville’s South Street Brewery, and precisely zero milds, hefeweizens, Scottish ales, Czech style dark lagers, and even an utter dearth of Extra Special Bitter… At last year’s Great American Beer Festival there were 102 categories, and yet an alien visiting a supermarket in central Virginia would be forgiven for believing beer was called IPA, and that was pretty much all that was available.

Lisa Grimm’s exploration of Dublin pubs continues with notes on the beer garden at the Urban Brewing brewpub:
Although the branding is different, Urban Brewing is an outpost of Carlow Brewing, of O’Hara’s fame, which means that the core O’Hara’s beers are always available, the gorgeous Leann Folláin included… But there is a rotating lineup of exclusive and one-off beers brewed here on site as well – there’s often a mild that’s a delight in warmer weather, and a variety of interesting things to try… And the site is one of the main reasons to visit Urban Brewing: built into a Grade 1-listed former warehouse at Custom House Quay that has been here since at least 1820, it’s an excellent example of thoughtful and creative reuse of a heritage building – something we could really use more of in Dublin…
As we head into summer, it’s worth adding that Lisa has categorised her posts so you can easily find Dublin pubs with gardens or pubs that are good for ‘pavement pints’. She’s also pulled some of this together into a post about the best Dublin pubs for sunny days.
Finally, from Bluesky, evidence that CAMRA’s ‘month of mild’ is well underway, despite some rather warm weather in the UK…
The pub has 3 dark milds on out of 9 cask. Both impressive and ill advised.
— Mark Johnson (@marknjohnson.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 8:04 PM
For more good reading check out Stan Hieronymus’s round-up from Monday and Alan McLeod’s from Thursday.