Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog

Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got Belfast, brewery stats, and beer in the park. stats, and beers in the park.

First, some news: updated figures from SIBA show that there are now 136 fewer breweries operating in the UK than at this time in 2024, leaving a total of 1,641. You might remember the peak of around 2,000 breweries a few years ago.

Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic, economic turmoil, and a general sense of ennui around craft beer, have seen that number slowly slide downward. Each closure is a tragedy for the founders and employees of the breweries that close. From a consumer perspective, however, it still feels as if we have rather a lot of breweries – and certainly a lot more than in 2007 when we started this blog. What would be interesting to attempt to calculate is how many good or great breweries we have now compared to a couple of decades ago. Has the overall quality improved?

You can read some excellent commentary on the decline in brewery numbers, and the decline in sales of cask ale, in Hazel Southwell’s newsletter Behind the Bar. She runs a pub and does a great job of explaining the challenges around stocking and selling independently brewed cask ale:

“Wait, why can’t they take beer round the corner, stick it in a van and that?” Well I’d imagine they’d love to. Problem is the pubs can’t buy it off them because even most freehouses are actually weirdly tied up with contracts about specific things, only get their cask from Molson Coors or something. And by the time you’ve gone through whatever extra hoops the beer costs so much to get it’s not worth it, even where you can find a way.

At Pellicle Ewen Friers has written an article that is both a portrait of, and guide to, the beer scene in Belfast. It includes big brands like Guinness and Harp Lager, and famous pubs like The Crown, as well as up-and-coming craft breweries and newer venues:

Out Of Office Brewery (OOO) [is] situated within the ever-trendy Ulster Sports Club… on High Street. Once a social club where sports fans would congregate in the somewhat neutral space of the city centre, throughout The Troubles it had a reputation as a non-sectarian safe space visited by Belfast’s sporting giants including Mary Peters, Alex Higgins and George Best… At the bottom of the hall that leads to the toilets, adjacent from the retro-panelled walls and old trophy cabinets, is an unassuming lift that will transport you up to the brewery taproom on the second floor. It’s a bright, slick, minimal space oozing with style.

In his newsletter Beer & Soul Sayre Piotrkowski has been pondering on one of the big questions: “Why do people care about breweries?” Or, to put it another way, why do they have feelings about breweries, and why do they get upset when breweries change or close?

Last week, I picked up a shift at Olfactory Brewing’s Berkeley taproom. One of the first guests I served was a woman preparing to attend her 20th college reunion in San Diego. She beamed when she said one of the events would be held at Ballast Point. She and her wife were married in Ballast Point t-shirts: “Red Velvet,” a beet-colored oatmeal stout for her, and “Victory At Sea,” an imperial porter with vanilla, for her bride… This is why so many beer die-hards bristle at M&A news. We’ve seen the Ballast Point arc: sold in 2015, stripped of its value and cultural relevance by 2019. Can you imagine anyone from UCSD’s Class of 2025 getting married in Ballast Point t-shirts?

Alex at Pub Vignettes has written another set of neat pen portraits of specific pubs and the small comedies and dramas that play out within them:

There’s a strong correlation between the calibre of a pub’s carpet and the quality of the real ale it serves. Now, by “calibre”, we’re talking less Good Housekeeping, more Wetherspoon’s meets your gran’s house. This sweet spot is evidently achieved as soon as the heavy oak door swings open. Pub Carpet Nirvana. Half of Cambridgeshire’s dog population is here to snooze, roll, and loll all over it. Nine handpumps rise from the bar to meet you, dispelling inevitable worries sparked by “Greene King” plastered all over the outside walls on your way in. One line of insipid Abbot Ale on the turn? Or an array of milds, stouts, ESBs, best bitters, and pales kept with care and love? The PubCo tied-house lottery. If you don’t buy a ticket, you’re never going to win.

Eoghan Walsh has a new edition of his Pintjes zine coming out (a collaboration with illustrator Selkies) and has shared a preview at Brussels Notes. It’s a great snapshot of the city’s drinking culture and political situation:

What’s the best beer I’ve ever had? Easy. Zinnebir. Predictable, sure, but no less true for it, even though my answer is less about the beer than about the circumstances of its drinking. Not a singular drinking experience, but an accretion of them, layered one over the other like a frame of multiple exposed film until they coalesce into one memory. A memory of me, and Zinnebir, on the terrace of Bar Eliza… I think of all the times I sat next to that dilapidated pavilion, perched awkwardly on uncomfortable reclaimed wooden furniture as above me late-afternoon sunlight filtered through the high canopy of oak and linden boughs… It’s Friday, and in front of me is a freshly-poured glass of Zinnebir, foamy and sweating just a little in the afternoon heat.

Did you know that you can report a bad pint in a Cask Marque accredited pub to Cask Marque and (possibly) trigger an inspection? Tandleman reports having done just that after paying quite a wedge of money for a mediocre pint in London:

Did you know that Cask Marque has an area on their website where you can report beer quality problems directly to them? Well, it has… To the point, it is called “Bad Beer Reporting Tool”… I paid £7 for an extremely lacklustre pint of Landlord in the Cask Marque listed Hoop and Grapes in Aldgate, which is a Nicolson’s pub… In a reply to me, Cask Marque advised me that they failed their recent Cask Marque inspection visit… They sign up to all this, so you aren’t grassing them off, rather, you are holding them to their side of the bargain.

Finally, from Bluesky, yet more zine action…

Publishing a print beer zine in 2025 is, as you might guess, not lucrative. We do, however, believe it can be sustainable, but we need your help for Final Gravity to reach that point. So we're having a little informal subscription drive, because that's what the cool kids do. 🧵

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— David Nilsen (@davidnilsenbeer.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM

For more good reading check out Stan Hieronymus’s round-up from Monday and Alan McLeod’s from Thursday.

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.

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.

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— Phil Cook (@beerdiary.bsky.social) May 5, 2025 at 8:05 PM

For more good reading check out Alan McLeod’s round-up from Thursday.