Tag: UK

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UK Day – Pinter

A UK home brew appliance brand named Pinter is utilizing Kickstarter to bring attention and a bit of money one assumes to make their all-in-one brewing machine to the U.S. market.

At the end, you get 12 U.S pints of beer from just the one machine. Pinter handles everything from fermentation to conditioning to tapping (with an Active Pour Tap).  

I do like that they have a sustainability angle to it and they seem to be finding good breweries in the UK to partner with. It does look pretty sleek as well.

I don’t know if this will finally break through. It is not the first such machine that promises great beer with ease.  I think because home brewers won’t sacrifice the gadgets and ingredients and freedom and craft fans can buy beer even easier than the easiest home brew.

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Desi Pubs

Followers of the blog know that I have not given up on the beer and food pairing idea and I feel a bit vindicated when I see David Jesudason’s book “Desi Pubs” was released recently. It is a guidebook and history, of British-Indian bars. I think this will be fascinating even though I do not particularly care for Indian food.

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Mycoadaptogens

I have a mushroom beer before but never this science-y.

“Fungtn is a premium alcohol free craft beer, brewed for flavour with 0.5% ABV. We have harnessed the ancient wisdom of mycoadaptogens to deliver a beer that not only saved us from hangover hell but contributes positively to our every day ceremony.

Adaptogens are a class of ingenious plants and fungi that help balance our bodies and keep them performing at their best. Mycoadaptogens (the fungi variety) used in Eastern and traditional medicine for centuries, are now gaining momentum in the West as a natural solution to help combat the stresses of our hectic modern lives. Aiding our bodies natural ability to restore, recover and repair natural balance.”

Lion’s Mane IPA, Chaga Lager and Turkey Tail Pale Ale are the main offerings currently from this UK brewer. Don’t know if this will com3 to the US but maybe someone here is plotting the same thing.

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Dec. 2nd

It is easy to look at our shit-acular situation here in the US and get mired in it like quicksand. But the rest of the world isn’t doing so well when faced with Covid.

Case in point, England is having a new set of restrictions. I am posting before the MP vote but it looks well certain that pubs and bars will be closed for anything but takeaway business.

The economics of beer in Britain is very different from the United States but we as beer fans had better be watching because things aren’t THAT different when you factor in a pandemic. That really just scythes through everything.

What worries me most is that creativity will get stifled. Who knows what new beer trends might have come from “across the pond”. We need the pollination of new ideas from every corner of the globe to keep our niche industry vital and alive.

And selfishly, I want to take trips to London and have a CAMRA approved Ale in a historic pub. 2029 seems to have other plans though.

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Pellicle

Scrolling through the nicer part of Twitter Town, I ran across this announcement from beer writer Matthew Curtis… “We’re a brand new magazine celebrating beer, wine, cider, food and travel. Launching online May the 1st.” This is a UK centered venture but hopefully we in the States will be able to at least read some of the content online or order a subscription.

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I am a Brewer

In can be easy to stay in your local beer bubble or, heck, a statewide beer bubble. One good way to break out and get a fresh perspective is to read some out of country beer writing. I Am A Brewer is a more technical and brewing site / newsletter / podcast but you can zoom around reading what you find interesting and the podcast is only ten minutes long so you are not going to be stuck in a meandering discussion.

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UK #

I saw this little blurb on the Brookston Beer Bulletin, Jay Brooks goes on to say, “Well this is a tidy bit of news. CAMRA is reporting that the number of breweries in the United Kingdom is now over 1,000 for the first time in over 70 years. Other tidbits include that there are “[t]wice as many brewers now in operation compared to a decade ago” and the “[n]umber of micro breweries have risen despite recession and pub closures,” something we’ve also experienced here in the U.S., too. You can read the full story in the Scotsman, but tonight I think an English beer may be in order.”

Coming on the heels of last month’s session about where will the number of breweries in the US be at in five years, this shows that the fever is not confined to our shores. I would love to see the day where the US again has to play catch up to styles and beers from the rest of the world.

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BeerTickers – the Movie

I heard about this movie last month on Jeff Alworth’s Beervana blog and I finally got around to renting it on iTunes and giving it a watch.

Thumbs are up on this one. It is a journey following the filmmaker as he immerses himself in British tickerdom (much different than the American version) and if that person is annoying or weird then the whole enterprise can fall apart. But Phil Parkin is engaging throughout and fond of the people while touching on beer topics too. Tickers have a bad name in the U.S. because of a feeling that their is a lack of appreciation but the main tickers in this movie all truly appreciate real ale. And they seem to be fully aware of appreciation vs obsession. That doesn’t make them any less weird or annoying at times but they are characters destined for movies in a way.

What I especially liked the side trips interspersed into the documentary. The interviews/talks with Pete Brown and Melissa Cole were too short but were great. And the Thornbidge Jaipur brew day was great. All in all, it is a peek into the British ale culture that I know very little about. The best part it that it is also a wonderful way to see the inside of British pubs that I may not visit. And to see some great tap clips that made me very thirsty.

SO, set aside the ticking debate. Enjoy the community and learn about Sheffield, the U.K. and beer.

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Blue and Red

I heard about this brewery and specifically the beer in the first Pete Brown video and thought I would delve in a little deeper.

Here are the specs on the luft-baboons
“An unusual combination of fruity hoppyness with a dark, malty side. This beer is distinctly difficult to categorise – is it sort of a porter or maybe a mild? You decide!”
ABV: 4.2%
Colour: Dark Ruby
Hops: Pilgrim, Celeia, Others

Some of the other beers in their range are the just as aptly named Guerilla and Evolution.

Follow this link to read why the monkey is blue…

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Pete Brown videos

I have sung the praises of Pete Brown’s books and blog. Now he has added video to the mix.

After kicking a few ideas around, we decided to start off by making a series of video blogs. Once a month, we will be filming in a particular region of the UK, to produce monthly pairs of blogs. I believe (though I may be wrong) that these represent a bit of a depatrture for V-Blogging in that they´re made with a full film crew and hopefully therefore have a veneer of professionalism to them.
They´re not necessarily aimed at a beer geek audience but at a more general public, and we´re exploring ways to give them a wider reach in an age where TV channels won´t commission many serious content about beer. So if you´re a fellow beer blogger and you´re thinking ´this is rally basic stuff´ – fine, but it´s not basic to most people.

I certainly will watch and learn. Us Yanks tend to forget about the ongoing British craft beer revolution.