1) It’s not surprising I was quite excited to score a bottle of Pliny the Elder as an early birthday present (early by just over two months). As beers go this sucker is one of the white whales. If you’re a beer geek and you get your hands on one of these, it’s obligatory to post a photo to Twitter, Instagram or wherever just for the purposes of gloating (“Ha, look what I’ve got that you don’t!). 2) I ended up getting this bottle by a slightly astonishing chain of events. My brother travels to the US several times a year and will mule back a bottle or two. Usually, I’m happy to let him choose ..read more

So one thing I thought of during that recent hiatus was how I had loads of content here on this site. Precisely 1680 posts. And being an old fart who likes words on a page over words on a screen it felt like it was kind of going to waste sitting there somewhere in the internet. I wanted something more tangible. Something I can put on the shelf and say, “yeah, I wrote that”. Calling up the blog on a computer screen, pointing at it and saying “I wrote that” just didn’t have the same effect. So I decided to collect a stack of the posts and put them in a book form. Just for myself, you know. And ..read more

I can’t help but feel sorry for Stone & Wood. About a million years ago (okay, maybe more like 10 years ago) they came up with this beer they called Draught Ale. The plan was it would only ever be served on tap within a few kays of the brewery – sort of harking back to ye olden days and the idea that it’s best to drink beer while in the shadow of the brewery because it’s a way of guaranteeing freshness. People loved that beer so much that the brewery was forced to start packaging. Of course, it’s stupid to call a beer in a bottle “Draught Ale”, so they changed the name. You might have hea ..read more

Okay, so this goodbye. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s just a hiatus. I’m not really sure. What I do know is that I don’t plan on writing any new blog posts for some time. Why? Well, because it doesn’t really excite me any more. You see, I don’t make any money out of this blog. I do get some free beers and the occasional complimentary tickets to events but their monetary value wouldn’t come close to being adequate compensation for writing this blog. And that’s fine, Beer is Your Friend was never intended to be a money-making venture (in fact I knocked back a few offers of advertising on the site), i ..read more

“But these pioneering beers — the pale ales, IPAs, and Belgian-style whites of the 1980s, ’90s, and early 2000s — paved the way for the endlessly experimental beers of today. Far from boring, these flavourful brews blew brewers’ and consumers’ minds when they were released. They were packed with hops, spiced with coriander, or (gasp!) put in a can, all at a time America was drowning in a sea of bland domestic lagers.” ‘Craft beer flagships are necessary, not nostalgic’ Cat Wolinski Vine Pair July 31, 2018 ..read more

    A couple of years ago, before I wrote three books on beer history, I ran a week-long series called History in a Bottle. For some reason, this piece here never ran. It’s just been sitting on my website dashboard for ages, so i thought I’d let it see the light of day. **************** I’ve not included the third White Rabbit beer, the Belgian Pale Ale, because I couldn’t bring myself to buy another bottle of it. It’s soooo underwhelming. Of the two here, I prefer the dark ale. Just seems to have more oomph in it, whereas when I drink the white ale I always think it tastes like a w ..read more

Warm beer…. Mmm, tasty.   ..read more

1) There are lots of things about travelling that are great. For me, one of them is the chance to try a few new beers. I’m sure I drive my wife crazy with my habit of stopping in at various bottle shops to scope out their contents, looking for an unfamiliar label on a bottle or can. In a way, it does seem a bit silly; you go on holidays to do something different and there I am doing what I’d do at home. 2) Still, it’s what I was doing during a weekend away at Orange earlier this year. When we arrived at our accommodation, I unpacked all our bags and then said I was going down the road to chec ..read more

“US craft brewer Lagunitas has launched ‘IPA-inspired, THC-infused sparkling water’, making parent company Heineken the first big beer brand to enter the US’ psychoactive drinks market.” ‘Heineken-owned Lagunitas has launched a non-alcoholic cannabis ‘beer’ infused with THC’ Edith Hancock The Drinks Business June 29, 2018 ..read more

1) I do envy my brother. At the moment his job means that he has to fly to Portland on a regular basis. Sure, there is the huge downside that he’s away from his family for a week at a time – and that sucks. But, after work, he would at least be able to drown his sorrows with a few beers from one of the premier brewing locations in the world. I’m envious because I’d love to go over there but it seems extraordinarily selfish to say to my wife, “hey, let’s have a family holiday to Portland so I can go to the breweries. Dunno what you and the kid will do.” 2) Turns out there’s a bar not far from ..read more