There aren't many breweries that can look back on more than 165 years of history and still feel like they're moving forward. Timothy Taylor's is one of them. Founded in Keighley in 1858 and brewing at Knowle Spring since 1863, it has remained fiercely independent and family-owned through five generations. That's quite an achievement in […]
There can't be many breweries where you can talk about 14th-century ale wives, Victorian brewing brothers, a yeast rescued from the aftermath of a wartime air raid and one of Britain's most pioneering sustainable breweries - all without leaving the same little corner of Southwold. Welcome to Adnams, our Brewery of the Day. Beer has […]
Nearly 200 years old, seven generations of the same family and currently having the biggest year in its history - JW Lees is clearly not ready to start acting its age. Manchester's oldest operating brewery has been brewing at Greengate in Middleton since 1828, when retired cotton manufacturer John Lees decided that, rather than putting […]
From Two Doors Down to one very good pint. Day Three's Beer of the Day has been chosen by actor, writer and comedian Kieran Hodgson, best known to millions as Gordon in BBC sitcom Two Doors Down. His pick? A proper Yorkshire favourite: Farmers Blonde from Bradfield Brewery. And what a lovely pint to choose. […]
If you were asked to imagine the perfect home for cask ale, you might come up with an old thatched brewery beside a river, a mile from the Jurassic Coast, with its own spring, a working Victorian waterwheel and more than 230 years of brewing history. The brilliant thing is, you don't have to imagine […]
How do you take nearly 200 years of brewing history and get it ready for the next 200? Robinsons has just had a pretty good go at answering that. After 187 years of brewing in the heart of Stockport, this much-loved family brewery has made one of the biggest moves in its history - literally […]
If you've been drinking cask for a while, there's a good chance Wadworth already means something to you - a familiar pump clip, a favourite pub or perhaps a pint of 6X that brings back a few memories. And if it doesn't? Well, that's what Cask Ale Week is for. Wadworth has been brewing in […]
We've had beer experts and famous faces choosing our Beers of the Day. Today, we've gone for a full-blown superfan. Meet Tim Mackie-Harrison - lifelong cask lover, officially crowned one of Wadworth's “Legends”, and a man whose relationship with 6X started considerably earlier than licensing laws would have preferred. Tim grew up near Wadworth's old […]
There are breweries with traditions - and then there's Okell's, which helped get the rules for good beer written into Manx law. Founded on the Isle of Man by Dr William Okell in 1850, the brewery's story took a wonderfully beer-geek turn in 1874 when its founder championed the Manx Pure Beer Act, restricting Manx […]
Imagine you've never tried cask ale before. You're on a historic pub tour around Shoreditch and you ask your guide: “So... what should I order?” Today's judge, Charo Havermans, knows exactly what she'd say. Charo is a public historian and tour guide specialising in pubs, particularly the often-overlooked role women have played in brewing and […]
If you like your pint with a real sense of where it comes from, Wye Valley Brewery is one to look out for. It started life in 1985 when former Guinness brewer Peter Amor set up a tiny brewery behind a Herefordshire pub. Forty-one years later, it's still independent and family-owned, but those humble beginnings […]
Fresh, hoppy and with a definite independent streak, Ossett Brewery has been doing things its own way since Bob Lawson started brewing in the back of a West Yorkshire pub in 1998. What began as a tiny operation has grown into a brewery producing more than nine million pints a year, with a fantastic collection […]
When the man behind one of Britain's great cask pubs tells you there's a beer worth ordering, you listen. Today's Beer of the Day has been chosen by Steve from the Swan with Two Necks in Pendleton - a family-run Ribble Valley pub he and Christine have been running since 1987. And Steve knows his […]
Sitting among the barley fields of East Lothian, just outside Dunbar, Scotland's oldest working brewery has been doing its thing since 1719. More than 300 years later, the beer is still brewed right there using local water, malted barley and Belhaven's own yeast. There are even ancient cellars on the site linked to the Benedictine […]
What beer does the Chairman of CAMRA go hunting for when he spots it on the bar? Today we have the answer - and apparently you need to be quick. Our Beer of the Day has been chosen by Ash Corbett-Collins, Chairman of CAMRA, and it's Brazilian Coffee & Vanilla Porter from Colchester Brewery. Ash […]
Welcome to Thwaites. The family has been brewing in Lancashire since 1807 and, six generations later, they're still at it - although these days the beer comes from a smaller, modern brewery at Mellor Brook in the beautiful Ribble Valley. And small really is part of the appeal. Thwaites made a conscious move away from […]
Well, this feels like a rather good way to finish. Hawkstone has made its first-ever cask beer - and our final Beer of the Day comes from a landlord who knows a thing or two about a great pint. Owain Jones, co-owner of The Plough at West Hanney, has chosen Hops & Glory, the new […]