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 […]
Today we're handing out a Beer of the Day award we've never given before. Welcome to the Cask Ale Week Newcomer Award - and its first winner, Jiddler's Tipple. If you know Jacob Liddle, you'll know he's hardly a newcomer to great beer. He's a certified Beer Sommelier, beer judge and Channel 4 Sunday Brunch […]
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 […]