They say…

Des de Moor
Best beer and travel writing award 2015, 2011 -- British Guild of Beer Writers Awards
Accredited Beer Sommelier
Writer of "Probably the best book about beer in London" - Londonist
"A necessity if you're a beer geek travelling to London town" - Beer Advocate
"A joy to read" - Roger Protz
"Very authoritative" - Tim Webb.
"One of the top beer writers in the UK" - Mark Dredge.
"A beer guru" - Popbitch.
Des de Moor

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From the cellar: Freedom Soho Red

Freedom Brewery, ex-London, now Staffordshire.

ABV: 4.4% Origin: London WC2, England Website: freedombrewery.com First published: 8 January 2001

Another review from the archive written for the pioneering Oxford Bottled Beer Database (OBBD). I’ve left it uncorrected — so please read it in that historical spirit.

It’s interesting to look back at this one […]

London update: brewing in the shadow of the multinationals

Brewhouse and Kitchen Highbury: a newer, bigger kit than originally planned in one of London’s newest brewpubs.

It’s now a year since the main text of the latest edition of The CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars was finalised, and speciality brewing in the city continues to expand. The most […]

Back in black: living beer heritage in the West Midlands

The Birmingham conurbation is the latest British city to rejuvenate its beer scene under the ‘craft’ banner, albeit several steps behind the likes of Bristol, Leeds and Manchester. But this is a city that’s also particularly rich in living examples of beer and pub heritage, demonstrating that, though today’s beer may be novel in […]

Time to toast London’s Best Beer

Newly granular London beer marketing at Hop Burns and Black.

As I recently wrote in London Drinker magazine, the young William Blake had a vision of angels in a tree on Peckham Rye Common. I had a revelation of a different kind in more-or-less the same spot. Towards the end of a lengthy […]

London breweries 1971

1971 vintage Evening Standard Pub of the Year plaque still in situ in Fulham. Pic: Edwardx, Wikipedia Creative Commons.

By the end of 1971, there were 11 commercial breweries operating in London, none of them brewpubs. 6 were part of national groups (N), one part of a multinational (M). These breweries were:

Charrington Brewery […]

The Brewing of Brabo 5: Boiling Brabo

Brains Craft Brewery Brabo, a spéciale belge created by Des de Moor.

At the end of October 2013 I spent a very pleasant and interesting day at S A Brain in Cardiff, helping create my first ever collaboration beer, Brabo, on the Brains Craft Brewery. This piece, published in several parts, documents the […]

The Brewing of Brabo 4: Mashing Brabo

Best pale malt running into the hoppers at Brains, Cardiff.

At the end of October 2013 I spent a very pleasant and interesting day at S A Brain in Cardiff, helping create my first ever collaboration beer, Brabo, on the Brains Craft Brewery. The resulting beer didn’t win the Brains competition for the […]

The Brewing of Brabo 3: Very special Belgians

The wort for Brains Brabo ready for testing.

At the end of October 2013 I spent a very pleasant and interesting day at S A Brain in Cardiff, helping create my first ever collaboration beer, Brabo, on the Brains Craft Brewery. The resulting beer didn’t win the Brains competition for the year, but […]

The Brewing of Brabo 2: The Brains behind the operation

Y ddraig goch welcomes you to Brains brewery in Cardiff.

At the end of October 2013 I spent a very pleasant and interesting day at S A Brain in Cardiff, helping create my first ever collaboration beer, Brabo, on the Brains Craft Brewery. This piece, which I’m publishing in several parts, documents […]

The Brewing of Brabo 1: Spent grains

Two hungry brewers: Brains head brewer Bill Dobson (left) with the author in front of the Brains Craft Brewery, Cardiff, Wales. Photo: Ffion Jones.

At the end of October 2013 I spent a very pleasant and interesting day at S A Brain in Cardiff, helping create my first ever collaboration beer, Brabo, on […]