They say…
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.
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ABV: 8% Origin: Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland Website: www.harviestoun.com
A shorter version was originally published in BEER November 2008. For more smoky beers see previous post.
Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve
For a fine but mellow lightly charred experience I recommend Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve – not bottle conditioned but currently one of […]
Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 5% Origin: Wambeek, Vlaams Brabant, Vlaanderen Website: www.detroch.be
De Troch Chapeau Lambic
De Troch of Wambeek is one of the lambic breweries you really wish you could think more highly of. Its pedigree is impeccable: it’s a farmhouse brewery founded by Pieter de Troch in 1780 in the lambic […]
Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 10% Origin: Innerleithen, Scottish Borders, Scotland Website: www.traquair.co.uk
Traquair House by James McIntosh Patrick, National Galleries of Scotland
Traquair House is the oldest inhabited stately home in Scotland and a new wave craft brewer ahead of its time. In 1965, several years before the launch of CAMRA, the rediscovery […]
Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 11% Origin: Ashford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire, England Website: www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk
Thornbridge is currently one of the most exciting and innovative breweries in Britain, complimenting a range of high quality cask ales with a selection of bottled specialities including fine India Pale Ales and Imperial Stouts and the unclassifiable dark honey beer Bracia. It […]
Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 5.8% Origin: Esquelbec, Nord, France Website: www.brasseriethiriez.com
Brasserie Thiriez
Daniel Thiriez seems incapable of making uninteresting beer: everything I’ve tasted from his self-named brewery has had something to say for itself as well as being consistently of high quality. The brewery is in the historic beer country of French […]
Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 7.3% Origin: Santa Rosa, California, USA Website: www.russianriverbrewing.com
Russian River Temptation Barrel Aged Ale
My first encounter with a US brewpub was a fortuitous one. When I first crossed the Atlantic some years back, it was to San Francisco, but rather than head straight for the city we first […]
Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 10% Origin: Roeselare, Oost Vlaanderen Website: www.rodenbach.be
Rodenbach Vin de Céréale
Rodenbach of Roeselare is a Belgian beer icon, one of the key breweries celebrated by Michael Jackson back in the 1980s when he first introduced the country’s remarkable beer culture to the wider world. It’s renowned then as […]
Beer sellers: Scottish Real Ale Shop Top Tastings 2009 (bottled 2007), Top Tastings 2011 (draught 2010)
ABV: 10% Origin: Quoyloo, Orkney, Scotland Website: www.orkneybrewery.co.uk
Orkney Dark Island Reserve
One of Britain’s northernmost breweries and one of Scotland’s strong collection of distinctive micros, Orkney was founded in a derelict schoolhouse by an Englishman […]
Top tastings 2009
ABV: 8.1% Origin: Bodegraven, Zuid Holland, Netherlands Website: www.brouwerijdemolen.nl
De Molen Bloed, Zweet en Tranen
Menno Olivier’s De Molen (“the mill”) brewery is in a 17th century windmill called De Ardkuif beside the Oude Rijn river bang in the middle of the Groene Hart, the rural “green heart” within the […]
Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 8% Origin: Esen, West Vlaanderen Website: www.dedollebrouwers.be
De Dolle Brouwers Cosmos Porter
This experimental brew divides opinion. I’ve spoken to several people who have hated it, and even its brewer, Kris Herteleer, seemed in two minds about it when serving it to the public at the 2009 Zythos beer […]
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Cask This pioneering new book explains what makes cask beer so special, and explores its past, present and future. Order now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
London’s Best Beer The fully updated 3rd edition of my essential award-winning guide to London’s vibrant beer scene is available now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
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