With a fairly full roster of beers to keep us busy through the year, it is rare that we contemplate adding a new beer to the ‘permanents’. In fact, usually we try to make the case of removing something but then decide we like them all to much and end up having a logistical/brewing  juggling session through the year. I constantly have new ideas for beers, which is where...

Life is good. That is what my Kung Fu teacher said, as we sat around eating a meal – and who am I to argue. I live in an idyllic village at the base of the South Downs, have amazing friends a stupidly large record collection and a very cute cat! But the one thing that I constantly rejoice in, is how open, friendly and frankly, cool the beer/brewing industry is! Those friends...

Back at the GBBF earlier this year, I met with my mate Rich from Magic Rock. Suitably refreshed, the conversation turned to brewing, being mutual fans of each others beer this inevitably led to the subject of doing a collaboration brew together. At this point, head brewer Stu was not aware of our plans but seemed equally excited about the project when we decided to tell him. The...

A few hours later,we were in Ceske Budejovice (excuse my lack of accents over letters – it would take me eons to work out how to do clever stuff like that), where we found Adrian Tierney-Jones nursing a pint of Budvar. And that was where we were going next, Budweiser Budvar, you know, the original one. We were met by the 3 top dudes in the shiny visitors centre (I was amongst...

Somehow I managed to wangle a place on a trip to the Czech Republic, organised by James Allen and the lovely Jan, from the Czech Tourist board, along with the likes of Mark Dredge and Claire Dodd, visiting a few breweries and finishing off at the Slunce ve Skle beer festival. Awesome! We flew into Prague, arriving late at night with just enough time to sling our bags down in the...

A little while ago my good friends Tony and Dom, landlords of the Snowdrop Inn in Lewes asked me to curate their beer festival for Lewes’ annual Octoberfeast. If you are fortunate enough to frequent this excellent pub, then you will know that Tony and Dom always do things a little differently – they really want everything they put their names to, to be exceptional. So...

Was really chuffed, the day after speaking with Will Hawkes of the Independent, to find this very kind article on line! Keep an eye out for Will’s pieces – they are well written and he didn’t make anything up (he left that to me!).

Every year we brewers dread what our suppliers are going to tell us – prices going up (rarely do they go down), malt and hops are the biggies and are totally weather dependent. A while back, it was all doom and gloom in farming circles – threats of a poor harvest due to the up and down weather. Basically we could have been looking at another price hike like we saw three...

I love brewing, beer and all things related. I am under no illusion, that had it not been for CAMRA, there would be nowhere near the variety of beers and breweries in this country, Dark Star would not exist, I would not be in this job and for those reasons alone, I salute you. Thankfully, I was not old enough to drink beer in the bad days of Red Barrel et al, but (sadly), I am old...

In front of me I have a glass filled with a slightly hazy, copper orange coloured liquid, a steady stream of bubbles rising to a thin white head.The smell is of a clean crisp lager with some peppery esters, a delicate floral quality gently pushes through. A sip (well ,more of a slurp), coats the tongue with a pleasing caramel sweetness and a prolonged bitterness. A beer that belies...