The Pub Curmudgeon

There has recently been a debate in the columns of the CAMRA newspaper What’s Brewing about whether pubs should make more effort to stock d...

A claim made more than once by egregious blogtroll “py” is that heavily-hopped New World-style IPAs are much more “accessible” than conven...

I recently posted about CAMRA giving accreditation as “real ale” to can-conditioned beers produced by Moor Brewery. Now, the point of this ...

Over the past nine years, I’ve often found myself cast in the role of Cassandra for predicting that the restrictions imposed on tobacco will...

The early days of CAMRA saw a reaction against the “plush pub”, with its deep-pile carpeting and expanses of red dralon upholstery. Thus was...

Off-trade drinkers in Scotland will have been dismayed by the recent verdict from the Scottish courts that minimum alcohol pricing may indee...

While CAMRA formally champions bottle-conditioned beer, I’ve long gained the impression that a lot of people who promote it don’t properly a...

For a long time, there has been a widespread view that craft beer happily floated along on a higher moral plane, where animosity and cut-thr...

I’ve mentioned before that I often tend to use CAMRA’s National Inventory as a kind of informal Mudgie pub guide. By definition, every pub ...

I’ve never been a great enthusiast for the concept of beer and food matching, but when offered the chance to try a Spanish beer especially b...

Go into any town-centre Wetherspoons in the late morning or at lunchtime, and you’ll see a number of tables occupied by middle-aged or elder...

The argument is often made that, while we have lost many traditional pubs, they have to some extent been replaced by new-style bars. I’ve al...

This week sees the latest annual IndyManBeerCon held in Victoria Baths in Manchester. Tempting as it might be, I have no intention of havin...

Eyebrows were raised last week at the news that CAMRA had given accreditation as “real ale” to can-conditioned beers from Moor Brewery in B...

Although we have a lot fewer pubs than we used to, and we’re drinking a lot less, we’re often told we enjoy a much greater choice of beer. O...