For the last couple of years, I have said that London needs a CAMRA beer festival which should feature a beer list completely made up of London cask beer, I had wrote it in a half finished blog post after last year’s London Drinker festival which never saw the light of day. I wrote how that I thought the London Drinker would be the perfect festival bring the best of cask beer in London. Finally, this year I got my wish and not only that, there was a key keg bar thrown into th

I don’t usually do posts like this, I leave the ranting and beer politics to people who do it much better than I do. But the more time I spend in The Alehouse Chelmsford the more it puzzles me to how it has never been awarded for its beer by our local CAMRA branch. Before I go into one, I don’t want this to be thought of as an attack on my local CAMRA branch, because it is not it is an open question. I have met a few of the local CAMRA branch and they are all lovely people, s

I have a strange relationship with CAMRA, I have grown up in an CAMRA environment, I have vague memories of my Dad getting a lifetime membership from his mates at his 40th birthday party, I have been taken to CAMRA beer festivals since a baby, I have been socialising alongside many ELAC members while working for the Leyton Orient Supporters Club and most recently since the start of the year I am BLO for Signature Brew. Despite all this I have officially only been a member for

Bethnal Green is soaked in East London history, a vibrant busy part of East London which is embracing the new with the old. It is most likely that a large percentage of people who have come to Bethnal Green in search of beer haven’t searched much further than Mother Kellys and Redchurch Taproom. But if you dig a bit deeper and keep searching five to ten minutes further down the road you will discover one of London’s newest Taprooms from Three Sods Brewery. Three Sods Brewery

Ever since I took my first step in The Hop Beer Shop I instantly fell in love with the first Micropub in Essex. I’m a huge supporter of Micropubs in general, I think we are going to see loads more opening up in the near future. As I mentioned in my previous post about The Hop Beer Shop I think the real success of a great Micropub is all down to the owner, the Micropub atmosphere takes on the personality of the owner. This is why it is no surprise to me that The Hop Beer Shop

This Friday Tim Hampson will be at the famous Blackwell’s book store in Oxford to introduce people to the second edition of his 101 Beer Days Out. My sister is running the event and as well as Tim talking everyone through his new book there will also be local beers on hand to try. I have the first edition of 101 Beer Days Out and it sits lovingly on my book shelf. It’s a superb book about days out around the UK where you can incorporate the best beer stop offs. I would imagin

After my visit to Worthing to sample the excellent Brookstead Alehouse and Anchored in Worthing micropubs I was delighted to hear that Chelmsford had also opened a new mini pub. Chelmsford is a short journey away from me and probably has the best local selection of decent pubs and beer bars, it’s size and choice narrowly beating Billericay and Rochford. After walking through the long wide Chelmsford high Street, past the shops, past the market stalls and crowds of busy shoppe

If you’ve never taken a walk down the beautiful seafront at Leigh on Sea then you should! Old Leigh can boast some of the best seafood from this part of the country and walking down this sea front you have plenty of opportunities to sample it. Walking down the roads is almost like going back in time as you walk along the cobbled streets and pass the old red London phonebox! Another reason to check out Old Leigh is the pubs! There are four pubs within short walking distance of

Throughout my memories of drinking in the pubs around Brighton The Evening Star has always been at the top of the list. A short few minutes walk from the station makes The Evening Star the perfect first or last place to visit if you are planning a pub crawl around Brighton! Walking into the pub almost feels like walking back in time! A low ceiling, old wooden pillars, rows of old beer bottles circling the room and dimmed lights help make this pub feel warm and comfortable. Th

#BeerBuddies is a new part of my blog that I am putting together containing interviews with people that I have met either online or in person via sharing the same passion about beer. My first #BeerBuddies is with Trevor Jeffery of Billericay Brewing, when I first heard there was a brewery and bottle shop in Billericay I was over the moon that finally somewhere close and accessible to me would be making and selling decent beer. I first tried Mayflower Gold in The Alehouse in C

**warning this post features extreme stereotypes** Real ale, craft beer, new beer, old beer, cask, keg etc etc etc it can all get a bit confusing and people can really get picky about one or the other! Me, like many things I life I like to have two categories ‘good’ and ‘bad’! I love real ale, I love craft beer, I have had terrible ‘real ale’ and I have had terrible ‘craft beer’… Good beer and bad beer! I feel I am slightly stuck in limbo land sometimes when trying to place m

Like most boys when little I was a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine! Fast forward 20 odd years and I am having a beer with him! Chappel beer festival is my favourite beer festival all year round, there may be bigger beer festivals out there but for me its all about the surroundings. You don’t have to be a 5 year old kid or a train spotter to enjoy sitting in an old train carriage drinking beer freshly poured from a brewery bar inside a train cart! For those who have never he

Beer + football = very happy half pint gentleman, this probably is what has kept me at orient for all these years as the quality of beer out does the quality of football most weeks! Billericay town is my local non league club which I have seen a few times over the last few seasons, including breaking away from orients terrible goal drought in search of a goal fest only to witness their first goaless draw in two years! The stand out beer for me was RCH Brewery Old Slug Porter

As I have got older I have found that the beer festival in one of my favorite things to do! Being thrown in a field or hall surrounded by hundreds of barrels of beer, muddled among huge groups of fellow beer geeks with the wiff’s of wonderful food rushing through your nostrils! Through out my teenage years I grew up being friends with people who enjoy going clubbing and staggering around to deafening music (much against my taste!) while continuously screaming ‘WHAT?’ to each