The Jam Factory is a restaurant / art gallery / bar situated in a former marmalade factory, and is much more than just a place to come and drink. Just across the street from the train station and on route to the main part of Oxford, The Jam Factory is perfectly located for your first or last pint when visiting Oxford. On walking into The Jam Factory from its side entrance you are instantly greeted by a large bar, not only is there creative cocktails, many different wines, spi

La Ramblas, one of the world’s most famous streets, a busy long snake like street with shops, restaurants and tourist attractions running down its sides with market stalls providing anything from hand painted cartoons of yourself to fruit and veg shaped in rather questionable shapes! If you’ve visited Barcelona then the likelihood is you’ve been here or been to one of my favourite places in the world, La Boqueria market. Just off La Ramblas and across from La Boqueria market

When I hear Riga I used to automatically get this image in my head of big groups of stag do’s running wild in the town drinking loads of local lager and burying their heads in Latvian strippers cleavages, the truth is this previous image, for me, was utter rubbish! Firstly and thankfully my day in Riga didn’t include any stag parties secondly Riga is a slick, smart, trendy beautiful looking city. Arguably it has one of the best collections of Art Nouveau style houses in the w

While my American beer buddies across the pond on Thursday 27th November were sitting down with their families about to tuck into a big turkey and talk about their thanks I was in East London walking through the doors of London Fields Brewery tap room ready to try the new addition to London Fields Brewery arsenal. Thanksgiving is an American tradition that although I feel should be kept American I don’t actually mind, unlike the embarrassing scenes we witnessed the day after

Mikkeller, possibly the modern beer geeks most highly admired name in the world of beer. I am going to hold my hands up, I slept on Mikkeller for ages and maybe in an act of stubbornness ignored the ‘hipsters’ hype around them! As I learnt the story of Mikkeller the more I started to listen, the classic story of two twins splitting up and starting two different beer brands (Evil Twin/Mikkeller) then growing into this mystic gypsy brewer visiting the world’s  famous breweries

One sound rule in pub rep is, ‘if they offer you a sample before you try then you’re in a good place’…  So going by that rule Mother Kelly’s is a truely awesome place. Last night (Friday 16th May) I made a quick visit to Mother Kelly’s for the second time in a month! As soon as we walked in we were greeted by the incredibly friendly bar staff who talked us through the impressive beer menu and made sure we sampled at least 6 before choosing! So going back to my opening line, g

Now I know there seems to be a bit of a food invasion on here recently but let’s face it… Food and beer are the tag team champions of pairings on a night out! Along with a few work friends, who go by the collective group name of ‘Burger Club’, I spent some time in Bethnal Green this last Friday night in search of a new burger place to battle against the previously visited and tested MEATLiquor. So after researching and putting together a small list of well regarded burger ven

I have drank in all sorts of weird, stunning, rough and unusual pubs or bars in my time but Euston Tap must be the most beutifulist odd building I have ever drank in! You could be forgiven if you missed Euston Tap if you was walking from Euston station as from behind it is easy to mistake Euston Tap for a memorial or building at the end of a green outside the bus stop, mainly because this is actually what it is!!! The only clue into what this building is actually used for whe

I have to admit the Olympics passed me by, I didn’t catch the bug like most the nation did and I didn’t go to any of the events. I watched a few things on the telly but nothing I wouldn’t watch any ways like the football, boxing and basketball. To be honest while everyone was loving the stadium I couldn’t help but feel a bit of worry and anger towards the stadium with it’s on going battles of what it will be used for after the games. But one thing that I can say I am happy ab

When I am not drinking beer I am working to get money to drink beer and I work in travel for a small ship cruise company. Sometimes I am lucky enough to experience some of our cruises, last year I spent a week sailing the Baltic visiting Stockholm, Tallin, St Petersburg and Helsinki but this year I wanted to see what it is like on a river cruise so off I flew to Rotterdam to join one of our vessels mid cruise. Over a couple of days I visited Rotterdam, Den Haag, Delft, Veere,

Thursday night I made the long awaited visit to Tap East, Stratford Westfields hidden beer gem! Located right at the back of the huge shopping complex you will find a welcoming pub / microbrewery rewarding all husbands and boyfriends with a glass of some of the worlds finest beers for making it all the way to the end of the shopping center after shadowing their bright eyed lady friends all day! Part of the ‘Great Eastern Market’ Tap East offers an impressive 16 draught beers

Tucked away in a side street in Bruges you will find one of Bruges newest and best cafes, Cafe Rose Red. Ranked as the #2 restaurant on TripAdvisor for Bruges when the food is fairly limited just proves how great this place is! The food they offer i tapas sharer type bar snacks but what makes this such a worldwide huge favorite is its beer list, surroundings and wonderful staff. Downstairs to their family hotel lies one of the nicest cafes I have ever had the pleasure to drin