Last week an old traditional job position was reinstated in London. After many rounds of blind tastings of stouts, lagers, pale ales and porters, there were only the best ones left. The winner was just a one minute presentation on why he (or she) should be the best man (or woman) for the job. Beer blogger Steve Williams said "I've been training for this day for 30 years" and on the subject of the UK's struggling pubs he stated, "we have to use them and booze them or we're going to lose them!" After a few second the judges reached for their score cards and up came the first '10' of the competition. Steve Williams stood as the winner and is now "London's official ale taster" (or Ale conner as was called way back in time). He will now get a weekly allowance to visit pubs and taste beers and then report back on the web with the results. Wow, can't every town reinstate that kind of position?
Brew, bruv?
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While we wait for the grand opening of O Brother's new taproom outside
Greystones, they still pop the occasional can out, and not just for Aldi.
Latest in ...
Food for thought
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Food critic Jay Rayner (son of agony aunt Claire) has written a column in
the monthly *Observer Food Magazine* for the past fifteen years. This has
now c...
And Now for the Good
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Now, you'll likely be aware that London can be a minefield for the cask
drinker, but it isn't always so. In this short post, I'll tell you about
three p...
London breweries 2024
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Supercute, formerly Friendship Adventure, Brixton, London SW9
6 openings and revivals, 15 suspensions and closures, net change -9.
By the end of December ...
My Golden Pints for 2024
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Well, here we are again, same procedure as every year: the Golden Pints.
Skip to the end for the important one (assuming that anyone is interested
in any...
A short Course In Betting Online
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The Seterra app offers two sport modes, plus excessive score lists to keep
track of your progress. We found that training with high agreement
selections ...
Ide Desain Ruang Tamu Kecil Sederhana
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Hunian yang sempit menjadi penghalang membuat ruang tamu yang memukai.
Sebab ukuran lahan yang terbatas menjadi tantangan untuk menciptakan
interior
The...
Now & Then, the Uplands Tavern, Swansea
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The Uplands Hotel, Swansea has expanded into a neighbouring building since
this picture was taken in the 1950s when it was a pub owned by Evan Evans
Be...
Acer H6543BDK DLP Projector Review
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Acer H6543BDK DLP Projector Review Rating Summary Overall, I think this is
a superb projector for the price/specification. As far as I can tell, there
is...
Guinness Nitrosurge Device - Does it work?
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Guinness sent this little gizmo to me along with two cans and a glass. I
attended a zoom demo and then later tried it myself and made a video which
I'...
On writing, especially beer writing
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Just write, gather and then scatter the words, like throwing seeds about on
a field during the act of ploughing, a virtuous Piers-like act that is
labour...
A final pint
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My last blog post was a bit of a downer. I’ll try to cheer up on this one.
I seem to have created a theme of chronicling end of pubs. The travails of
the...
BeerDredge
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I've got a new website! Anything new will now be posted to
www.beerdredge.com. You can also read more about my books, my work and
there's an updated blog...
Letting go
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It is often difficult to accept defeat. Indeed, when one has been working
on something for a long time it can be almost impossible to actually make
that fi...
We are taking a break
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Dear Reader.
Due to various unforeseen circumstances, 'A Swift One' is taking a short
sabbatical. We apologise to all for the lack of content but we hope t...
Passive-aggressive hate mail
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Way back in 2001, my brother and I opened a specialist beer bar in London.
You can read more about it *here*.
The way we were doings things proved fairly n...
44th Cambridge Beer Festival – preview
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Here’s an article I wrote for Local Secrets about what to expect at the
fantastic 44th Cambridge Beer Festival – read on..! Cheers! It’s time for
the Cambr...
LemonTop’s 50th Brewery Client
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We have reached a proud milestone in our business growth and have taken on
our 50th brewery client. We recently completed a full range of branding
design...
Architecture of Birmingham – goodbye Brutalism?
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Spent lovely 24 hours in Brum this week – going to see the stunningly
brilliant Clint Mansell with my good mate Neil but as always the
Architecture of Bi...
The Blood Of Revolution
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Ireland has just had its first full scale, multi category brewing
competition. Organised by the National Homebrew Club, there were about 350
entries over...
AG #17 - Furious IPA II - Recipe
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A little later than expected but tomorrow I will do my first of two
Christmas brews. This is pretty much a carbon copy of Furious IPA, however
I have chang...
Tuber Babies, Human Sacrifice and Harvest Home.
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I’m reading the fascinating Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Stephen
Harrod Buhner, and was quite taken by the myth of Mani, the magic baby girl
born of ...
Enigmatic one
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Kölsch. Surely the must elegant of beers. The most refined. Hence the fancy
stemware. Apparently an ale but taste a lot like lager. Kind of lagery on
the ...
So it’s farewell, trusty swimming towel
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The good thing about not being one of the world’s best-known brewers is
that when brewing stops, there aren’t thousands of disappointed customers
hammerin...
West is Best in Kent
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Congratulations to everyone involved at The Bull at Horton Kirby for
deservedly winning the CAMRA Kent Pub of the Year 2009. The Bull pipped
last year's ti...
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