Shut up about Barclay Perkins

Climbing ever higher up the Pale Ale tree we get to, er, Pale Ale. A pretty decent strength. If not quite at the heights of a Burton Pale Al...

Quite a lot of things, as it turns out. Some of them pretty understandable. The first set mostly refer to pissed-up punters. 2.—As to Public...

In 1830, in a rare attack of liberalism, beerhouses were created. Intended to usher in an era of free trade in beer, licences were issued fo...

that my latest book, "Keg!" is now available. It's packed full of information about the grooviest decade of the 20th century, ...

You'd better get used to the late Victorian and Edwardian period. Because I'm now 100% concentrating on that, as I return to working...

For the next couple of months I'll be back before WW I. Now that my attention has turned full time to my book "Free!". During ...

Well, that's the 1970s finished. Time to look further back. All the way to the 18th century. Which is about as far back as I go. Just as...

Three Bass Charrington breweries today. All in the Northwest. All closed as production was switched to the disastrous Runcorn plant. I'v...

To get you in the mood for the 1970s, here's a beer from the mid-1960s. A 60/-. Is it a Mild, is it a dark Pale Ale? Who gives a fuck? I...

The 1970s. A decade as fashionable as mullets and flared trousers. One not remembered with the same rose-tinted specs as the 1960s. But the...

Three more Big Six breweries for you. One Allied and two Bass Charrington. Can you guess which was my favourite? It's not hard. Wrexham ...

How is it going, the search for a new local? Well, we seem to be settling on Checkpoint Charlie. For the last six months our little gang has...

Here’s another confusing beer from Strangman. On the face of it, the name, X Ale, indicates that this was a Mild Ale. But it’s not that simp...

I've just booked up flights to Australia for me and my son Andrew. It's been a long time since I was last there. 1991, to be precise...

We're still with Allied Breweries today. Possibly the least bunch of twats of the Big Six. And the brewers of one of my favourite beers ...

Just reminding you all of the terrific service I offer. A bespoke recipe of a beer brewed on your birthday (or some other significant date) ...

Slight mistake in the last post in this series. I started the Big Six with Bass Charrington. Where, obviously, I should have kicked off with...

Time for another instalment of 1980s socialist nostalgia. In this period Czechoslovakia had the best overall beer quality of anywhere I'...

Another Strangman beer today. And another mystery. So many questions and so few answers. As so often when bathing in the pool of history. He...

Yippee! We're finally moving on to the final part of my guide to 1970s breweries: the Big Six. Who, at the time, operated a large number...