Writer and blogger specialising in alcohol-free beer, craft beer, hospitality and getting outdoors.
This is an archive of all my posts about craft beer and real ale including my guide on where to buy fresh ale and beer to take away in Hampshire and beer tasting tips for beginners.
It’s handy that we can now pick up bottled and canned real ale almost anywhere – supermarkets, corner shops, even some cafes an tea rooms now stock it.
However, while there are some nice bottle-conditioned ales out there, drinking real ale from bottles and cans doesn’t really do it for me. I much prefer it how it fresh, straight from the cask or keg.… Read more
Find out how we got on visiting Southampton’s newest craft beer brewery, Tap It Brewing Co for beer tastings and a short brewery tour, on our first South Hants Hop Social meet up.
With only one small brewery until 2015, the explosion in new breweries in Hampshire in the late noughties and early 2010s seemed to pass by Southampton.
Now the city’s finally catching up with the rest of the county – five of Hampshire’s 30+ breweries are based here.… Read more
Although fast food burger chains like McDonalds and Burger King have operated in the UK since the 70s and 80s, premium burger restaurant chains are a more recent phenomenon in these parts.
Most have opened in the last few years. One of the veteran chains of this type however is Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK), founded in 2001.
GBK recently opened at Southampton’s Guildhall Square.… Read more
Although overall UK beer sales have dropped in the last few years, there’s still evidence that the popularity of craft beer and real ale is still on the rise.
For instance, almost 3 in 5 small brewers expect their turnover to increase in 2017 and big beer companies like AB InBev and Carlsberg continue to buy smaller breweries to snatch back some of the market share craft beer has nicked from their big brands.… Read more
Find out how I got on exploring six of Portsmouth and Southsea’s craft beer bars and real ale pubs on a mini Portsmouth pub crawl.
I’ve been raving about Southampton’s craft beer and real ale scene for a while. And with good reason.
What about it’s south-coast neighbour, Portsmouth? Its football club has faced a decline in recent years – has Southampton left it behind in the beer stakes too?… Read more
Read on to discover five weird and wonderful places to drink real ale and craft beer in Hampshire. Then add your own suggestions in the comments at the bottom of the post.
A few weeks ago on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I popped along to the Bursledon Brickworks Museum near Southampton.
It was no normal day at the museum – today was its first beer festival, and it wasn’t long until I was browsing the museum’s collection of vintage arcade games with a real ale in hand.… Read more
