This month I'm shining a spotlight on the brilliant FEM.ALE Festival. I actually met the two organisers, Charlene and Erica, on International Women's Day, where we came together to brew the delicious Unite coffee stout (it's all gone now, I know because I drank most of it) and can attest to their strong passion for… Continue reading Event spotlight: FEM.ALE Brewster Festival
There was a time when, to find a 'good' pint of beer or, you know, anything other than a few mainstream lagers, you had to go pretty far. Well, in my part of town anyway. Now it's rare that pubs won't have at least something I'll want to drink, and that's expanded to include many… Continue reading TATExMAGICROCK
You might have clocked, from my excited tweets and Instagram posts, that, in mid April, I was invited down to Dorset to spend some time with Hall & Woodhouse, former brewers of Panda Pops (it's true!) and current brewers of the wonderful Badger Beers. I'll tell you more about my visit in another post, but for… Continue reading Badger: An American Venture
Well, this has turned into a bit of a series hasn't it? And why not! A brilliant beer label always adds an extra element of pleasure to my drinking experience (and, er, as I've run out of space in the cupboard I've had to create a gallery of beers on the side, so I'd quite… Continue reading Stroud Brewery: The Rebrand
The Scottish beer scene is thriving; Fyne Ales, Loch Ness, Tempest, Cromarty (when I win the lottery I'm going to dedicate a room in my mansion to the storage of Brewed Awakening) are just a few of the breweries that are killing it north of the border. Black Isle Brewery was a pioneer of this… Continue reading Black Isle Bar
I didn't attend the CAMRA AGM this year. Not for any anti-CAMRA reason, but because we were visiting friends in the wilds of Bristol (I don't often go north of Watford as you well know). As a member of CAMRA I am supportive of and frustrated by the organisation in equal measure. But my membership… Continue reading CAMRA AGM 2017: thoughts from afar
Oh, sour beers. Perfect when you fancy something a bit special, perfect for those wine drinking friends who say they don't like beer, almost always perfect when hailing from Belgium and, well, just a little bit trendy right now. But, trendy or not, sour beers (and the blending of said beers) are not a new phenomenon;… Continue reading Petrus: a review and a rebrand
You might remember from this lovely post a couple of weeks ago that, back in February, the Pilsner Urquell team invited me to Czech out (ho ho ho) the brewery, their excellent Tapster programme and learn a little more about how PU tank beer is being consumed in the original home of pilsner beer. You'll be hearing… Continue reading Pilsner Urquell: The Brewery
International Women's Day is here! But why do we need our own day? And come to think of it when's International Men's Day? Well it's in November actually so Deal With It. There's been a lot of talk recently about sexism in the beer industry (see here, here, Tand's response to Mark's post here, and here....oh, also… Continue reading International Women’s Day
Happy St Piran's Day! Wow, it just comes around quicker every year. For those of you unaware of St Piran's Day; it's the national day of people in Cornwall. So, to celebrate, I'm going to talk about the Skinner's rebrand as, a year on, I'm still finding the 'new' labels just as delightful. Well, where do I… Continue reading Skinners Brewery: The Rebrand
A couple of weeks ago I did something pretty cool; I flew out to Prague with Pilsner Urquell to hang out, drink some awesome beer and learn more about their Tapster programme. I'll post separately about their Archive of Dreams and Germination Room of Wonder (official names don't you know), but today I want to… Continue reading Pilsner Urquell: The Tapsters
Another day another rebrand. But I've got good news for you; it looks like Butcombe Brewery have done a brilliant job! Butcombe have managed to freshen up the range and give it a youthful vibe, but without completely losing its identity. As per, I asked a professional who agreed that this was 'pretty successful in… Continue reading Butcombe: The Rebrand
