• Pub Guides

    The Pub: A Cultural Institution – from Country Inns to Craft Beer Bars and Corner Locals

    WINNER OF THE DRINK BOOK AWARD AT THE FORTNUM & MASON FOOD AND DRINK AWARDS 2017. Pete Brown has visited hundreds of pubs across the UK and is uniquely placed to write about pubs that ooze atmosphere, whatever the reason, be it food, people, architecture, location or decor. The best pubs are those that always have a steady trade at any time on any day of the week, and where chat flows back and forth across the bar. They’re the places where you want to drink weak beer so you can have several pints and stay longer. Some are grand Victorian palaces, others ancient inns with stunning views across the…

  • Beer History

    Shakespeare’s Pub: A Barstool History of London as Seen Through the Windows of Its Oldest Pub – The George Inn

    A history of Britain told through the story of one very special pub, from “The Beer Drinker’s Bill Bryson” (Times Literary Supplement)Welcome to the George Inn near London Bridge; a cosy, wood-paneled, galleried coaching house a few minutes’ walk from the Thames. Grab yourself a pint, listen to the chatter of the locals and lean back, resting your head against the wall. And then consider this: who else has rested their head against that wall, over the last six hundred years? Chaucer and his fellow pilgrims almost certainly drank in the George on their way out of London to Canterbury. It’s fair to say that Shakespeare popped in from the nearby…

  • Beer History

    Miracle Brew: Hops, Barley, Water, Yeast and the Nature of Beer

    The Guardian’s “Best Books on Drink” Pick Most people know that wine is created by fermenting pressed grape juice and cider by pressing apples. But although it’s the most popular alcoholic drink on the planet, few people know what beer is made of. In lively and witty fashion, Miracle Brew dives into traditional beer’s four natural ingredients: malted barley, hops, yeast, and water, each of which has an incredible story to tell. From the Lambic breweries of Belgium, where beer is fermented with wild yeasts drawn down from the air around the brewery, to the aquifers below Burton-on-Trent, where the brewing water is rumored to contain life-giving qualities, Miracle Brew tells the full story behind…

  • Beer Cookbooks

    The Beer Kitchen: The Art and Science of Cooking, & Pairing, with Beer

    When a recipe calls for ‘beer’ do you have the first clue of what you should add? When was the last time you read a recipe that really specified a beer style, or even suggested a few different brands from the bewildering array on the shelves? Good news, this book does all that and more. In The Beer Kitchen award-winning beer expert Melissa Cole has combined two of her greatest passions: great brews and delicious food. Sharing over 70 incredible recipes Melissa expertly guides you through the gustatory pleasure of cooking with beer and what to drink with your creations. Starting with the ‘science bits’ you will discover the importance…

  • Misc.

    Pie Fidelity: In Defence of British Food

    ‘Yes, it’s good. It’s great. But we’re British, and we don’t have to bang on about it all the time.‘ In Britain, we have always had an awkward relationship with food. We’ve been told for so long that we are terrible cooks and yet according to a 2012 YouGov survey, our traditional food and drink are more important than the monarchy and at least as significant as our landscape and national monuments in defining a collective notion of who we are. Taking nine archetypically British dishes – Pie and Peas, A Cheese Sandwich, Fish and Chips, Spag Bol, Devonshire Cream Tea, Curry, The Full English, The Sunday Roast and a…