Beer Compurgation

Thanks to @Adam_G_Manning for the photo and everyone else who offered to help on Twitter   This beer blog has become a near eternal snake of content but at least I’m distinctly aware of it. First comes the repeated speeches every time a brewery sells up to a large multinational. Then comes the turn of brouhaha because a supermarket has changed its range of beers. It must be that time of year and I still feel as impassioned to comment.  It was, once again, the major retailer T esco who increased their range two and a half weeks ago - this time with additions including North Brew Co and Magic Rock - for the second time in 6 months. I felt the need to make comment about the bewildering excitement then, just as I did in 2016 with the arrival of Dale's Pale and Pinner . This time there has been further furore, both from people that see the positives and negatives, aided by successful marketing tactics that has led to an awful lot of commentary.  Late to...

Under a warm southern May sky in 2017, after the greatest sporting moment of my life , I am being swept towards a tube station amongst a throng of 90,000 people. In the search for my party who I've become separated from, I spot a familiar face in celebratory mood - Founder and Managing Director of Magic Rock Brewing , Richard Burhouse .  It shouldn't be a surprise - Richard is a huge Huddersfield Town fan - but it was a pleasant reminder of the community value of the football club that I support. A team guided to the promised land under a local chairman and fan in Dean Hoyle has always kept deep ties to the town it exists in. And here, in Magic Rock, is my second favourite Huddersfield based team.    The machine continues on. We are almost becoming immune to the issues and discussions occurring each time a multi-national business takes a controlling stake in a British brewery. There is little new to add, though the same arguments are held on socia...

(Just to clarify – for the purpose of this post I am encompassing a lot of different roles as “Bar Worker” to make things easier. I am more than aware that there are numerous roles with various titles within the industry and those that work in pubs and bars.) The other week I was stood at the bar of one of my favourite pubs vaguely watching one member of the bar team with interest. He was bouncing from table to table, glass collecting but also taking the time to speak to each group; compliment somebody’s shirt, talk to them about the wine they'd just had, regale them with the same story of his new hat that he’d already told everybody.  Amused I turned to the manager and asked “What on earth is he doing?” They glanced at their member of staff, sighed deeply and said “I think I just pay him to chat to people.”   Though this may not sound desirable, each table or group left in this worker’s wake were vsibly happier; probably more likely to stay for another ...

I remember the time that a brewery opened in the early nineteenth century. They were fantastic because they swore on that day that they would never sell their business for millions of pounds in the future because they.... Wait, sorry, have I remembered that incorrectly? Sorry. You must forgive me - y'see, I don't really understand business. I do, however, remember a brewing business opening in 2011. Their focus was on the quality of their beer and they swore on that day that they'd never value it at £250million. They never wanted to make money, even on the day that... What's that? Sorry, is that wrong again? Oh, you must forgive silly me. Y'see, I don't really understand business. However, I do remember speaking to a recent man of business. Whilst he was busy businessing he said to me that his business often paid £250million to businesses to never change them or gain any profit from them and to not infiltrate the market that they held at...