It has been a while

My buttercup boy 💛

Another day of thunderstorm level downpours that are just passed off as normal. People that aren't concerned by climate change are genuinely scary at this point

So my Twitter prediction that Smoothflow would be next is coming true. Wish I'd archived everything I ever said in that app

Good Morning

People that "watch" podcasts... ... ... I want to ask a question, but I'm speechless. Are you okay?

I knew the Million Pound question on Who Wants to Be... I can retire now.

I've gone through possibly my longest period (sans Holidays or Dry Jans) without going to the local. And I come in tonight to a killer line-up including flipping Oregon Trail. I'm not saying it's just for me, but...

Dreadful end to the season (home games.) Don't normally get a beer for the journey home but an Hour & 10 minute replacement bus journey had me looking in the fridges. There I came across this ice cold perfect summer beverage. Yes please. #replacementbusservicebeer

I was really looking forward to some post-work garden chill beers, but the wind is still very bitter here. Plan B

Serious Brewing have closed. We’ve had them on the bar for years and their Moonlight stout was a classic. Yet every month we get emails from new breweries. With pubs closing there seems to be more breweries chasing fewer pubs. This is not sustainable IMO. @rogerprotz.bsky.social

Found these forgotten Beavertown & To Øl relics in my shed today. Think I'll crack them open. I haven't had anything aged for too long since the days that we had a segment for it on the Pod. I think, judging by the discolouration in the labels, these may have spent some time in direct sunlight so..

They are getting all the heat at the moment for feeling like the new town centre Vape Shop, but we have just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in one of those Manchester Irish bars. Football, Irish dancing, live music, and Murphy's... I'm struggling to describe anything else required.

New staff on in the pub. Apparently I need to have a gentle word with them about my preferred glass shape but, more importantly, my feelings about a particular beer brand.

I started writing about how much I dislike content creators in pubs. One of many posts that I've started in recent months, and then decided that I can't be bothered censoring for a 2026 human race. 2014 humanity would have loved it though.

Summertime cask beers are back

Though I've not been in one for a number of years, I've so many fond memories from a number of Brewdog bars. I wonder if I can write some of them down without being lambasted for positively eulogising about the company.

Not used here much because it has been wonky about me uploading pictures. And, if I were to give the other place credit, that wasn't an issue there. I'll trial one from the weekend to see if it is worth it...

Even though I knew that the pub had been somewhere that I had always utilised as a place to grieve, I never *knew* that until these words.

£5 for a pint of Millstone in the Tameside area. FIVE whole pounds. I think this was the moment that, even I, said "... that actually is a lot of money for a pint."

Pagan Arms, Newquay www.instagram.com/p/DUTaY6CjYz...

Thoughts on the Barley Mow on the social app www.instagram.com/p/DUBVKq9DVw...

Hanley Town wasn't enough to get me blogging again, but was enough to get me writing something down. Gentle reminder that it's alright on Insta. Something different, rather than the forced attempt to recapture what we lost (which is what here feels like.) www.instagram.com/p/DTx-RfFjWZ...

Telling people the origin of Blue Monday is the January version of telling people the origin of Stop the Cavalry in December.

Two keg N/A beers on in the pub. Both more expensive than pints of normal cask beer. I'm sure this point has been made a million times before, and is boring to some, but that market will never appeal to those that have need of it at that price. (And yes I understand why the price bla bla SSSHHHH)

Was originally posting "first pint since Saturday," and then realised that it is only Tuesday. It must have been a long work week already Red Willow, Weightless in fine form

Back to work today, but yesterday was magical so I have that to hold on to. Oh, and Happy New Year! I have no resolutions other than being a bit happier to be alive. And maybe going to one or two beer events again.

Finishing my listen to this episode with a beer that the guys kindly gifted me for my appearance 4 years ago, that was still knocking about. Wondered if I'd get a mention this year - it took 29 minutes. Horrified that Christmas Tree Farm isn't considered a modern classic. Such a great listen

It's that time @beersmanchester.bsky.social

Two hours of work left. Then it's a pub crawl for the rest of the day. All the presents have arrived. And I have the Raggy Dolls theme tune stuck in my head. Merry Christmas all! Look who's in the reject bin! It's the...

Pastry Barley Wine. On cask. "Make sense of that. Where on earth are we now?"

It has been a while since a packaged beer has made me smile this much. In fact I've had very few this calendar year to compare. But most of this was gone before I thought that I should take a picture. I imagine this would have been everywhere back in the Tw*****r days. Very very good.

www.beercompurgation.co.uk/2018/12/the-... One of the most difficult phone calls that I've ever had to make, referenced in one of the loveliest posts I've ever read. It may be 7 years on, but thank you @marknjohnson.bsky.social

Finally sat down and read this article. The sort of crossover of personal beer writing and interesting journalism that I subscribe to Pellicle, or any paid writing, for. Nailed.

Three pubs in Devon so far, and every beer has looked like this. Slops all over my hands and every table. I have no idea how this preferable to any human.

Birthday outing

Speaking of beer nostalgia, currently drinking T/Bridge's version of Masham Ale; a beer that I think I only had previously on the Theakston Brewery Tour circa 2006. Anyway, this version is smashing.

Crikey - Rogue and Underdog. And this is how I find out. Shows how far away from beer discourse I am at present. It's like going back to your student town/city and seeing that all the locations that formed your memories have gone. I'm as nostalgic for the 2010s beer scene as I am for 90s football

Ooooh do I have thoughts. I might just come out of retirement for this. My 1st point will be that a favourite local of one of these contributors once tried taking me to task on Twitter because I called out queues in pubs. I'd love to know if they got the same treatment, because my beef is never done

I wrote something on my phone while sitting on my train to Lincoln, and liked it, so I decided to publish it. A little something about grief, and travel, and Jaipur in the Sheffield Tap. www.totalales.co.uk/blog/2025/10...

Good Morning!

Rare night in to myself, so I'm taking it back to my favourite times in beer

First try of the Lees' version of Boddingtons. Tasted like a Lees' beer at first... and I really wasn't sure. But then the first disappeared quickly and I was on a second. It's alright. I last had the original whenever anybody else did, so I've no comparison to make

They asked for a response, so I couldn't exactly let them down, could I? On Belgian beer, Hegelian dialectics, and why Belgium's craft beer turn makes perfect sense. In response to @boakandbailey.bsky.social: boakandbailey.com/2025/10/we-d...

Wilbur's round

Unforeseen circumstances have led to Unforeseen Monday pints. Starting off with cask Kernel Pale, and then I've these two to move onto next. What a time to be in Stalybridge

Been a long time, but thrilled to see @wishbonebrewery.bsky.social back in Staly. One of my faves.

I don't think that the Aldi Oktoberfest beer box is bringing in the same level of engagement

Pubs are about more. Like customer's that bring in rosemary from their garden for people, to help use it up.

I've been using a very discarded and shabby looking beer shed much more this week to cope with some sad news, and all my familiar favourites are back too. Sonoma.