My favourite incident of this: They were the only customer in, and I went over and politely asked them to take their phone off of speaker as not everybody wanted to be privy to their convo. I got the "but there's nobody else here?!" to which I responsed "well I'm here, and it's doing my tits in"

BLOG POST: No, don't put your mate on speaker in the pub. What are you doing? Why are you doing that? What is *wrong* with you? boakandbailey.com/2026/01/ill-...

As with a lot of "pub etiquette" problems, it's up to the staff. Which means it's up to owners and managers to make them feel empowered to tactfully and tactically intervene; to stop the inconsiderate one (or few) ruining the experience of others. Part of "hospitality" is drawing a line like that.

BLOG POST: No, don't put your mate on speaker in the pub. What are you doing? Why are you doing that? What is *wrong* with you? boakandbailey.com/2026/01/ill-...

For Patreon supporters (gawd bless you) here are notes on the best beers we drank in the weird bit around New Year. And, unusually, we also go into a bit of detail on some beers we really *didn't* like. www.patreon.com/posts/beers-...

Foersters Feine Biere in Berlin is permanently closing on 1st February 2026, according to a post on their Instagram. First Schneeeule, now this. Sad times for the Berlin beer scene. www.instagram.com/p/DTIgjE9CLT...

If anyone's looking for a new beer name, I've just written the phrase 'holistic cow approach' so it's right there, for the taking.

In the Drapers Arms yesterday we got chatting to @ivydene.com about how long it might take for Moor Brewing to be rehabilitated in Bristol, post boycott. Well, today, right now, the Swan With Two Necks has two Moor beers on tap, including Old Freddy Walker.

One phenomenon I experienced over Xmas is that a large number of Manchester bars are now stocking Tegernseer Hell as a house lager, and are all serving it in the proper branded glassware. For a good price too. Think I paid £5.80 for a pint in town, which for a German lager of this premium is great.

BLOG POST: Is The Fargate, the new flagship Thornbridge pub in Sheffield, a posh Wetherspoon? Or something new? 🍺🍻 boakandbailey.com/2026/01/the-...

UPDATE: For a quid, you can now buy a set of souvenir beermats. Garvan never misses a trick.

At a country pub where the food is terrible and at least one beer tasted off. We were not helped by son shouting “we need to go somewhere else to get a better beer.” Mate, we were trying to be discrete.

This sounds like a tragedy on the scale of when my dad gave a case of beers I'd stored in his garage to an electrician who did a good job for him as a treat. Dad's logic was they weren't very good because the bottles didn't have labels on them. Just yellow & blue crown caps

Drapers.

Good morning. Here's our first news, nuggets and longreads round up of 2026, with notes on pub openings, beer in Rome, and East London. There's also an attempt to gather all the various Golden Pints entries that we noticed. boakandbailey.com/2026/01/news...

Absolutely nobody will be surprised to hear who was first customer of the year in 't Brugs Beertje. Draft Avec Les Bons Vœux made for a perfect start to 2026 🤣 🍻

Here's the last blog I wrote last year.... chrisdyson55.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025...

In a pub that is not in our Bristol pub guide, and that we don't visit often. On paper, it's great, and other people like it but... It's just not right. Because of this stuff, basically. 👇 open.substack.com/pub/boakandb...

My Golden Pints of 2025 – refreshingbeer.blogspot.com/2026/01/gold...

Inspired by @boakandbailey.bsky.social these are my #GoldenPints from a person who doesn't get out much & mostly drinks homebrew at home.

I saved my first blog post of the year for the very last day. It's my annual look at my best five pub discoveries - great pubs that I visited for the first time. Hopefully I'll get blogging again next year. pubgallery.co.uk/2025/12/31/m...

Time to tie off another year of beer blogging with the usual highlights reel: thebeernut.blogspot.com/2025/12/end-...

Mixed bag in Manchester yesterday. Beer of the day was Fullers/Thorn bridge ESB Beermoth. Brewed in the Burton Union set, this was lush in every way. Close second in terms of presentation and taste was Adams Ghost Ship, but the overall complexity of the ESB swung it for them.

Golden Pint, texture like sun... edsbeer.blogspot.com/2025/12/gold...

BLOG POST: We don't fuss about the beer we drink at Christmas quite as much as we used to. In fact, we don't necessarily stick to beer. boakandbailey.com/2025/12/what...

Big news: Radio 4’s Food Programme’s devoting a whole episode to the legacy of my book Desi Pubs which includes a long interview with me and a desi pub run I took Jaega on! Friday 9 Jan at 11am

Bristol Beer Factory has a beer called Big Valley which is 5.5%, pale, and has a sticky malt character. The spiel on their website says: "Back into the Northern valleys we go, a land that dreams of deep malt-forward soft cask pints." What beer(s) is this trying to be? We're stumped.

Kings Head has cask ales from Burning Sky, Thornbridge, Ideal Day and Elusive. What a pub.

Quite an endorsement.

Historic England's new pubs hub: historicengland.org.uk/advice/carin...

New Blog Post! Something short and seasonal ...

That's it, it's Christmas. I'm at The George and Dragon where the cask line up is an ESB, a dark mild, and an IPA. Going to performatively read a book Jess has been telling me to read for about 25 years, and have one of each. [Ray]

Golden Pints 2025: what was my fave Irish beer of the year (and what made the list abroad?) www.lisagrimm.com/2025/12/22/2...

Went to The Langton after a walk through St Anne's Wood and drank impeccable Butcombe Original and Wye Valley HPA. It's the small things.

A debate about boycotts is breaking out in the comments on this post.

Kees Scherer Café des Sports, Antwerp Christmas, 1950s 🎄 This is my favourite Scherer photograph. The car is a Kaiser-Frazer “Henry J” model from the early 50s.

GOOD MORNING! Here's the final news, nuggets and longreads for 2025 with lots of stuff about pubs, plus notes on a frustratingly unattainable, wonderful-sounding beer. 🍻🍺 boakandbailey.com/2025/12/news...

Martyn Cornell's legacy. The Zythophile blog is gone. barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2025/12/lega...

Things are already getting fuzzy. I have a meeting? What’s a meeting? When is lunch? Three hours ago? What was in that bowl? Wasn’t that for me? It’s a dog treat!?!Here’s the beery news…

Here's a personal choice.... chrisdyson55.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...

This week, we are back at a pub that we need to add to our 'good fireplace' list - Delaney's in Smithfield. www.weirdodublinpubs.com/weirdo-guide... #SpeirGorm

The departure of Justin Hawke from Moor felt inevitable. The mistake (publicly sharing a strong opinion that the vast majority of the people who made up the brewery's local market strongly disagree with) was his alone.

Oh, well, there you go. www.bristol247.com/food-and-dri...

BLOG POST: Rounding up the best beers we drank during the year, and where we drank them, is a pleasing annual ritual. We hope you enjoy reading it and feel inspired to create your own list. 🍺🍻 boakandbailey.com/2025/12/boak...

Craft has definitely plateaued and there's a sense that younger drinkers aren't all that interested in hoppy beer and prefer something fruity (Jubel) or uncomplicated (Guinness, macro lager).

This is interesting. Our impression was that Beavertown was doing quite well, hoovering up business and goodwill from BrewDog. But apparently not.

For Patreon supporters, notes on the various excellent beers we enjoyed in Sheffield over the weekend. www.patreon.com/posts/145920...

yesterday I was like haha well 8 kegs of Guinness is obviously excessive for one little match day but I'll line them up just in case and then there's plenty for the rest of the week haha how naiive past Hazel what the hell

I was worse for wear having spent 3 days on the lash in Donegal and on my return to London ordered a Powers at the King's Head on Upper Street in a Glaswegian accent and the bartender said he'd have to open a new bottle, which I said was fine. He then presented me with a large Pimms, fruit included.