48 countries - 1 city Mapping every world cup country's presence in Brussels

Instead of a newsletter for July 2026... Notes from a heatwave, where fans, air-conditioning and cold beer are the topics of the day in pubs, bars and taprooms. boakandbailey.com/2026/07/inst...

This weekend I'm on a Franconian brewery adventure with @fredcook.co.uk @louisekrennmair.bsky.social and @akrennmair.bsky.social We stopped for Brotzeit and beers at the Brauerei Göller in Drosendorf.

GOOD MORNING! Here's our regular weekly roundup of good writing about beer and pubs. This time we've got a lost beer style from Breslau, extreme pub crawling, and an unusual Wetherspoon, among other items. boakandbailey.com/2026/07/news...

Someone should write a profile of Vince from Ashley Down brewery and his absolute refusal to do any marketing, or contribute to making his beers sellable at all. The only thing is, he wouldn't let you do that, because that would be marketing, and marketing is for losers.

All Major Sports Shown On The Big Screen.

This is the new book project I started working on: dafteejit.com/2026/07/my-n... #homebrewing #beerhistory

Fascinating stuff from @boakandbailey.bsky.social on pubs during the 1966 World Cup. We were at the seaside on holiday and I remember watching the final in a pub, the children's room, on a tiny screen in the corner - while playing table-tennis, my preferred sport boakandbailey.com/2026/07/pubs...

My own theory is that Euro 96 was when footy-in-pubs really took its modern form. National wave of interest + affordable TVs that were big enough to show to a roomful.

BLOG POST: It's hard to imagine but there was a time before people watched football matches on TV in the pub. boakandbailey.com/2026/07/pubs...

Not the whole week, but I posted one today, and have two small posts scheduled for tomorrow and Monday. If anything else comes to mind, I'll probably post about during the week. I do have to say though, the whole "writing down one thought in a few hundred words" blogging like 10+ years ago is...

Taking in Bristols most extreme pubs today: The Compass Rose - BRISTOL.PUB share.google/z5VNqKLlB1K7... First stop The Old Crow

GOOD MORNING! Here's our regular round-up of good writing about beer and pubs with vague themes around Bavarian beer culture and, oddly, that pub Lidl have opened in Northern Ireland. boakandbailey.com/2026/07/news...

Lost & Grounded where this big bastard is blowing warm air. But at least it's *moving* air.

OK, so who's on shift next week?

I've really enjoyed these posts and decided to reply to them all: waituntilnextyear.com/2026/07/10/b...

I often talk about this - the same with brands appearing to be indie/craft - I genuinely think most folks don’t care. They know what they like - where/who it’s from isn’t important.

Here, I've only been and gone to the Lidl pub.

BLOG POST: A response to @boakandbailey.bsky.social's "What does Helles taste like?" through the lens of a brewing scientist. hopandschwein.wordpress.com/2026/07/09/w...

It's beer-scented soda water. (I feel like I was the only person in my German brewing school who happily ordered pilsner every time my classmates were drinking helles, despite getting only 2/3 of the amount of beer for the same price. Sorry, I drink water when I want water)

A few days into this 'little but often' experiment and we're rather enjoying it. The temptation to keep adding clauses, or digging for more evidence, or embiggening the argument, is strong. But, no, it's fine for a blog post to just make one point, and leave space for debate.

While searching for that beer mat I came across these ones. I've had for a few years and they date from 1961/62 going by the tagline. One of my favourite series in my collection ...

For the two plus decades that I’ve been into beer, cask has had the warm/flat PR problem. It’s so old and tiring, and it’s crazy we haven’t figured out a way to get past it. I even overheard a knowledgeable person describe it this way recently. Let’s shut it down once and for all. 🙏

The Fun Shortage Is Real, and It’s Making America Miserable. “With fewer places to relax and socialize, and steeper prices for entry, having fun is quantifiably harder than it used to be.” [bloomberg.com]

Inspired by a fine example offered by @boakandbailey.bsky.social, let's add a few old school blog posts about things of momentary interest. Here's a quick note to add to the now long forgotten category of posts circa 2006.

SHORT BLOG POST: We're trying something different this week. boakandbailey.com/2026/07/a-we...

Field notes from observing drinkers in central Bristol, 19:30 on 5th July 2026: people are peaking far too early. It's still 5.5 hours to kick off, assuming it starts on time.

"can we bring in kids for the England game" I mean no because you can't bring kids into my pub at any time (license) but also NO YOU CANT BRING CHILDREN TO A 1AM KICKOFF

Bring on the fucking nukes man. I can't live through an era of personalised AI beermats. You can't make me.

Now drinking one of those beers that the bar staff warn you about and recommend a taster of. It's got Szechuan pepper in it and is making my mouth go numb. My lips feel weird. I feel like I've been to the dentist. I don't hate it. [Jess]

I think the other factor is choice here, or lack of. In the UK you have to stand at the cask taps to know what's on and what to order, so the barperson has to hand the beer through that tight space. Here you can order your pint of Coors from anywhere along the bar and get it served to you there! ...

My old pub (Ale House in Chelmsford) has the handpumps at the back of the bar. The keg fonts are still on the bar top but it's less cluttered than many.

You reminded me of this illustration of a Victorian bar from Loftus's Almanack in 1869 I put up 'over beyont' ages ago. Now there's a bar you could waltz along, let alone pass a pint along ...

In the heyday of Against the Grain it had a row of about 20 massively tall chrome fonts. It was like ordering beer from someone in a cage.

I suppose one could make the argument that Irish pubs did a bit of decluttering by getting rid of all the hand pumps some decades ago...but in all seriousness, I do think that *broadly speaking,* you don't see the 'other things' taking up bar space here vs in Britain.

It's good to know we have not imagined this.

BLOG POST: “Multiple times in recent weeks we’ve watched bar staff awkwardly pass pints between handpulls, or around one side, only to spill some on the way and have to spider claw the glass back for a refill...” boakandbailey.com/2026/07/the-...

If someone says they don't fancy a pint this round, then you should...

We snuck a keg of this fella on late last night and our regulars proceeded to drink half of it straight away! We luckily have enough for everyone else to enjoy today 🍻👑 #bskybeer

The unlikely availability of Sam Smith's abroad also surfaced in Germany. The now-defunct Galerie Kaufhof in Chemnitz, Saxony, had a wide variety of bottled Smiths brews in their food hall.

GOOD MORNING! Here's our regular round up of good writing about beer and pubs, with notes on Humphrey Smith, pubs for young 'uns, and a Sussex village where the beer scene is booming gently. boakandbailey.com/2026/07/news...

I can only assume some Florence + the Machine fan fell into a time warp and posed for this in 1894. "Can You Beat It?" by Henry Jerome Schile, 1894.

SESSION #150 ROUND-UP: Thoughts on porter and stout from around the world, with contributions from @agoodbeerblog.bsky.social, @beerdiary.bsky.social, @dingsbeerblog.bsky.social, @morrighani.bsky.social, @beerfoodtravel.bsky.social, @akrennmair.bsky.social and @thebeerfather.bsky.social.

My contribution for #TheSession is late and I have no excuses. I just wrote it, so now you can read it. If you like. Paging @boakandbailey.bsky.social.

New post up on Beer Diary — initial impressions of the late great Martyn Cornell's epic history, Porter and Stout, for a special edition of #thesession. Looking first through what it says about things back home, there are some quirks and inevitable gaps, but I'm very glad it's in my collection now.

It's the day of #TheSession and here's my entry on the late Martyn Cornell and his last published book, Porter and Stout. Thanks to @boakandbailey.bsky.social for hosting!

Hydration break

Since #TheSession is about stout and porter today, I reckon it's time for a blind taste-off.

This image is titled: "New Year's Wish for Pub Owners Who Falsify Their Beer". I can't work out exactly what it's showing, but it does look unpleasant.