Billy's Booze Blog

Dark Star Hophead – I rather like hops so this was pretty much always going to be a favourite. I grabbed a pint at The Wenlock Arms the other night, while popping in briefly for a meeting (meetings in pubs are the best). It’s light and golden with a bitter hoppy taste that doesn’t get [...]

Being of that strange breed who can eat such things sober, I stopped off on Queensway on the way home this evening to visit one of my old haunts – Taza Kebab House. I used to live a street away and was a regular there during the lovely days of the late 90s and coming [...]

The Cairngorm brewery hides on an industrial estate at the northern end of Aviemore, conveniently a mere 5 minute walk from the timeshare village that my family have been visiting for the last 25 years – longer than the brewery has existed. It first came to my attention when I noticed a sign up offering [...]

Some background – I like Brewdog1. I like them enough that I’ve even invested in them (closes 19th February) and not only because of the lifetime 20% off I now get on their website. I’ve yet to find one of their beers that I didn’t actively like and am, so far, very much enjoying the [...]

It’s snowy outside, I’m home from work early as I left at lunchtime to avoid London’s broken trains, a case of beer has arrived at work containing the selection of beverages I chose for my step-brother’s Christmas present and the backup Christmas pressie beers were sitting on the side at home looking at me. What [...]

It is common knowledge that the Americans cannot make beer, producing nothing but Bud, Coors Lite and other assorted sex-in-a-canoe fizzy yellow beverages. It is also common knowledge that all Brits have bad teeth, bowler hats and say ‘Cheers!’ at every opportunity.
I really like a lot of american beer. Outside of the mass-market brews, just [...]

Christmas is traditionally a time of over indulgence and I am far from being someone who wants to buck tradition (any excuse). There may have been turkey, pies, bologneses and casseroles over the festive period, but much more importantly there has been booze. Here’s what I’ve been drinking:
Beer
My friend Mr Utobeer came through for me [...]

Being a whisky fan as well as a lover of scottish beer (of which there are increasingly more and more good examples of) this jumped out when I heard it was appearing – a Harviestoun beer matured in casks that had previously held Highland Park whisky. The SMWS got a few bottles in for general [...]

I seem to have a habit of being introduced to beers by other people and this one is no different – Cantillon Gueuze.

I had a large bottle of this brought back for me by former flatmates (and now landlords…) Dave’n’Let, who listed the brewery tour and Gueuze museum as one of the highlights of their [...]

There are certain beers that I have quite serious troubles describing. “It’s like an regular Fuller’s beer but with porridge in” (Fuller’s Red Fox), “It’s like a glass of really hard water, Soda Streamed with the finest bubbles ever created and then magically turned into a lightly flavoured lager” (Kasteel Cru), “It’s like someone has [...]