A slightly different show this week as we take a look back at the last few weeks of beery adventures that we’ve had. We also round up a few polls and really get stuck into our listener comments.

Beers | Ampersand ‘Umlat’, ‘Cocow’, ‘Farmhand’ & ‘Hopwell’ and Grain ‘Slate’ & ‘Lignum Vitae’

Hopinions | Collaborations, Pumpkin Beers & If a brewery or beer has won awards are you more likely to buy their beers?

Many thanks the folks from Ampersand and Grain for sending over a selection of beers for us to try. This didn’t influence our thoughts on the beer. Thanks also to Liquorice in Shenfield for letting us use their tasting room to record this week

This week we’re joined by Jonny from Cave Direct to talk us through a beginners guide to loving Belgian beer. We also chat about crowd funding in the modern beer scene and Cantillon’s recent announcement.

Beers | Elusive Brewing ‘Plan B’, Brasserie de la Senne ‘Taras Boulba’, Unity Brewing ‘Coalescence Saison’, Brasserie Dupont ‘Saison Dupont’, Brew By Numbers ’14|04′, Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle ‘Westmalle Trappist Tripel’, Lost & Grounded ‘No Rest For Dancers’, De Halve Maan ‘Brugse Zot Dubbel’ & Brouwerij De Dolle Brouwers ‘Arabier’

Hopinions | Crowdfunding in beer?

Links | Pete McKerry’s view on crowd funding | The Beer Podcast Ep 04 | Invest in Beer Merchants here

Drink Along | Thanks to Beer Merchants for giving us the beer for this weeks show, which you can buy from their site here to drink along with us. Use ‘BOS2017’ for an extra 10% off at checkout.

We’re really grateful to Brewdog Shoreditch for helping us out with the space for recording this weeks show. Next time you’re in the area, make sure to pop in for a beer.

In the second half of the Midlands Special, we continue chatting to the folks behind the Midlands Beer Blog.

Beers | Twisted Barrel ‘Wake Up Juicy’, Fixed Wheel ‘Big Mig’ & Fownes ‘King Korvak’s Saga’

Hopinions | What makes a place a great beery destination?

Links | Part I of the Midlands Special | Midlands Beer Blog

Many thanks to the Midlands Beer Blog for arranging the venue for this podcast and to all of the breweries involved who gave their beers for free. As always this didn’t impact on our views of the beers we tried.

We sat down with Rich from Burning Soul to talk about winning the Thirsty Games at Indy Man, starting a new brewery and the beer scene in the Midlands.