It’s that time of the year once again, and you can bet we’re making our lists and checking them twice. 

In what feels like a breakout year for Pellicle, join our editor-in-chief Matthew Curtis and deputy editor Katie Mather as they chew through the year that was. There’s plenty of reflection on the magazine itself, as well as space for discussing some of the bigger topics in beer and cider for 2024. This includes some healthy conversation about the rise of Guinness and the trad pub ‘revival’, plus a nod to Thornbridge and Epochal Brewery taking on Burton Union Sets from Carlsberg. The pair also discuss the pressing issue of DEI in beer, before looking ahead to the new year.

Thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in to The Pellicle Podcast this year. We’ve managed to publish 19 episodes—our most in a calendar year ever—and have produced some of our favourite episodes to date. If you’re new to the podcast, do dig into our back catalogue as there are some absolute gems in our archive. A special thanks to our podcast sponsor Loughran Brewers Select, and to our wonderful Patreon supporters for giving us the resources to bring our magazine and podcast to life. Merry Christmas to you, one and all!

This episode is dedicated to our dearly missed friend and peer Susanna Forbes. 

IPAs. We love to hate them. We love to love them. It’s fair to say that the darling of modern beer has, over the past 10 or 20 years, been discussed to death. But we felt there was life in the old dog yet. That’s why at FyneFest earlier this year we hosted a panel discussion to talk about the present and future of the IPA with two breweries who are pushing the envelope as far as this category is concerned.

Matt Dutton is the head brewer at Manchester’s Track Brewing, one of the innovators at the forefront when it comes to utilising the latest hop technology. Coming from a background as an award-winning homebrewer, Matt has led the brewing team at Track for the past eight years, and is in charge of ensuring every pint of Sonoma, Half Dome, or whatever weekly special happens to be pouring at their taproom tastes as good as it possibly can.

We know Track means business too, as we brewed one of our fifth anniversary beers with them, a resolutely modern IPA that we called Optimism Forever. This provided a perfect stepping off point for us to chat about how modern brewing techniques and technology are ensuring there’s still plenty of ground to cover when it comes to experimentation and flavour within the IPA category.

Our second panelist is Vik Stronge, who long time Pellicle Podcast listeners might remember from previous episodes where she appeared as strategy manager of Huddersfield's Magic Rock Brewery. Since then Vik has moved on from Magic Rock, teaming up with her husband and experienced brewer to form their own brewery: Lost Cause. With both Vik and Colin’s extremely high brewing pedigree you’d expect greatness out of the gate from these two, and that’s exactly what we’ve been served so far. 

During this panel Vik discusses the use of new hop varieties and how they are helping Lost Cause to define itself as a brewery. We taste its IPA, Love You, Bye, which is hopped with a recently developed proprietary hop variety from Indie Hops in Oregon, USA, that tastes like cloudy lemonade on a hot summer's day. It’s vibrant, electric and proof positive that there’s plenty of exciting hop flavours still out there for us drinkers to experience and enjoy. All of which is discussed in this podcast episode.

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

What do you think of when you think about a pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord? Is it a seamless marriage of hop, malt, yeast and water? Or is it perhaps the pristine vistas offered by the hills and dales of Yorkshire? God’s Own Country they call it, modestly. Maybe it’s about that duff pint you had in a random Soho pub that tasted of idleness and regret? All three perspectives are valid.

There is a lot that goes into the production, consumption and (potentially) enjoyment of this near universally acknowledged and appreciated beer. One that is the second largest cask beer by both volume and value in the United Kingdom, neatly behind the ubiquitous Doom Bar from the Molson Coors-owned Sharp’s (which also makes Landlord the largest independently produced cask beer in the UK.) 19 million pints of this pale, Yorkshire bitter are supped, swilled and scoffed at every single year. That’s quite a feat, when you think about it. 

It is these reasons that stimulated our latest long read: A Polyptych of a Pint, by Rachel Hendry. As a feature it is one that came into being thanks to a little bit of serendipity. While Rachel and I were wrapping up the production of an earlier piece she wrote for us on the history of Babycham, at the end of an email she opted to include a couple of sentences that indicated she wished to write about Landlord. By coincidence I had also been sitting on the open offer of a tour at the brewery, and suggested she might like to join me, as research on her yet-to-be feature began in earnest. 

That tour was led by the current CEO of Timothy Taylor’s, Tim Dewey. An ex-spirits man who formerly led marketing at brands like Smirnoff and Drambuie, he’s sat in the big chair at Taylor’s for over a decade now, and announced his impending retirement earlier this year. More serendipity, then, in that Rachel and I were lucky enough to catch Tim before he started to enjoy a well-earned retirement.

In this episode join Rachel Hendry and Matthew Curtis as we chat to Timothy Taylor’s CEO Tim Dewey about all things Landlord. Find out why it's one of the most well loved, and indeed, talked about (and argued over) cask beers in the country in this must-listen-to episode of our podcast.

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

It always brings me great joy to publish the recordings of the panel discussions we have at FyneFest each year. This year’s were our best and busiest yet, with our new Origins Tent making our small portion of the festival feel more accessible and welcoming than ever before. Thanks to everyone that came down, and if you enjoy the sound of this, then head to fynefest.com this week to secure your tickets to next year's festival. We’ll be back again, hosting more talks and tastings just like this one!

Speaking of which, this has to be one of the most fun, most bonkers discussions we’ve had so far. The premise was a simple one: We talked up our favourite traditional beer styles. Styles like bitter, mild, porter, stout and old ale. A simple premise, really, but one that proved to be really effective. Traditional beer styles and cask dispense are having what feels like a moment right now, so here’s hoping this turns out to be the beginning of something lasting, rather than a flash in the pan.

Huge thanks again to our panellists, Jamie Delap of Fyne Ales, Bob Cary of Good Chemistry Brewing and Russ Clarke of Amity Brewing. Thanks also to Aidy Fenwick of Fyne Ales for helping us to organise these talks, and for running samples to our (very) thirsty audience. 

A last note: instead of publishing all five talks we recorded at FyneFest in one go, this time we’re going to intersperse them between regular episodes. We hope this will keep things feeling a bit fresher (and it also means you won’t be waiting as long for some of the fantastic interviews we’ve been recording to come out.) We hope you enjoy listening, and if you’re enjoying the Pellicle podcast be sure to subscribe and leave a rating in your streaming app of choice, and tell some friends about us!

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

I used to be a bit of a stickler when it came to low and no alcohol beer—because it didn’t really fit into my lifestyle at the time, I didn’t see the point of it. 

These days, however, I’ve not only accepted that it’s important to see more alcohol free beer on the bar, but believe its increasing availability is a net positive to beer culture as a whole. Not only does it give people who don’t drink alcohol the chance to enjoy beer, but it allows people to curate their habits, whether that’s to drink more mindfully, or cut down on the units in certain situations or at certain times of the year.

Most importantly, I believe the increasing availability of good quality alcohol free beer opens up beer and pub culture to more people. And more people choosing to socialise and spend time in pubs is something that all of us should be celebrating. With a greater number of good quality draught low and now alcohol beer options coming to the market, this is a trend I expect to continue.

One of the breakout low and no alcohol beer brands of the past few years is Milford, Connecticut’s Athletic Brewing Company. Established in 2017 by Bill Shufelt and John Walker, in just seven short years it’s grown to have multiple brewing sites, release well over 100 different beers—all low/no—and attain a market valuation of a staggering $800 million. They’ve even opened a taproom, which brings a beer experience most of us take for granted to a much wider range of people.

While alcohol free beer is growing in the US beer market, it’s not doing so quite as quickly as it is in the UK, where there seems to be less remaining stigma around alcohol free beer. As a result, Bill spends a fair amount of time in the UK as he helps to steward the growth of his brand over here. Most recently, Athletic has partnered with Arsenal Football Club as an official drinks partner, providing further mainstream exposure for a brand that shows no signs of slowing down.

In this brand new episode of the Pellicle Podcast I caught up with Athletic Brewing Company’s co-founder Bill Shufelt during SIBA’s Beer X conference in Liverpool. We chatted about, among other things, the stratospheric growth of his brewery, their approach to producing their alcohol free products, and why the UK is a crucial market for low alcohol brands. If you’re keen to understand the dynamic alcohol free beer market, then this episode is a must-listen.

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

I was once a craft beer evangelist. I believed it was the future, and the past was dead in the water. That past, to me, was over a century of British brewing tradition: bitter, mild, porter. I was ready for the global Americanisation of beer culture—double dry hopped everything. 

But I was wrong, and eventually I realised that. Craft beer was not new, not a revolution, not the sea change of an entire culture I, for some reason, longed for, just the continuation of a thing that already existed: beer. 

I have realised there are much more important things within beer culture than craft beer: independent beer, well made beer, ethical beer, beer that gives a shit, delicious beer. All of this is more important than ever trying to define it, and always will be. 

In this, the last of our podcasts to be recorded at IndyManBeerCon 2023, I speak with some fellow beer industry lifers about craft beer, and what it means for us now. With huge thanks to our guests: Cath Potter of CAMRA, Lauren Soderberg then of Port Street Beer House and now of Deya Brewery, and James Campbell of Sureshot Brewery. 

Please enjoy this conversation as we try to untangle “craft beer” and then let us never speak of it again. Good beer will always be there for us, and perhaps it doesn’t need to be anything more than that. 

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

Since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent cost of living crisis, the UK has experienced the closure, or change in ownership of nearly 200 small, independent breweries. Prior to that, however, we saw a boom, growing from just over 700 in 2013, to more than 2000 at the start of 2020.

Around 700 of these breweries are members of SIBA, the Society for Independent Brewers and Associates. In March 2024, our host Matthew Curtis visited its annual trade show, Beer X, in Liverpool, and wandered the trade floor asking members two simple questions: what’s the biggest challenge facing their business at the moment, and what’s one thing they’re feeling positive about when it comes to beer and brewing.

It seems like a simple premise, but it revealed that while the industry is still facing hardships—illustrated by that decrease in overall brewery numbers—there’s still plenty to smile about. Independent beer, it seems, still has plenty of fight left in it, and that’s something all drinkers should take to heart. 

This episode features, in order of appearance: Catherine Webber (Attic Brew Co), Charlotte Thomson (Indie Rabble/A Hoppy Place), Paul Jones (Cloudwater), Sean O'Reilly (Brids Cross Brewery), Steve Dunkley (Beer Nouveau), Laura Rangeley (Abbeydale), Julie and Les O'Grady (Neptune), Richard Archer (Utopian Brewing), Cameron Brown (Turning Point Brew Co) and Sam Martin (Leigh on Sea Brewery).

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

Yeast so often plays third fiddle in the conversation about beer, and how it’s made. It never quite shares the limelight with hops, the most glamorous beer ingredient, and to some extent malt. And yet, it’s one of the most fascinating elements within beer's makeup. In this episode we chat to Alix Blease of Lallemand, and dig into the importance of yeast in brewing.

There’s a saying some brewers like to peddle, not to mention Alix herself in this episode: “brewers make wort, yeast makes beer.” It’s a statement I’ve never been inclined to agree with, because—as we learn in this episode—there are so many factors that can implement the fermentation process, and it is brewers, or cellar managers as they’re typically referred to in a brewery, who control these various processes. 

Simple adjustments such as temperature, the size and shape of a particular fermentation vessel, and indeed the strain of yeast (or yeasts) itself will have wildly different influences on a particular beer's fermentation. Through the careful stewardship of their yeast, brewers can influence a variety of flavours and other characteristics that contribute hugely to the finished beer in your glass.

Maybe, then, I can agree in part that the yeast does make the beer, but it wouldn’t be able to do so without those who steward it. Perhaps, in terms of fermentation, it’s more useful to describe brewers as shepherds, or perhaps yeast wranglers, who give these little critters the best possible chance to make a beer you and I will enjoy. In this episode, we learn why all of this is so important, and talk about some interesting developments in the future of yeast science, and how this will influence modern beer production.

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

How does the beer industry navigate a cost of living crisis? In a panel discussion recorded at IndyManBeerCon 2023, Jonny Hamilton chats to Phil Sisson from Glasgow’s Simple Things Fermentation, Julie O’Grady from Neptune Brewery in Liverpool and Toby McKenzie from RedWillow Brewery in Macclesfield to find out how the financial squeeze is affection small breweries, and their customers. 

I’m sure most of you have felt the pinch by now: you want to get a big haul in from that local bottle shop, but instead you opt for a couple of specials and a case of something reliable from the supermarket. That expensive third of DIPA looks tempting, but it’s your round and you’ll settle on a pint of something lower in ABV, and much more affordable.

The cost of living crisis has most of us feeling the squeeze. Rising energy bills, the cost of groceries, and the general expense of merely existing has had most of us making small changes to our lives, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. 

Small breweries, too, are feeling the pinch. For many it’s simply too much and since the Covid-19 pandemic close to 200 small breweries in the UK have either shut down, or found new investment, or even new owners to help them steer through the financial mire. This has a knock on effect for customers, not simply pushing up the cost of beer, but shattering the amount of choice. You only have to step inside your nearest hostelry to see that a handful of mass produced brands occupy the taps. 

There’s hope though, which can be heard in the tone taken by our host and three panellists in this episode of our podcast, all of whom own and work at small breweries in the UK. Sure, there’s a sense of realism throughout, but there’s also a sense that if they’ve made it this far, they might as well keep on going. For beer’s sake, as much of their own.

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.

We were deeply saddened to hear that our peers at Good Beer Hunting would be closing their publication. In this episode Matthew shares some thoughts on GBH's significance, and why its more important than ever to support independent beer writing.