Beer Geek | Beer Blog Beer Reviews & Bar/Pub Reviews

I started this blog to avoid writing about beer over on my food blog. But every now and again I attend an event and can’t decide where best to put it. As happened recently when I was invited to a ‘Food Pairing Dinner’ at Ibérica, Spinningfields. I’ve covered Ibérica a couple of time over there but since this event was hosted by ...

If you blink in Manchester these days there’s every chance you’ll miss a new restaurant or bar pop up. Though most recent openings have been so boring you might be doing yourself a favour. One that I was eagerly anticipating for much of last year, however, was Cafe Beermoth. The long rumoured bar from the guys behind Northern Quarter bottleshop ...

I decided to take a short break from blogging last month so didn’t add to this ongoing series. Most of the ‘Best Beers I Drank In DECEMBER 2015‘ were covered in these three posts though: Mikkeller Julepakkekalender 2015 (Advent Calendar), To Øl – To Ølekalender 2015 (Advent Calendar), The Twelve Beers Of Christmas (#12BeersofXmas). I haven’t gone in for any ...

For my first Christmas as a beer blogger,q I wanted to showcase some of the special beers that I’d saved for the festive period. After spending ages thinking about how to go about it, I realised that just like when I found out that ‘Golden Pints’ already exist, there’s also an established format in the beer blogging community. ‘Twelve Beers ...

When I started this beer blog a few months ago I intended my end of year post to follow the same format as the ‘Food Geek Awards’ over on my food blog. But that was before I know ‘Golden Pints’ were already a thing in the beer blogging community. I thought long and hard about whether to stick with my ...

Over the last couple of years To Øl, the gypsy brewer from Copenhagen have become my favourite international brewery. Replacing Mikkeller, with whom there are a lot of similarities in both the style of beers they produce and the way they produce them. It’s not surprising really since Tobias and Tore of To Øl and Mikkel of Mikkeller were friends ...

I decided I wanted a ‘beer advent calendar’ this year. But after being frustrated at the lack of quality in the UK options (a definite gap in the market), I looked further afield. As soon as I saw Mikkeller were doing one, a ‘Julepakkekalender’, I had to get it. It arrived in plenty of time but I was a little disappointed with ...

With all the beer related events, pub/bar reviews and my regular monthly ‘best of’ roundup, it’s been a while since there was an actual beer review around here. What better way to resolve that than with the UK’s #1 beer on Ratebeer.com and the only UK beer currently in the World Top 50. Beer: Old Chimneys Good King Henry Special Reserve (2013 Vintage) ...

After a ridiculous beer filled October I planned on taking it easy in November, expecting a quiet month before the Christmas madness began. But it didn’t quite turn out that way; with several visits to the likes of BrewDog, Port Street and Magic Rock Tap along with some stunning bottles, both at home and at a bottle share with a bunch ...

After a week of fairly average beer in Verona and around Lake Garda I couldn’t wait to get to Venice. I’d spent a reasonable amount of time researching the best craft beer spots in the city. It wasn’t as easy as I expected, but I came up with a pretty good list of places to visit. Unfortunately, a change in plans ...

I’ve not counted but I almost certainly drank more beers in October 2015 than any other month of my life. Mainly because it was festival season; the month started with three days at Indy Man Beer Con and ended with two days at Salford Independent Beer Festival. There was also Bolton beer festival in between along with BrewDog’s CollabFest, and somehow lots ...

Last year’s Indy Man Beer Con was probably my favourite weekend of 2014. It genuinely blew my mind, totally shattered my perception of beer festivals and left me feeling I’d never be able to enjoy another as much again.blo So in June when tickets went on sale for this years event I immediately snapped them up – for three different sessions – ...

It was a particular challenge not to let this list be dominated by two fantastic events I attended in September: Leeds International Beer Festival and The Rainbow Project Northern Launch at Magic Rock Tap. They were both so good but I drank plenty of other great beer too, so I’ve limited them to just a few places each on this list. ...

The Rainbow Project began in 2013 when seven of the UK’s best breweries each brewed a beer inspired by a colour of the rainbow. In 2014 the UK breweries were paired with a European counterpart to create a collaboration rainbow beer, while this year saw them each paired with a top US brewery. I missed it completely the first time around ...

I said that Indy Man Beer Fest had ruined all other beer festivals for me. I was wrong. That was before I knew about Leeds International Beer Festival. It was a warm and sunny early September day and I’d just come back from eight days in Northern Italy, where besides one amazing day in Venice I’d been stuck with fairly average ...