The Pellicle Podcast

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...

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 ent...

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 Associ...

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 li...

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 m...

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. 

Like beer, whisky has always fascinated me. Maybe it’s because, like beer, it’s brewed, and before distillation the resulting wash (the distilling term for wort) undergoes a period of open fermentation, not unlike a wild or mixed fermentation beer. Or maybe it's because it’s simply delicious . Enough so to pique my curiosity and to discover more about how it’s made, and the people who make it. At...

How important is the role of sustainability in brewing? How does beer actually get made sustainably when it’s an incredibly energy-intensive process to actually get your beer from the farm to your glass? And how does the industry avoid greenwashing as it attempts to be more responsible about its impact on our climate and the environment? All these questions and more are answered in our latest podc...

Cast your mind back to February 2021, when I published episode 20 of this podcast . In an effort to experiment with the format of the show, I’d begun recording long monologues loosely based on the idea that I would ask myself a question and try to both answer and contextualise it in under an hour.  One of the first questions I asked myself was “does cider have an image problem?” And, over the cour...

In hindsight, it’s easy to say that when writer David Jesudason pitched me a story on the history and significance of Desi Pubs, I bit his hand off. But reality is never that simple. While it’s true that I was desperate to commission stories by writers from non-white backgrounds, and publish stories that explored previously uncovered elements of British beer culture, I am always wary before I comm...

Please note this is the second part of a two-part episode. Find part one, Episode 50, right here .  There exists a curious tension at Roosters Brewing Company, one that few other breweries have to navigate in terms of both their identity, and their position within the UK beer market.  On the one hand this is a resolutely contemporary brewery, creating modern IPAs as delicious and precise as the ca...

There exists a curious tension at Roosters Brewing Company, one that few other breweries have to navigate in terms of both their identity, and their position within the UK beer market.  On the one hand this is a resolutely contemporary brewery, creating modern IPAs as delicious and precise as the cask ales loved by locals it built its reputation upon. But there’s also the fact that this is a three...

During one of our first ever panel discussions at FyneFest, held way back in 2019, we spoke about the importance of independence in brewing. Not only were the results of the conversation inconclusive, two of the breweries represented in that discussion—Hawkshead and Harbour— have since sold out to larger corporations… With several years having passed since this talk took place, and the brewing lan...

There is no getting away from the fact that producing beer is a hugely energy intensive process. The very nature of brewing requires boiling a huge vat of liquid, which then needs to be cooled quickly, and kept at near freezing temperatures for several weeks. The finished product also needs constant refrigeration if it’s to be kept at its best. Other processes connected to brewing, such as the far...

We can all agree that the last few years have been tough, and as a result, it can be difficult to find the joy in life’s simple pleasures — of which beer is one of the best. The past decade in British brewing has been pretty exhausting, with thousands of newcomers entering the category, many of whom have been in a race to make the haziest, juiciest, pastriest, and most intense beers possible. As a...

Perhaps one of the most exciting things to have happened within the UK brewing industry over the past decade is the birth of modern British lager. Whether they’ve been directly inspired by the brewing traditions of Germany and the Czech Republic, or by more contemporary influences such as the American West Coast, the wealth of great lager beers now produced by British breweries, from Helles, to Ba...

From the pandemic to Brexit, the cost of living crisis has impacted everyone’s pockets. For brewers, the price of beer production is through the roof, with rising ingredient costs and soaring energy bills, everything has become significantly more expensive. Perhaps the greatest challenge, however, is passing this cost onto the consumer. Beer is an egalitarian product, and drinkers have always had...

In a recent team discussion both of our associate editors, Katie Mather and Lily Waite, asked if they could narrate some of their stories for a podcast episode. Long-term listeners will know this is something I experimented with in early episodes, with varying results. I found reading my own stories to be a delight. I felt it gave me the ability to add detail using tone and inflection that might n...

DEYA. It’s spelled in capital letters, a reminder so you can shout its name joyfully from the rooftops. Joy is certainly one thing the Cheltenham based brewery provides in abundance. This is through their carefully put together beers—such as its flagship pale ale Steady Rolling Man—or its vibrantly colourful, energetic, and yet at the same time peaceful taproom. DEYA is a brewery of multiple dispo...

Manchester has a fascinating beer history, stretching back well over two centuries, and into the industrial revolution. What’s remarkable is how that history still influences the northwestern city’s beer culture today, whether via one of its four, storied family brewers like Robinson’s or JW Lees, or one of its modern trailblazers such as Track or Cloudwater.  One of the city’s most unquestionably...

In a British beer market that has expanded rapidly over the previous couple of decades (before grinding to a halt during the current cost of living crisis), finding a point of difference has been vital for these small businesses to succeed. For some it has meant focusing on particular styles, like Hazy IPA, or crisp, refreshing lager. While for others it could have been producing a rock solid hosp...

In the summer of 2022 I had the privilege of escorting Topher Boehm and Chris Allen of Sydney, Australia’s Wildflower Brewing & Blending on a day out in which we enjoyed a few beers in Clitheroe, Lancashire. Topher and Chris were keen to visit Corto after listening to the conversation I had previously published on this very podcast between myself and my friend and colleague, Katie Mather.  As long...

Growing up in the nearby city of Lincoln, in my late teens day trips to nearby Nottingham held a great deal of anticipation and promise. While my hometown felt, in some ways, culturally deficit, Nottingham had it all—namely venues such as Rock City and The Rescue Rooms where I could see the touring bands I loved.  Although, when I eventually moved away from Lincolnshire, so too did I remove myself...

If you've been on Beer Twitter at all recently you’ll have likely noticed our podcast host Matthew Curtis harping on about bitter and mild. Cask beer is something we love at Pellicle and so we were always going to dedicate one of our panel discussions at Fynefest 2022 to this much debated category. Joined by an expert panel including Mark Welsby of Stockport’s Runaway Brewery, Laura Rangeley of Sh...

Over the past couple of decades barrel aged beers have become increasingly popular among craft beer enthusiasts. From intensely flavourful spirit barrel aged strong stouts, to more nuanced and complex sour and wild ales matured in former wine casks, the range of barrel aged beers is as breathtaking as some of the beers which eventually emerge from the barrels themselves. But as the market has beco...