HB&B Blog — Pale ale

Fundamentals #137 - Elusive Brewing Brave Noise West Coast Pale Ale

Brave Noise Elusive Brewing maa Matthew Curtis Pale ale West Coast IPA

Fundamentals #137 - Elusive Brewing Brave Noise West Coast Pale Ale

It began with a simple question. When brewer Brienne Allan asked on her Instagram stories “Have you ever experienced sexism in the beer industry?”, responses, largely from women and non-binary folks, came in their thousands. It caused a shockwave that has been described as a “reckoning”, revealing a seedy underbelly of sexism and, in some of the worst cases, abuse that has been occurring in the beer industry all over the world. In the UK, diversity in the beer industry has improved over the past few years, albeit at a slower pace than it should. A new wave of craft breweries has...

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Fundamentals #128 — Azvex Hotel Tickets Pale Ale

Azvex Liverpool Matthew Curtis Pale ale

Fundamentals #128 — Azvex Hotel Tickets Pale Ale

The last time I was in Liverpool was on St Patrick's Day. In this city – known by some as the second capital of Ireland – it hits a little differently. The (simplified, as this is a beer review, not a history lesson) reason for this is due to the city having deep Irish connections, as many people emigrated from the Emerald Isle in the 1900s and settled in the city. It means that when St Paddy’s Day comes around, you not only have plenty of locals getting on it and celebrating their roots, but a large number of people also...

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Fundamentals #127 — Burnt Mill Glow State NE Pale Ale

Burnt Mill Fundamentals Matthew Curtis Pale ale Suffolk

Fundamentals #127 — Burnt Mill Glow State NE Pale Ale

I don’t know if you saw the news, but the other day, the Queen died. I am no royalist – quite the opposite, in fact – but when the news broke, I couldn’t look away from my TV for several hours. A momentous event indeed. The reaction was fascinating to me too - as fascinating as it was, well, weird. And when the going gets weird, in my experience the best thing to do is head to the fridge and grab a cold beer. My fridge is well stocked. I write about beer for a living after all, but I’m also...

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Fundamentals #114 – Howling Hops System Auto DDH Pale Ale

Fundamentals Howling Hops London Matthew Curtis Pale ale

Fundamentals #114 – Howling Hops System Auto DDH Pale Ale

One of the greatest things about relocating to the northwest of England has been the shift in perspective it’s given me.  As a former Londoner of 15 years, my time there shaped my view of the UK, and that includes its beer culture. It’s fair to say that being immersed in the explosion of London breweries that emerged over the past decade (increasing from just 10 to over 140 in that time) gave me plenty to be excited about. Dare I say it, I might have even been a little biased towards beer in the capital as a result. Living in...

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Fundamentals 112 - Alpha Delta Xevza Fresh Hopped Pale

Alpha Delta Fundamentals Matthew Curtis Newcastle Pale ale

Fundamentals 112 - Alpha Delta Xevza Fresh Hopped Pale

I awoke on New Year’s Day this year with a strange, slightly unfamiliar sensation in the pit of my stomach, one that took me a few moments to put my finger on. It wasn’t my hangover, I was fully aware of the distress that was bringing me, having decided to venture out the previous evening despite the chaos of the pandemic still swirling. (The right call, as it turned out, the company of close friends and excellent beer proving a real tonic after a miserable few months.) No, this was a positive feeling: optimism. Somehow, despite the relentless news cycle, it’s...

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