HB&B Blog

Every so often I encounter a beer that challenges my own logic. In my book, Modern British Beer, I devised a philosophy I call the Broad Spectrum of Joy in which I pose that all beers are valid, because someone, somewhere, enjoys them. Shitty macro lagers are valid. Hazy IPAs are valid. Funky geuzes are valid. Hell, even 15% pastry-stouts-that-taste-like-vape-juice are valid. The whole point of a beer existing is for enjoyment, so if someone enjoys it then you absolutely have no right to take that away from them. But here I am with a can of guava, mango, passion fruit, marshmallow and lactose beer...

According to Sheffield brewery St Mars of the Desert, Làska means love in Czech. It’s also the name of its latest lager, and trust me when I say this lager is definitely for lovers. I have shared my own love for this exceptional beer producer many times, often in my Instagram posts, and at length in a profile of the brewery I penned for my magazine Pellicle back at the start of 2021. There’s something undeniably wonderful about this brewery who’s name has been shortened by fans and locals to simply “Smod”. And it’s true that every time you drink one...

This month, I was reminded that cheeseburger dumplings exist. I was spending an evening aimlessly browsing Instagram’s hollow wares, and suddenly, there they were: making an appearance in a post shared by J Kenji López-Alt, a cross-section photo revealing their bellies full of melting cheese and beef fat. It was enough to arrest me mid-scroll. Cheeseburger dumplings have actually been on my to-cook list for several years, ever since I read about the ones at Mimi Cheng’s in New York City. As others noted in the comments under López-Alt’s post, Chinese restaurants in the US have long made them as a way to appease picky customers....

Lewes, nestled among the rolling hills of the South Downs National Park, is a pub town. In fact, it’s one of my favourite places to go drinking on the entire planet, and I make the effort to try and get down there at least once a year. I like to start in the Rights of Man, one of four hostelries in town owned by Harvey’s Brewery, which has its production facility (referred to by locals as “The Cathedral”, which becomes obvious when you see it) right in the centre of town. This is a pub of two halves; downstairs, it’s a...

Seasonal transitions are my favourite time of year, and I love it as spring slowly and inexorably flows like warm syrup into the humid and fecund days of June. The still-cool nights are punctuated by washes of sun, and everywhere I go I’m overwhelmed by musky elderflowers and the pollen that collects in the back of my throat. All I want to eat is dribbling peaches over the sink and buy punnets of cherries to pick at, but seasonally I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s just that when summer arrives, I just want to unhinge my jaw and take it...