Anthony Gladman

I had a few hours to kill in Prague recently before my flight back to the UK. What to do? A museum perhaps?
As if.
No, I went to the pub. Three, in fact, all very different, and I found myself wondering what it was they had in common — and whether there were any lessons for British pubs to be found in Czech beer culture.
The first I visited was Lokál: it’s a pretty obvious stop for anyone after the Czech beer experience. Expect pints of Pilsner Urquell served up alongside beef broth and goula...

Poor Calvados. Such a pleasure and yet so forgotten, so left behind. How did this come to pass?
For the past few decades its story was one of neglect. After a long, slow decline, le calva finally sank into the tar pit during the 1990s when the multinationals sold up and siphoned their money over to Cognac. Two French conglomerates were left to dominate production, both content to flog on the cheap to French and German supermarkets. The remaining producers — mostly tiny and traditional — didn’...

It’s October 2022 and I’m en route to Kortrijk – or Courtrai, if you prefer – on a journey long delayed by the pandemic. The first ever Oud Bruin festival, devised and hosted by Brouwerij ‘t Verzet, is finally going ahead and I aim to explore the style in closer detail. It’s not a beer you see much in the UK. I have an idea of what I’m in for: beers that are darkish, tart and tannic. My understanding grows fuzzy around the edges though. Why are some called red and some brown? Is there really a difference?

What is it about the USA that means everything there has to be… more? My first night in Washington DC is lit by dramatic lightning, washed by intense rain, and watered by amazing beer. I’m exhausted from my journey but excited to be there. As first nights in a new city go, this one will be pretty hard to beat.
After a long day of travel, the first drink to wet my lips is a margarita in a Mexican restaurant called Oyamel. It goes well with ceviche and tacos, but it’s mainly just fuel to power ...

In every back office of every distillery across the country, and around the world, spreadsheets show the same thing: making spirits has become a lot more expensive.

The festival bills itself as an American craft beer and food experience. 2022 was its first year after a pause for the pandemic. Anthony Gladman asks whether it managed to dish up the goods.

Where would we be without bottles? This thought comes to me as I labour my way up a heather-clad peak to a granite outcrop, holding a freshly poured martini. An empty glass and full bottles of its constituent parts would have made my task much simpler. Still, I reach the top without spilling any of my drink and raise a toast as the sun dipped below the Cheviot Hills.
It is not my first martini of the day. In fact, by this point, I am no longer entirely sure what I am toasting. Juniper. The re...

By using algae to turn CO2 into oxygen and biomass, breweries of all sizes
may soon be able to turn a harmful greenhouse emission into valuable byproducts that can open up secondary income streams.

Many small breweries — the sort who often like to shout about how sustainable they are — have a dirty secret. They’re bubbling carbon dioxide off into the atmosphere every time they brew.
Brewing releases carbon dioxide mainly during fermentation but also at other stages along the way, notably during bottling or canning. Brewers usually think about beer in hectolitres, which are units of 100 litres to you and me. Fermenting one of those to 4% ABV creates about 4kg of carbon dioxide.
You might...

London, for all its size and caliber, does surprisingly poorly by its cider drinkers. Thankfully there are people pushing to improve this. Take Felix Nash, founder of The Fine Cider Company, who recently reopened the London Cider House in the city’s legendary food-and-drink mecca, Borough Market.
The London Cider House offers a wide range of ciders and perries by the glass—either on tap or from one of the many bottles that line its walls. This project is a collaboration between Nash and cider...

The gin market is awash with hundreds of brands all jostling to get in on its seemingly never-ending boom. In the U.K. alone there are now 820 gin distilleries, but only a handful of these work through the whole production process from grain to glass. Most Gs awaiting the splash of T — from small, boutiquey brands up to some of the world’s best-known gins — are built on base alcohol bought in bulk. Their marketing may gush about artisan this and locally foraged that, but the botanicals are ju...

Why do we drink? Yes, I know there are lots of reasons, but if you had to pick just one what would it be? I’m betting most of you would say it’s to have fun with friends, and you’d be right. With the world as it is, we could all do with some fun. So the next question then is what kind of drinking is the most fun? Let me tell you: it’s pub crawls. Knock that drink back and I’ll tell you why as we walk to the next bar.
A pub crawl turns any evening out into an occasion. There’s an idea in films...

I like to daydream sometimes about a cellar of my own, a perfect place to spend time among my collection of cool and quietly ageing bottles of beer, the fruit of many years' thought and care.

It would have whitewashed walls and a ceiling of vaulted stone. Plain bulbs would light my way up and down its rows of shelves. Near the entrance would be room enough for a table and a few chairs. Nothing fancy, just wooden furniture, plain but well made. Nearby, a sideboard in which to keep glasses, bot...

January is a bad month for beer. Brewers take a breather after the Christmas rush. Bottle shops often close for a spell as there aren’t enough punters to open for. Pubs feel eery and subdued. If you’re not doing Dry January there’s a dearth of interesting beer to enjoy. Even in the best of times — and I don’t think many of us would claim 2022 to be that — the year opens as if with a tawdry hangover.
Beer’s malaise seemed to start a little sooner this time around, like an early-evening slump t...

London was a city in denial about the pandemic heading its way in February 2020, and I was one of too many bodies crammed into a tiny craft beer bar-cum-bottle shop. I forget now quite why we had gathered there so recklessly. Perhaps it was just a Friday night. But I do recall the beer I drank, a collaboration Best Bitter from London’s Boxcar Brewery and Gloucestershire’s Mills Brewing, 4.6% ABV, in a 440ml (15oz) can. It was the last beer I drank outside my own home for more than six months....