Are traditional styles such as bitter and mild fuelling a genuine resurgence in the cask ale category? Is premiumisation the answer to saving the ailing sector? In our final panel discussion from FyneFest 2022 we discuss our beloved cask ale, with enlightening (and often hilarious) results.

In our third instalment of discussions from the 2022 edition of FyneFest, we’re talking barrel aged beers, and more importantly: who’s buying them? Our panel featuring Toby McKenzie of RedWillow, Dave McHardy of Fierce Beer, and Lee Grabham of Brew York discuss their barrel ageing aspirations with host Matthew Curtis.

Welcome back to our series of panel discussions from FyneFest 2022. This week we’re discussing mental health, and how we can be more mindful of our approach to supporting it within the brewing industry. Our panel features Miranda Hudson of Duration Brewing, Vik Stronge of Magic Rock, and Dominic Driscoll of Thornbridge. CW: this discussion includes depression and alcoholism.

Happy new year and welcome back to The Pellicle Podcast. This year we’re planning to publish more episodes than ever before, giving the show some proper momentum at last. We’re starting by publishing the panel talks we recorded during FyneFest 2022—the annual festival organised by Fyne Ales—kicking off with an in-depth discussion with the brewery’s managing director Jamie Delap. We’ll be publishing these talks in their entirety this January.

Welcome to our annual podcast where we celebrate some of the best beers, w̶i̶n̶e̶s̶ and ciders we’ve enjoyed over the past twelve months. Join Matthew as he recounts some memorable pubs and pints, before handing out a few awards, including our cidermaker of the year, brewery of the year, new brewery of the year, and the all-important beer of the year.

Matthew heads to Birmingham for this week's episode where he meets the folks from Stirchley’s Glasshouse Beer Co. Their hour-long chat covers everything from Birmingham’s place within the UK’s beer scene, to Glasshouse’s influences as a brewery, and the recent reckoning in the beer industry related to allegations of sexism and workplace abuse.

Just how badly will the cost of living crisis damage the beer and pub industry? In this episode Matthew examines these struggles from the perspective of both his confidence and his paranoia, while also heading up to Kendal to interview William Burgess of Cumbria’s Gan Yam Brew Co.

Is small batch barley malt, cultivated by local farmers, and malted by small producers local to those farms the future of craft beer? In this episode Matthew meets Chris Schooley, co-founder of Colorado’s Troubadour Maltings, and discusses the importance of connecting beer back to its agriculture, and the latent potential malt inherently possesses.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been asking our regular listeners to send in questions for our host. Listen in as Matthew works his way through these, and uses them as a good excuse to ruminate on the state of the beer industry in general.

In this episode I catch up with Katie Mather, a talented writer, editor, and along with her husband Tom, the owner of an amazing bar in Clitheroe, Lancashire called Corto. In addition to this, she’s also a wonderful friend. Before the interview you can also catch my thoughts on some recent beer news, including on the recently aired BBC documentary about Scottish brewery, BrewDog.

In this annual episode Matthew rifles through an epic list of wonderful beers, wines and ciders he enjoyed the most in 2021, as well as some of the best places in which he enjoyed them.

Matthew reflects on his recent trip to Colorado, before discussing why some beer lovers (himself included) have such a strong emotional response to the news of a brewery acquisition, focussing specifically on the sale of New Belgium to Australian firm Lion in November 2019.

Burning Sky feels to me like a brewery that’s very settled. And that’s saying something after the past two years we’ve all been through. In this episode Matthew chats to its founder and head brewer, Mark Tranter, and talks about his two and a half decade brewing career, as well as what the brewery and its beers mean to him, and what his future plans look like.

In this episode host Matthew Curtis talks at length about his recently released book Modern British Beer, as well as digging into the controversy surrounding Denmark’s Mikkeller Brewing Company, on the eve of its annual festival in Copenhagen.

In this episode Jonny Hamilton chats to illustrator James Albon about the restaurant industry, and his recently released graphic novel The Delicacy.

In this episode Matthew chats to Mayur Patel, Marko Husak and Dan Hocking of Bundobust, a small chain of restaurants based in Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester that pairs Gujurati-style food with a contemporary range of beer. They chat about everything from their brand new brewery and fourth site—due to open on Manchester’s Oxford Street in autumn 2021—and the evolution and culture of Indian food in the UK.

This episode is a particularly self-indulgent one. Join Matthew as he talks about writing, and his process, before he reads his recent profile of Sheffield’s Brewery of St. Mars of the Desert.

Host Matthew Curtis catches up with Paul Jones, owner and founder of Cloudwater Brew Co. in Manchester, to chat about how the brewery has changed since it was founded just over six years ago, the Manchester beer scene, the brewery's activism, recent business decisions, and its delicious beers.

A thought experiement in which host Matthew Curtis tries to figure out if British cider still has an image problem.

It's that time of the year where we're making our lists and checking them twice. No, not for Christmas, but for our annual best-of's! In this drink-along Christmas special, join Matthew as he recounts his favourite beers, wines, ciders and meals of the year over a couple of cans.

Over the past few years the UK's beer industry has been embroiled in debate over whether or not some of its smallest brewers are paying enough tax, and if some of its larger brewers are paying too much. In this episode our host explores his personal feelings on a matter he's spent much of the past three years covering, with few holds barred, and a conclusion that perhaps changes to the duty system should be the least of small brewers concerns.

In this episode, we chat to Alex Troncoso of Lost and Grounded in Bristol, and Katie Pietsch from WhiteFrontier in Switzerland, as we get into conversation about what makes lager so universally appealing, and contemplate why its popularity has been steadily growing among craft beer consumers who typically lean towards American hops, complex sours, and delectably big stouts.

In this episode Jonny Hamilton chats with Khris Johnson from Green Bench in Florida, Andrew Schwartz from Modern Times in San Diego, California and Felix Nash from The Fine Cider Company here in the UK, on what happens when the production of beer, wine and cider are brought together, and what potential experiences does this offers to the curious drinker. This is a fascinating insight into the crossover of beer, wine and cider, and I hope you find this discussion as compelling as I did when I...

In this episode we take great pleasure in chatting to two bonafide industry legends: Doug Odell from Odell Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Paul Wood, now retired but formerly of Manchester’s own JW Lees Brewery. Over the next half hour, we chat about how styles vital to the beer heritage of the United Kingdom such as bitter and mild remain as vital today, and tomorrow, as they’ve always been.

Here’s something a little different for you. The latest episode of our podcast is spoken word recording of our co-founder Matthew Curtis’ popular article on his visit to Russian River’s brewpub in Santa Rosa, California, for a taste of its revered Pliny the Elder at the source. It’s a short episode at just 13 minutes, but one we still hope you’ll enjoy a great deal.