Updated 5:08am 20 May 2013

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Richard Fletcher

Amateurs challenge my inner beer snob

GLOATING is a greatly underrated sport. Though most people wouldn’t admit it, there’s something in all of us that enjoys a vague, misplaced feeling of superiority as we watch others flailing and blundering into certain failure.Read

Black Paw Brewery has a touch of the divine

WHEN one of Phil Whitfield’s regular visitors popped into his Black Paw Brewery recently with some news, he knew there’d been a bit of divine intervention at work.Read

Preparing for return of the king

TO put it in a Lord of the Rings setting (and why wouldn’t you), beer is the Aragorn of alcohol when it comes to food matching.Read

Raising a glass or two to welcome summer

A FRIEND once came up with some rather tortuous logic to prove that the good weather – and therefore summer – had arrived, despite the low temperatures and the date on the calendar suggesting otherwise.Read

VIDEO: The Journal Culture Awards 2013

THE Journal's Culture Awards 2013 were held at Durham Cathedral to recognise the very best in the North East arts scene. Read

An impressive array to charm the taste buds at Newcastle Beer Festival

STEREOTYPES of student drinking were forgotten as Northumbria University’s union hosted the 37th Newcastle Beer and Cider Festival.Read

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies - GALLERY

Margaret Thatcher has died. The former Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher died today from a stroke.Read

Local brews return to Newcastle Beer Festival

WHAT are your favourite beers? Most of us have probably idly decided our top brews we can’t live without, or that we’d want with us if we were stranded on a desert island, but the contemplation most likely doesn’t stretch beyond the top five or 10.Read

Raise a glass to the Chancellor for beer duty cut

I’M looking forward to taking advantage of the new offer on beer that was announced by Chancellor George Osborne yesterday – buy 350 pints, get one free.Read

Experienced brewer is a man who knows his craft

AS I sit wondering how to begin a column about Out There Brewing Company, the more recent addition to the Ouseburn brewing scene, I feel spoilt for choice.Read

Docking in at The Schooner in Gateshead

SEARCHING through The Journal archives, I can only dig out a handful of pictures of The Schooner pub, Gateshead; the oldest is from the 1970s, while the other few are all 1990s. Strange, for a pub that is probably one of the oldest in the town.Read

Friends steam ahead with brewing venture

IT’S always fascinating hearing brewers’ stories about how they started off. For many, it’s a chance to become their own boss, or the perfect use of redundancy money, or simply the natural conclusion to a lifelong passion for beer, less concerned with the profit than the art.Read

Searching for clear answer to unfined beer debate

IMAGINE you’re listening to Radio 5 Live’s phone-in show Your Call. Presenter Nicky Campbell brays into the mic as the excitable 5 Live jingle fades out.Read

A true flavour of things to come

WITH the announcement of the winners of CAMRA’s Tyneside and Northumberland Pub of the Year competition, there are four deserving winners ... and four different back-stories of hard work and dedication to the pub trade.Read

Plenty of appetite for winter beer festival

BEAMISH Hall is used to organising successful events, but even they must be impressed by how well-received their event this weekend has been.Read

Beer is ‘write’ stuff for a get-together

HAVE you ever tried writing after drinking? There’s allegedly been some research by some science-types at Albion College, Michigan which showed that being drunk actually helps the creative process.Read

Merry Christmas to one and ale

AT THIS time of year I often hear people saying they don’t feel Christmassy ... that they’re not getting that buzz of festive anticipation. But I think they’re looking in the wrong place.Read

Coppers 8til8 craft beer hub a dream come true

WHEN I was young, my poor mum and dad used to despair when Christmas rolled around.Read

How Newcastle Brown Ale earned its stripes in America

I ALWAYS enjoy a bit of schadenfreude watching singers trying and failing to “crack the US”, their egos popping on the barbed wire of America’s closed, saturated market.Read

City's pride in Newcastle Brown Ale on 85th anniversary - GALLERY

NEWCASTLE Brown Ale inspires strong passions, good or bad. Distress at the move of brewing to Tadcaster or pride at the Newcastle name being seen around the world.Read

Author Profile

Richard Fletcher is a reporter at The Journal, Chronicle and Sunday Sun. Richard mainly works on the Northumberland websites. He loves nothing more than a cheeky bit of community news.

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