HomeTasteColumnistsAlastair Gilmour

Tyne for a pint

ALE plus arithmetic equals chaos. If our summing-up is as it should be we estimate that over the past two centuries some 400 breweries have hugged the River Tyne. Read

Beer with a sting

GORDON Sumner, The Entertainer and urtica dioica deserve some respect. Next week is National Be Nice To Nettles Week, a Sting-orientated love-in which coincidentally heralds the return of a seasonal ale. Read

Oddfellows festival is a friendly drinks ‘society’

LATIN may be a dead language, but Amo, Amas, Amat survives in loving relationships. Veni, Vidi, Vici came and went with Julius Caesar, but what of Amicitia, Amor, Veritas? Read

Festival puts spotlight on the micro-brewers

STATISTICS reveal that micro-brewers are responsible for one in every six pints of beer sold in this country. On first looks, it’s impressive; on the other hand, it’s a dispiriting fact if you calculate that five out of six pints aren’t. Read

The Barrels Ale House proves itself an acclaimed star act

WHEN JIMI Hendrix watched me wee. Not a headline to rival Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster, but an observation from a Northumberland pub. Read

Ancient water a winner for Budvar

WHEN 97% of your ingredients has been percolating, seeping, filtering and circulating for 10,000 years, 90 more days sitting in a metal tank is possibly neither here nor there. Read

Cliff-top pub inspires life support from devoted carers

IT’S the day after the clocks tick forward; the narrow-angled evening sun sparkles off St Mary’s lighthouse, the sky is incredibly blue, a freighter glides silently past the North Tyneside shore; British Summer Time has arrived. Read

Racecourse festival to mark Grand National

NEWCASTLE Racecourse is hosting a Grand National Beer Festival race day tomorrow at High Gosforth Park to coincide with the running of the world’s most famous steeplechase at Aintree. Read

Festivals stalwart Alan has tasted delights of 9,000 ales

THE dictionary can only go so far. Ticker n 1 Sl. 1a the heart. 1b a watch. 2 a person or thing that ticks. A ticker in the beer world, however, is defined differently. Read

Special beers designed to go to your head

NORTH Tyneside-based Mordue Brewery has come up with a novel presentation for its range of 12 monthly “specials”. Read

Promoting the peaceful pub as antidote to binge drinking

SOME days you’re the fly, others you’re the windscreen. It’s one of those unavoidable facts of life. Read

Stardom beckons for Blonde

SPOT the odd one out: Northern Sinfonia, Clannad, Boyz II Men, Tyneside Blonde, Cleo Laine. Clue: All make appearances at The Sage Gateshead over the next few weeks. Read

Gem of a pub at the museum

FASHIONABLE foodies beef over air miles, grouse around seasonality and belly-ache about best- befores. Read

Building up a Head of Steam

EVERYBODY needs heroes. Heroes exist in every walk of life, but they never regard themselves as such. Read

The Rat is a pet pub for many

IN TRUE Two Ronnies style, it’s a happy new year from me and a sun nien fai lok from him. The Chinese New Year began yesterday and ushered in a period of celebrating ancestral spirits, honouring family unity and anticipating a happy future. Read

North-East festivals pour out a big medley

IT WAS inevitable that 1973 Sunderland FA Cup winner Micky Horswill would be known to Newcastle United fans as Pigswill. How the Gallowgate teases. Read

Ales for Burns Supper

TODAY and over the weekend, the world will reverberate to the skirl of bagpipes and the swirl of whisky. Read

Priceless tradition safe here

DESPITE what social commentators believe, the gap between North-East tradition and the culture of celebrity remains poles apart. Read

Inspiration of the pub

THE pint glass glows like a Belisha beacon. It demands that the eye rests for a moment after its fleeting introduction to the hind legs of a dog which loop and coil and merge with a corpulent human backside then runs along a counter top. Read

Pint by pint pioneers

THE stripes of one of its perpetually-underperforming football clubs are black and white; the geography is hilly and flat; the weather can be hot and cold in the same day – the North-East is a region of contrasts and extremes. Read

Culture

Culture magazine May 2008

Culture - May

The May edition of Culture magazine is out now, packed with all the latest arts, theatre and music highlights.Read

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