Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got cheaper pints, Czech pubs and Belgian folk traditions.
First, some interesting product launch news. Now, we don’t say that often, because press releases about new products rarely have an angle. But Red Willow’s announcement of a new cask ale range specifically designed to be affordable caught our attention because, as people used to like saying a few years ago, it’s “the quiet part out loud”:
Nonetheless has been designed from the outset to be the most competitively priced beer in the brewery’s range. The first orders have gone out this week, tying in with Cask Ale Week… RedWillow will be releasing Nonetheless beers once a month, with each beer sharing the same base recipe. The range is built on the characterful maltiness of Maris Otter, with a rotating single hop or hop pairing on top. Each release will celebrate the best of British and European hops, many of which aren’t commonly used in modern craft beer.
We’re sure similar thinking is behind the Moor-branded cask ales from Left Handed Giant here in Bristol, and other trad-design-pumpclip ranges from breweries which have made their names with hoppy IPAs and pastry stouts. What a turnaround from the days of trad breweries launching unconvincing craft beer sub-brands!
For the BBC’s World’s Table magazine David Farley has written about the joy of the Czech hospoda, or traditional locals’ pub:
My wife and I were sipping beers at a pub in Prague’s Žižkov district when the bartender plopped two foamy pints of pilsner in front of us. We hadn’t ordered them. We weren’t even finished with the ones we were drinking. “Oh, we’re in one of these pubs” I said, quickly covering my pint with a cardboard coaster. “When you’ve had enough, just do this.” … [If] you only explore [Prague’s] tourist-mobbed centre, as many people do, you’ll miss out on one of the most quintessentially Czech cultural experiences: whiling away a few hours in a real Czech pub, where the beer only stops coming if you know the code.
Via The European Bar Guide on BlueSky.
Eoghan Walsh continues to provide insights into life and culture in Brussels and, this week, shared two pieces themed around the idea of the ‘ritual city’. And of course folk festivals and traditions in Belgium feature beer and pubs, as depicted in ‘Ritual City II’:
It’s not quite heaving yet, but there are a dozen or so drinkers now crowding around the small bar. Above their heads, between a decommissioned accordion and an assortment of pastoral china plates and obscured by the Meyboom’s glass tulip lampshades, is a poster advertising the 718th Meyboom, on Saturday August 9, 2026. There’s another one on the wall opposite, for the 663rd Meyboom on Monday, 9 August, 1971. The ritual then is the same as it will be today, and it is not complicated: plant a beech tree – the titular meyboom, harvested from the Forêt de Soignes that morning – on the corner of the Rues des Sables and the Rue du Marais, before five o’clock in the afternoon on the eve of St Lawrence’s Day. Failure to do so will give their rivals in Leuven the opportunity to plant their own meyboom, and therefore “win” possession of the ritual.
At Enjoying Pubs Mark Higgins writes about a visit to two contrasting pubs in South East London, exhibiting his usual wit:
My first stop was in leafy Charlton village, reached via the not tremendously leafy Charlton proper. Lot of red shirts around the train station – Charlton were playing Portsmouth at three o’clock round the corner. Tempting as a trip to The Valley might be, I only had eyes for The Bugle Horn… This is your classic football boozer. Pool table getting a once-over. Fruit machine in a thoroughfare, lager and Guinness taps taking some serious damage, underwhelmingly witty plaques next to the coat hooks on the bar. If there’s a starter pack for this kind of pub they got the deluxe edition… The Lord Herbert… is a very tall pub off a very small roundabout… Oh, have they decorated here. Not a wall untouched. The pub’s support for Palestine and trans rights is in no doubt, and there’s a huge ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE sign directly above the bar… Alongside all this subversion, I notice a chalkboard sign telling me about a minimum spend of £10 when it’s busy. And another, saying no kids after 8PM. They’re happy to give out the wifi code, but with the disclaimer that “we have a fair usage expectation of all our customers”.
Knut Albert Solem is trying to work out when Pilsner first came to Norway and his research so far provides a great case study of just how this particular beer style went ‘viral’ across Europe and the world:
In 1888, the World’s Fair was held in Barcelona, and many nations came to display their accomplishments. The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet had a correspondent on site, and he was not impressed by the Norwegian pavilion… He was especially concerned that those promoting Norwegian stockfish failed to replenish their supplies regularly. One producer’s fish smelled so strongly that visitors kept well clear of the stand… Two Norwegian breweries had come to demonstrate their skills: Ytterborg and Ringnes, both from Christiania. Pilsner was fashionable, and here was an opportunity to show what they could do… Unfortunately, things did not go entirely to plan.
There’s an interesting theme in the latest update from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Pub Heritage Group: the retirement of publicans can put historic pubs at particular risk. For example:
Following a recent visit, [The Old Swan at Netherton, AKA Ma Pardoe’s], one of only four such establishments still serving their own beer when CAMRA first formed in 1971, did not appear to be thriving. Confirming our last report from August 2025, when long-serving landlord Tim Newey was preparing to retire. The lease is now being formally advertised by Star Pubs & Bars with a £375,000 refurbishment planned.
Ominous. And then there’s also this:
The award-winning Roscoe Head, one of only five pubs to feature in every edition of the Good Beer Guide, is up for sale. Licensee Carol Ross has decided to retire, having been there for 28 years. Her family have run the pub for 45 years with the freehold bought from pubco New River Retail in 2020, following a protracted battle over the tied lease. The pub is on the market through Licensed Trade Associates with a price of £885,000.
Let’s hope both pubs are treated sensitively and find sympathetic management.
Finally, from BlueSky, an installment of the long-running series ‘Hops in Unexpected Places’…
Am I in the Hallertau for hop harvest?No! I discovered these in the car park of a Getränke Hoffmann drinks store in Berlin.
— Ben Palmer (@johnzee7.bsky.social) 17 September 2026 at 16:37
For more good reading check out our Patreon-exclusive ‘Footnotes’ to this post and Alan McLeod’s round up from Thursday.
