Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
@boakandbailey.bsky.social
In Bristol. Beer blogging in the UK since 2007. Also wrote some books about beer and pubs. Header image shows a detail from the cover of one. Won't repost if you don't use alt text. Find us at boakandbailey.com
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
If anyone's looking for a new beer name, I've just written the phrase 'holistic cow approach' so it's right there, for the taking.
January 4, 2026 at 3:31 PM
If anyone's looking for a new beer name, I've just written the phrase 'holistic cow approach' so it's right there, for the taking.
In the Drapers Arms yesterday we got chatting to @ivydene.com about how long it might take for Moor Brewing to be rehabilitated in Bristol, post boycott. Well, today, right now, the Swan With Two Necks has two Moor beers on tap, including Old Freddy Walker.
January 4, 2026 at 3:28 PM
In the Drapers Arms yesterday we got chatting to @ivydene.com about how long it might take for Moor Brewing to be rehabilitated in Bristol, post boycott. Well, today, right now, the Swan With Two Necks has two Moor beers on tap, including Old Freddy Walker.
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
One phenomenon I experienced over Xmas is that a large number of Manchester bars are now stocking Tegernseer Hell as a house lager, and are all serving it in the proper branded glassware. For a good price too. Think I paid £5.80 for a pint in town, which for a German lager of this premium is great.
January 4, 2026 at 1:44 PM
One phenomenon I experienced over Xmas is that a large number of Manchester bars are now stocking Tegernseer Hell as a house lager, and are all serving it in the proper branded glassware. For a good price too. Think I paid £5.80 for a pint in town, which for a German lager of this premium is great.
BLOG POST: Is The Fargate, the new flagship Thornbridge pub in Sheffield, a posh Wetherspoon? Or something new? 🍺🍻
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/the-...
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/the-...
The Fargate, Sheffield – a new type of pub?
The Fargate in Sheffield city centre is a brand new flagship venue for local brewery Thornbridge. It’s huge and expensively fitted-out – and we struggled to contextualise it. We were in Sheffield for ...
boakandbailey.com
January 4, 2026 at 10:12 AM
BLOG POST: Is The Fargate, the new flagship Thornbridge pub in Sheffield, a posh Wetherspoon? Or something new? 🍺🍻
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/the-...
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/the-...
UPDATE: For a quid, you can now buy a set of souvenir beermats. Garvan never misses a trick.
January 4, 2026 at 9:55 AM
UPDATE: For a quid, you can now buy a set of souvenir beermats. Garvan never misses a trick.
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
At a country pub where the food is terrible and at least one beer tasted off. We were not helped by son shouting “we need to go somewhere else to get a better beer.”
Mate, we were trying to be discrete.
Mate, we were trying to be discrete.
January 4, 2026 at 3:48 AM
At a country pub where the food is terrible and at least one beer tasted off. We were not helped by son shouting “we need to go somewhere else to get a better beer.”
Mate, we were trying to be discrete.
Mate, we were trying to be discrete.
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
This sounds like a tragedy on the scale of when my dad gave a case of beers I'd stored in his garage to an electrician who did a good job for him as a treat. Dad's logic was they weren't very good because the bottles didn't have labels on them. Just yellow & blue crown caps
January 3, 2026 at 7:01 PM
This sounds like a tragedy on the scale of when my dad gave a case of beers I'd stored in his garage to an electrician who did a good job for him as a treat. Dad's logic was they weren't very good because the bottles didn't have labels on them. Just yellow & blue crown caps
Good morning. Here's our first news, nuggets and longreads round up of 2026, with notes on pub openings, beer in Rome, and East London. There's also an attempt to gather all the various Golden Pints entries that we noticed.
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/news...
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/news...
News, nuggets and longreads 3 January 2026: Pride and Prejudice
Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got Rome, Heaven and Belbroughton.
boakandbailey.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:52 AM
Good morning. Here's our first news, nuggets and longreads round up of 2026, with notes on pub openings, beer in Rome, and East London. There's also an attempt to gather all the various Golden Pints entries that we noticed.
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/news...
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/news...
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Absolutely nobody will be surprised to hear who was first customer of the year in 't Brugs Beertje. Draft Avec Les Bons Vœux made for a perfect start to 2026 🤣 🍻
January 1, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Absolutely nobody will be surprised to hear who was first customer of the year in 't Brugs Beertje. Draft Avec Les Bons Vœux made for a perfect start to 2026 🤣 🍻
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Here's the last blog I wrote last year.... chrisdyson55.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025...
2025's Favourite Pints And Taprooms....
Part 2 of my round up of my favourite beery-related things of the past 12 months in which I feature the best beers I have come across. And w...
chrisdyson55.blogspot.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Here's the last blog I wrote last year.... chrisdyson55.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025...
In a pub that is not in our Bristol pub guide, and that we don't visit often. On paper, it's great, and other people like it but... It's just not right. Because of this stuff, basically. 👇
open.substack.com/pub/boakandb...
open.substack.com/pub/boakandb...
We can’t speak for anyone else but here’s how to attract us to your pub
You’re trying hard, you’re doing everything right – so why is nobody coming to drink in your pub, bar or taproom?
open.substack.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:57 PM
In a pub that is not in our Bristol pub guide, and that we don't visit often. On paper, it's great, and other people like it but... It's just not right. Because of this stuff, basically. 👇
open.substack.com/pub/boakandb...
open.substack.com/pub/boakandb...
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
My Golden Pints of 2025 – refreshingbeer.blogspot.com/2026/01/gold...
Golden Pints 2025
refreshingbeer.blogspot.com
January 1, 2026 at 11:28 AM
My Golden Pints of 2025 – refreshingbeer.blogspot.com/2026/01/gold...
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Inspired by @boakandbailey.bsky.social these are my #GoldenPints from a person who doesn't get out much & mostly drinks homebrew at home.
December 31, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Inspired by @boakandbailey.bsky.social these are my #GoldenPints from a person who doesn't get out much & mostly drinks homebrew at home.
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
I saved my first blog post of the year for the very last day. It's my annual look at my best five pub discoveries - great pubs that I visited for the first time. Hopefully I'll get blogging again next year. pubgallery.co.uk/2025/12/31/m...
My Top Five Pub Discoveries in 2025 - Pub Gallery
I’ve had a quiet year blogging, having produced precisely none until now. This is partly due to having to deal with other things like moving home and renovating an extending the new house. I’ve also s...
pubgallery.co.uk
December 31, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I saved my first blog post of the year for the very last day. It's my annual look at my best five pub discoveries - great pubs that I visited for the first time. Hopefully I'll get blogging again next year. pubgallery.co.uk/2025/12/31/m...
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Time to tie off another year of beer blogging with the usual highlights reel: thebeernut.blogspot.com/2025/12/end-...
December 31, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Time to tie off another year of beer blogging with the usual highlights reel: thebeernut.blogspot.com/2025/12/end-...
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Mixed bag in Manchester yesterday. Beer of the day was Fullers/Thorn bridge ESB Beermoth. Brewed in the Burton Union set, this was lush in every way. Close second in terms of presentation and taste was Adams Ghost Ship, but the overall complexity of the ESB swung it for them.
December 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Mixed bag in Manchester yesterday. Beer of the day was Fullers/Thorn bridge ESB Beermoth. Brewed in the Burton Union set, this was lush in every way. Close second in terms of presentation and taste was Adams Ghost Ship, but the overall complexity of the ESB swung it for them.
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Golden Pint, texture like sun... edsbeer.blogspot.com/2025/12/gold...
Golden Pints 2025
Golden Pint, texture like sun... Think I may have used that song to start a previous Golden Pints post, but I saw The Stranglers for the fir...
edsbeer.blogspot.com
December 31, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Golden Pint, texture like sun... edsbeer.blogspot.com/2025/12/gold...
BLOG POST: We don't fuss about the beer we drink at Christmas quite as much as we used to. In fact, we don't necessarily stick to beer.
boakandbailey.com/2025/12/what...
boakandbailey.com/2025/12/what...
What the idea of Christmas beers means to us now
Christmas used to be when our worst instincts as beer geeks emerged. But these days, choosing fancy beers is down the list of priorities.
boakandbailey.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:51 PM
BLOG POST: We don't fuss about the beer we drink at Christmas quite as much as we used to. In fact, we don't necessarily stick to beer.
boakandbailey.com/2025/12/what...
boakandbailey.com/2025/12/what...
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Big news: Radio 4’s Food Programme’s devoting a whole episode to the legacy of my book Desi Pubs which includes a long interview with me and a desi pub run I took Jaega on! Friday 9 Jan at 11am
December 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Big news: Radio 4’s Food Programme’s devoting a whole episode to the legacy of my book Desi Pubs which includes a long interview with me and a desi pub run I took Jaega on! Friday 9 Jan at 11am
Bristol Beer Factory has a beer called Big Valley which is 5.5%, pale, and has a sticky malt character. The spiel on their website says: "Back into the Northern valleys we go, a land that dreams of deep malt-forward soft cask pints." What beer(s) is this trying to be? We're stumped.
Big Valley | Cask | Bristol Beer Factory
NORTHERN GOLD BITTER | CELIA | FUGGLES | CHINOOK | WILLAMETTE | GLUTEN FREE - 5.5% ABV
www.bristolbeerfactory.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Bristol Beer Factory has a beer called Big Valley which is 5.5%, pale, and has a sticky malt character. The spiel on their website says: "Back into the Northern valleys we go, a land that dreams of deep malt-forward soft cask pints." What beer(s) is this trying to be? We're stumped.
Kings Head has cask ales from Burning Sky, Thornbridge, Ideal Day and Elusive. What a pub.
December 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Kings Head has cask ales from Burning Sky, Thornbridge, Ideal Day and Elusive. What a pub.
Quite an endorsement.
Best dark mild by miles
December 23, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Quite an endorsement.
Reposted by Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray)
Historic England's new pubs hub: historicengland.org.uk/advice/carin...
England's Historic Pubs | Historic England
Explore Historic England's resources about historic pubs and find out how you can help care for them.
historicengland.org.uk
December 23, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Historic England's new pubs hub: historicengland.org.uk/advice/carin...