Mark Johnson
@marknjohnson.bsky.social
Beer blogger, Beer Podcaster, Animal carer, Swiftie, Huddersfield Town sufferer, Knuckles the Echidna enthusiast
Back to work today, but yesterday was magical so I have that to hold on to.
Oh, and Happy New Year! I have no resolutions other than being a bit happier to be alive. And maybe going to one or two beer events again.
Oh, and Happy New Year! I have no resolutions other than being a bit happier to be alive. And maybe going to one or two beer events again.
January 6, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Back to work today, but yesterday was magical so I have that to hold on to.
Oh, and Happy New Year! I have no resolutions other than being a bit happier to be alive. And maybe going to one or two beer events again.
Oh, and Happy New Year! I have no resolutions other than being a bit happier to be alive. And maybe going to one or two beer events again.
Finishing my listen to this episode with a beer that the guys kindly gifted me for my appearance 4 years ago, that was still knocking about.
Wondered if I'd get a mention this year - it took 29 minutes.
Horrified that Christmas Tree Farm isn't considered a modern classic.
Such a great listen
Wondered if I'd get a mention this year - it took 29 minutes.
Horrified that Christmas Tree Farm isn't considered a modern classic.
Such a great listen
December 29, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Finishing my listen to this episode with a beer that the guys kindly gifted me for my appearance 4 years ago, that was still knocking about.
Wondered if I'd get a mention this year - it took 29 minutes.
Horrified that Christmas Tree Farm isn't considered a modern classic.
Such a great listen
Wondered if I'd get a mention this year - it took 29 minutes.
Horrified that Christmas Tree Farm isn't considered a modern classic.
Such a great listen
It's that time @beersmanchester.bsky.social
December 23, 2025 at 7:59 PM
It's that time @beersmanchester.bsky.social
Two hours of work left. Then it's a pub crawl for the rest of the day. All the presents have arrived. And I have the Raggy Dolls theme tune stuck in my head. Merry Christmas all!
Look who's in the reject bin! It's the...
Look who's in the reject bin! It's the...
December 23, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Two hours of work left. Then it's a pub crawl for the rest of the day. All the presents have arrived. And I have the Raggy Dolls theme tune stuck in my head. Merry Christmas all!
Look who's in the reject bin! It's the...
Look who's in the reject bin! It's the...
Pastry Barley Wine.
On cask.
"Make sense of that. Where on earth are we now?"
On cask.
"Make sense of that. Where on earth are we now?"
December 19, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Pastry Barley Wine.
On cask.
"Make sense of that. Where on earth are we now?"
On cask.
"Make sense of that. Where on earth are we now?"
It has been a while since a packaged beer has made me smile this much. In fact I've had very few this calendar year to compare. But most of this was gone before I thought that I should take a picture.
I imagine this would have been everywhere back in the Tw*****r days. Very very good.
I imagine this would have been everywhere back in the Tw*****r days. Very very good.
December 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
It has been a while since a packaged beer has made me smile this much. In fact I've had very few this calendar year to compare. But most of this was gone before I thought that I should take a picture.
I imagine this would have been everywhere back in the Tw*****r days. Very very good.
I imagine this would have been everywhere back in the Tw*****r days. Very very good.
Reposted by Mark Johnson
www.beercompurgation.co.uk/2018/12/the-...
One of the most difficult phone calls that I've ever had to make, referenced in one of the loveliest posts I've ever read.
It may be 7 years on, but thank you @marknjohnson.bsky.social
One of the most difficult phone calls that I've ever had to make, referenced in one of the loveliest posts I've ever read.
It may be 7 years on, but thank you @marknjohnson.bsky.social
The Independent Salford Beer Festival (2018)
In October 2016 I was due at the now defunct Ticketybrew in Stalybridge to help brew a special one off beer for the third Indepen...
www.beercompurgation.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 9:36 AM
www.beercompurgation.co.uk/2018/12/the-...
One of the most difficult phone calls that I've ever had to make, referenced in one of the loveliest posts I've ever read.
It may be 7 years on, but thank you @marknjohnson.bsky.social
One of the most difficult phone calls that I've ever had to make, referenced in one of the loveliest posts I've ever read.
It may be 7 years on, but thank you @marknjohnson.bsky.social
Finally sat down and read this article. The sort of crossover of personal beer writing and interesting journalism that I subscribe to Pellicle, or any paid writing, for. Nailed.
For millennia, the t-shirts of the men in the know have taunted us.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER LAGER BOY? SCARED YOU'LL TASTE SOMETHING?"
Now, @davidjesudason.bsky.social digs into the social, physical, perhaps even the metaphysical world of Wychwood's Hobgoblin.
www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/12...
"WHAT'S THE MATTER LAGER BOY? SCARED YOU'LL TASTE SOMETHING?"
Now, @davidjesudason.bsky.social digs into the social, physical, perhaps even the metaphysical world of Wychwood's Hobgoblin.
www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/12...
Under the Bridge — A Definitive History of Wychwood Hobgoblin — Pellicle
My love affair with pubs started in Staines. It’s where I found my tribe—the pub as an expression of individuality, an alternative to bland Britain. But I was afraid at first. In 1996, my British-Asi...
www.pelliclemag.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Finally sat down and read this article. The sort of crossover of personal beer writing and interesting journalism that I subscribe to Pellicle, or any paid writing, for. Nailed.
Three pubs in Devon so far, and every beer has looked like this. Slops all over my hands and every table. I have no idea how this preferable to any human.
November 28, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Three pubs in Devon so far, and every beer has looked like this. Slops all over my hands and every table. I have no idea how this preferable to any human.
Birthday outing
November 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Birthday outing
Speaking of beer nostalgia, currently drinking T/Bridge's version of Masham Ale; a beer that I think I only had previously on the Theakston Brewery Tour circa 2006.
Anyway, this version is smashing.
Anyway, this version is smashing.
November 15, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Speaking of beer nostalgia, currently drinking T/Bridge's version of Masham Ale; a beer that I think I only had previously on the Theakston Brewery Tour circa 2006.
Anyway, this version is smashing.
Anyway, this version is smashing.
Crikey - Rogue and Underdog. And this is how I find out. Shows how far away from beer discourse I am at present.
It's like going back to your student town/city and seeing that all the locations that formed your memories have gone. I'm as nostalgic for the 2010s beer scene as I am for 90s football
It's like going back to your student town/city and seeing that all the locations that formed your memories have gone. I'm as nostalgic for the 2010s beer scene as I am for 90s football
GOOD MORNING! Here's our latest round up of news, nuggets and longreads, with important brewery closures, Belgian bars, green hop beers, and lots of other stuff an' all. 🍺🍻
boakandbailey.com/2025/11/news...
boakandbailey.com/2025/11/news...
News, nuggets and longreads 15 November 2025: Wild Wild Life
Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got rogues, underdogs and cheats.
boakandbailey.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Crikey - Rogue and Underdog. And this is how I find out. Shows how far away from beer discourse I am at present.
It's like going back to your student town/city and seeing that all the locations that formed your memories have gone. I'm as nostalgic for the 2010s beer scene as I am for 90s football
It's like going back to your student town/city and seeing that all the locations that formed your memories have gone. I'm as nostalgic for the 2010s beer scene as I am for 90s football
Ooooh do I have thoughts. I might just come out of retirement for this.
My 1st point will be that a favourite local of one of these contributors once tried taking me to task on Twitter because I called out queues in pubs. I'd love to know if they got the same treatment, because my beef is never done
My 1st point will be that a favourite local of one of these contributors once tried taking me to task on Twitter because I called out queues in pubs. I'd love to know if they got the same treatment, because my beef is never done
The Pellicle Essential Guide to Pub Ettiquette!
Already noted as curmudgeonly by @boakandbailey.bsky.social, we prefer "righteously bothered."
Table rezzies, bogey-filled tissues in empty glasses, rounds and more, all documented for posterity.
www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/10...
Already noted as curmudgeonly by @boakandbailey.bsky.social, we prefer "righteously bothered."
Table rezzies, bogey-filled tissues in empty glasses, rounds and more, all documented for posterity.
www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/10...
The Essential Guide to Pub Etiquette — Pellicle
It was the writer and politician Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) who famously said, “ Change your hearts or you will lose your inns and you will deserve to have lost them. But when you have lost your inns ...
www.pelliclemag.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Ooooh do I have thoughts. I might just come out of retirement for this.
My 1st point will be that a favourite local of one of these contributors once tried taking me to task on Twitter because I called out queues in pubs. I'd love to know if they got the same treatment, because my beef is never done
My 1st point will be that a favourite local of one of these contributors once tried taking me to task on Twitter because I called out queues in pubs. I'd love to know if they got the same treatment, because my beef is never done
Reposted by Mark Johnson
I wrote something on my phone while sitting on my train to Lincoln, and liked it, so I decided to publish it. A little something about grief, and travel, and Jaipur in the Sheffield Tap.
www.totalales.co.uk/blog/2025/10...
www.totalales.co.uk/blog/2025/10...
October 31, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I wrote something on my phone while sitting on my train to Lincoln, and liked it, so I decided to publish it. A little something about grief, and travel, and Jaipur in the Sheffield Tap.
www.totalales.co.uk/blog/2025/10...
www.totalales.co.uk/blog/2025/10...
Rare night in to myself, so I'm taking it back to my favourite times in beer
October 24, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Rare night in to myself, so I'm taking it back to my favourite times in beer
First try of the Lees' version of Boddingtons.
Tasted like a Lees' beer at first... and I really wasn't sure. But then the first disappeared quickly and I was on a second. It's alright.
I last had the original whenever anybody else did, so I've no comparison to make
Tasted like a Lees' beer at first... and I really wasn't sure. But then the first disappeared quickly and I was on a second. It's alright.
I last had the original whenever anybody else did, so I've no comparison to make
October 12, 2025 at 2:15 PM
First try of the Lees' version of Boddingtons.
Tasted like a Lees' beer at first... and I really wasn't sure. But then the first disappeared quickly and I was on a second. It's alright.
I last had the original whenever anybody else did, so I've no comparison to make
Tasted like a Lees' beer at first... and I really wasn't sure. But then the first disappeared quickly and I was on a second. It's alright.
I last had the original whenever anybody else did, so I've no comparison to make
Reposted by Mark Johnson
They asked for a response, so I couldn't exactly let them down, could I?
On Belgian beer, Hegelian dialectics, and why Belgium's craft beer turn makes perfect sense.
In response to @boakandbailey.bsky.social: boakandbailey.com/2025/10/we-d...
On Belgian beer, Hegelian dialectics, and why Belgium's craft beer turn makes perfect sense.
In response to @boakandbailey.bsky.social: boakandbailey.com/2025/10/we-d...
They don’t want Belgian beer to change – and that’s their problem* — Brussels Beer City
*Or, a (semi-serious) rebuttal of Boak and Bailey’s “We don’t want Belgian beer to change – and that’s our problem” Picture this: it’s 1925, and you’re a young English man of means stepping of...
www.beercity.brussels
October 7, 2025 at 12:23 PM
They asked for a response, so I couldn't exactly let them down, could I?
On Belgian beer, Hegelian dialectics, and why Belgium's craft beer turn makes perfect sense.
In response to @boakandbailey.bsky.social: boakandbailey.com/2025/10/we-d...
On Belgian beer, Hegelian dialectics, and why Belgium's craft beer turn makes perfect sense.
In response to @boakandbailey.bsky.social: boakandbailey.com/2025/10/we-d...
Unforeseen circumstances have led to Unforeseen Monday pints.
Starting off with cask Kernel Pale, and then I've these two to move onto next. What a time to be in Stalybridge
Starting off with cask Kernel Pale, and then I've these two to move onto next. What a time to be in Stalybridge
September 29, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Unforeseen circumstances have led to Unforeseen Monday pints.
Starting off with cask Kernel Pale, and then I've these two to move onto next. What a time to be in Stalybridge
Starting off with cask Kernel Pale, and then I've these two to move onto next. What a time to be in Stalybridge
Been a long time, but thrilled to see @wishbonebrewery.bsky.social back in Staly. One of my faves.
September 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Been a long time, but thrilled to see @wishbonebrewery.bsky.social back in Staly. One of my faves.
I don't think that the Aldi Oktoberfest beer box is bringing in the same level of engagement
September 22, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I don't think that the Aldi Oktoberfest beer box is bringing in the same level of engagement
Pubs are about more. Like customer's that bring in rosemary from their garden for people, to help use it up.
September 18, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Pubs are about more. Like customer's that bring in rosemary from their garden for people, to help use it up.
I've been using a very discarded and shabby looking beer shed much more this week to cope with some sad news, and all my familiar favourites are back too.
Sonoma.
Sonoma.
September 16, 2025 at 5:24 PM
I've been using a very discarded and shabby looking beer shed much more this week to cope with some sad news, and all my familiar favourites are back too.
Sonoma.
Sonoma.
