Rob MacKay
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rjm.bsky.social
Rob MacKay
@rjm.bsky.social
320 followers 140 following 150 posts
Words and pictures // Head of Creative at Fierce Beer // Design & branding at Tipple // Europe’s Greatest Master Cicerone® // Rebel. Maverick. Legend.
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rjm.bsky.social
Since I turned forty I’ve started feeling like maybe I’m getting old.

Every time I hear about a new policy or review that is clearly designed to appease right wing oldies, it reminds me that I am, in fact, still relatively young.
October 8, 2025 at 8:12 AM
rjm.bsky.social
Off to Belfast next week - any food and drink recommendations greatly appreciated! We were hoping to find someone kid-friendly with live music if possible…
October 7, 2025 at 9:20 PM
rjm.bsky.social
About time I brought back the hero we all deserve, but the hero we didn’t need back then
October 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM
rjm.bsky.social
Fantastic piece on a takeaway I knew well during my first four years in Glasgow.
September 20, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
localnotail.bsky.social
On the same day in the Telegraph:
The Telegraph Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence [Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday] Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent 29 August 2025 8:57am BST The Telegraph Money > Property > Second homes How to avoid tax on your second home From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net [Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto] Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer 29 August 2025 1:21pm BST
September 5, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
totalcurtis.bsky.social
One of the challenges we have as a publisher is balancing the narrative of supporting small independents with larger cultural impact stories that just feel ripe to be told. I think @rjm.bsky.social does a wonderful job with this long read on Tennent's Lager:

www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/8/...
The Vertigo of Bliss — Scotland’s Inseparable Relationship with Tennent’s Lager — Pellicle
It’s a Sunday, nearly midnight, and I’m in 8 Ball–a dilapidated yet bustling pool hall above the Scotia, an out-of-the-way folk bar in Glasgow city centre. Occasionally a buzzer sounds, signalling som...
www.pelliclemag.com
August 27, 2025 at 9:32 AM
rjm.bsky.social
Honoured to be asked to revamp Tipple’s brand identity, and excited to use custom lettering, something that’s become a bigger part of my repertoire over the last few months.
tipplemarketing.bsky.social Tipple Marketing @tipplemarketing.bsky.social · Jul 2
It’s now been a whole year since Daisy joined as co-owner of Tipple, so we thought it was the perfect time to share our new brand identity!

What do you think of our new look?

tipplemarketing.com
The new Tipple marketing logo - a black backgrounds with white tipple lettering and orange bubbles for the dot on the letter ‘i’ NEW LOOK. SAME TIPPLE.
July 2, 2025 at 12:05 PM
rjm.bsky.social
Bloody @northernmonk.bsky.social scooping up the best possible script font for their brand…
June 25, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
davidjesudason.bsky.social
Here’s a story for Bluesky and thanks to @hazelsouthwell.bsky.social please attend her pride in solidarity tonight! Or RT
Pride still triggers homophobic pub goers When Hazel Southwell took over the Royal Oak pub in Erith, south-east London, last December she feared the locals would shun a gay woman with Georgian heritage as she thought it was a Reform heartland. The regulars surprised her, confrontations were rare and she secured a 400K in funds for a renovation to change the decor and 60-year-old carpet. But when Hazel had to bar one drinker for posting online hate about a Pride party at the Oak, the bigot organised a boycott of the London pub. Hazel then feared she would lose her job because of the drop in takings. "It was difficult to secure the huge amount of funding to be spent on the pub," Hazel says. "It's a shame people have to spoil it by willing me to fail. Before this it was heartwarming that there was such good integration with LGTBQ+ [people], with everyone playing darts." But the news of bigots trying to spoil this diversity sparked a huge amount of solidarity in the LGBTQ+ community and its allies with Hazel hoping that people all over London travel to Saturday's Pride event. "The whole point of Pride is that people can celebrate themselves and feel good about themselves," said a member of the Oak's bar staff. "It's a show against bullies and people who'd rather not understand. It's the first time we've done this here and it's really important for everyone who feels like they ought to keep quiet or to live as someone else because of where they are living." Most drinkers at the Oak are happy to show solidarity. "I'm really excited for it," a regular customer said, "it's not been done here and I hope it'll bring new people in. This pub's been waiting for a breath of life for donkey's years and you can't resuscitate it by doing the same things every week. "Plus it'll be a proper party, what's to complain about?" Pride Party Royal Oak Edith at 8pm Hazel Southwell
June 21, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
playingwithdust.bsky.social
This is an amazing read from The Oatmeal. Well worth a look.

theoatmeal.com/comics/plane...
It's going to be okay. - The Oatmeal
This is a comic about a plane crash.
theoatmeal.com
June 19, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
doricstudio.bsky.social
Fresh batch of Butteries are online noo.

Sizes Medium to XXXL.

Link. In. Bio. ✊
June 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
davidjesudason.bsky.social
It’s nearly the four-year anniversary of this article some say changed the narrative of the IPA. (Although breweries still shy away from the truth)

Sir Geoff Palmer died recently and he really inspired the article.

RIP Sir Geoff

www.goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2021/8/...
Illustration by Sinjin Li Meme I created based on Anakin Padme four-cell meme. Anakin is depicted as Magic Rock Cannonball he says: Cannonball is an India Pale Ale in the true tradition, massively hopped to survive a long sea voyage Padmé Amidala replies: ‘A voyage to where?’ Anakin: silence Padmé Amidala: ‘To where?’ "I remember when I was getting my OBE. Just before my mother passed away. I told her there are people saying whether I should go to Buckingham Palace and take it. She said, 'We are of slave descent. People gave us nothing. Why should you not take it—you made the empire.'' — SIR GEOFF PALMER, HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY "If you go to Delhi, [British influence is] everywhere. It's [shown in] the buildings-there are many similarities from Connaught Place in Delhi to Regent Street in London, especially the part up near Piccadilly Circus. Being a Londoner, you do double-take when you see this, and you can't really put it aside. But I just hope that something like this never happens again." Steve Sailopal
June 20, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
francesmeh.reviews
when i joined bluesky two years ago people joked that it was a posting retirement home for 38 year olds but this place has undergone such massive change since then, like the average age is now 40
June 5, 2025 at 12:10 PM
rjm.bsky.social
Enjoying the little individual right wing unofficial efficiency departments springing up. Super efficient.
henryriley1.bsky.social Henry Riley @henryriley1.bsky.social · Jun 2
Reform UK’s ‘British DOGE’

- Led by 28 year old entrepreneur Nathanial Fried
- There are 5 members
- Businessman Arron Banks is an adviser
- Launched at Kent County Council today with Zia Yusuf
- Team will visit all Reform UK led councils to identify ‘wasteful spending’

@lbc.co.uk
June 2, 2025 at 11:34 PM
rjm.bsky.social
Add a letter, ruin a movie.

Emission Impossible
doricstudio.bsky.social Doric Studio @doricstudio.bsky.social · May 27
Add a letter, ruin a movie.

Panic Broom
heatherpaterson.co.uk Heather Paterson @heatherpaterson.co.uk · May 27
Add a letter, ruin a movie

Top Gurn
May 27, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
petebrownbeer.bsky.social
This tool is worth an estimated £30m and speaks on behalf of a company with assets of $223 billion. The average income of an author is £7000. But if he isn't allowed to steal our work, he won’t make enough money. Why can’t people like @teamlabouruk.bsky.social see how profoundly fucked up this is?
May 27, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
eoghanwalshbxl.bsky.social
Bollocks that the ship has sailed on refusing to use AI.

The metaverse wasn’t inevitable. 3D films weren’t inevitable.

People have agency in this www.bbc.com/news/article...
The people refusing to use AI
Worried about the environment and the loss of skills, some people are resisting the rise of AI.
www.bbc.com
May 6, 2025 at 10:29 AM
rjm.bsky.social
🤔
May 5, 2025 at 7:55 PM
rjm.bsky.social
May 4, 2025 at 8:34 PM
rjm.bsky.social
Who made this? (It was me, I made this.)
Tommy Tiernan appears as both the sad and the happy character in the bus meme, emulating his appearance as depressed priest Father Kevin in the show Father Ted.
May 4, 2025 at 6:58 PM
rjm.bsky.social
This has been bothering me for a while but I’m so used to it now that the idea of actually calling the anniversary of a brewery opening an “anniversary” sounds completely weird…
brewyork.beer Brew York 🗽🚖🌃🏳️‍🌈🍺🇺🇦 @brewyork.beer · May 3
Okay, legit question: almost every brewery anniversary party I’ve been to in the UK has been coined a “birthday,” whereas that term is almost never used in the U.S. Why is that? (I’m on Team America here — nobody gives birth to a brewery.)
May 4, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
annleckie.com
Say it after me: Chat GPT is not a search engine. It does not scan the web for information, it just generates statistically likely sentences. You cannot use it a search engine, or as a substitute for searching.

Now. Please never use an LLM for information searches ever again.
April 30, 2025 at 11:31 PM
rjm.bsky.social
Here for your brewery design needs! 🖊️🎨🍻
tipplemarketing.bsky.social Tipple Marketing @tipplemarketing.bsky.social · May 1
There’s something we’ve been missing for a while: branding and graphic design.

So we’re over the moon to announce that Rob MacKay has joined us on a freelance ad hoc basis to allow us to offer our clients even more!
A photo of Rob MacKay in a checked shirt with a yellow t-shirt underneath, holding a glass of dark beer
May 1, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
tipplemarketing.bsky.social
There’s something we’ve been missing for a while: branding and graphic design.

So we’re over the moon to announce that Rob MacKay has joined us on a freelance ad hoc basis to allow us to offer our clients even more!
A photo of Rob MacKay in a checked shirt with a yellow t-shirt underneath, holding a glass of dark beer
May 1, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by Rob MacKay
dansheehan.bsky.social
Gonna be real with you, this feels like an advertisement for spiritual death
April 22, 2025 at 9:26 PM