The Episodes

Previous episodes: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23 

Each week on The Beer Crate we'll be looking at the world of beer and brewing. This page will provide brief show notes.

Episode 23 Download it
  20th May 2008

We talking about the town of Pilsen, and continue our interview with Jan Lichota (star of Beer Crate TV).

The star of Beer Crate TV, Jan Lichota, gives us a run down on his job in The Brewers of Europe while we talk about that most important of all beer ingredients... water!

Do you always enjoy The Beer Crate responsibly? If not, take heed, as we cover the role of the UK's Drink Aware programme, and continue our discussion with Rodolphe de Looz-Corswarem about the role of beer in society.

The Brewers of Europe are having their 50th anniversary - making them old! But not as old a wheat beer, which is probably the first beer in the world. Which is a roundabout way of saying we discuss the history of wheat beer, and have the first part of our exclusive with the head of the Brewers of Europe, Rodolphe de Looz-Corswarem.

• News. Here's the Chang beer competition
• Drinkers Diary
• The history of wheat beer
• An interview with Rodolphe de Looz-Corswarem, part 1 (pictures here!)
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

Episode 19 has a technically bias. We start with the technicalities of pouring a beer from the tap, and follow-up with more tech-talk on beer with John Brauer. This, and a full complement of quick tastings, and our regular 'try before you die', make this a full-packed show.

• News
• Drinkers Diary
• How to pour beer! See how on the first installment of BeerCrate TV
• An interview with John Brauer, part 2
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

What a mixed bag episode 18 is! There's the first part of our technical interview with Mr John Brauer, a commentary on european pub culture, English beer comes under our quick tastings radar, and a world beating "try before you die" that's won far too many "beer of the world" awards.

• News
• Drinkers Diary
• Pub culture (European style)
• An interview with John Brauer
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

Traditional is the keyword this week, with the original lager beer, Pilsener, coming into the spotlight along with an exclusive interview with the ever-pleasant Jack Verhoek of the CBK - the Central Brewery Office - in the Netherlands. Our quick tastings are traditional English ales. And our "try before you die" is a traditional family micro brewery from Hartlepool.

For mobile phone users, there's a special applet for your phone containing all of the beers we've reviewed on the show, up until Christmas. Download The Beer Crate Cellar (JAR) and it's associated JAD file. Transfer to your phone in the usual way and keep your fingers crossed!

• News
• Drinkers Diary
• Pilsener - and the difference between Bud and Bud
• An interview with Jack Verhoek of the CBK
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

A brand new year, and brand new beer, as we welcome the return of the worlds favourite beer podcast!

We start the year gently, with a new set of beer festivals, a selection of lighter ales in quick tastings, a look at the rather pleasant Timothy Talyor's brewery, and cover the health benefits of stouts. (Yes, really!) As always, there's news, drinker diary, and "Try Before You Die".

• News
• The Health Benefits of Stout
• Timothy Taylor. Their newsletter is here.
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

A bumper festival edition! More news! More articles! More beer! We explain why beer is better than wine, discuss Black Sheep Brewery, have an exclusive interview with John Grogan MP. There's a seasonal quick tastings, and a very festival "Try Before You Die" section.

Apologies for the audio fidelity in this episode, I had to record and mix everything on my reserve PC (and in record time). For conspiracy theorists, the only edits I made to the interview were to join the sections together, and remove a couple of idle mutterings of my own.

• News
• Why beer is better than wine
• Black Sheep Brewery
• An exclusive interview with John Grogan MP
• A festive Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

The news is really hotting up at the moment, with rants and accusations about the price of beer in supermarkets. (We try to sit on the fence!) The winner of BII NITA are announced. We put some traditional english ales under the microscope in quick tastings, and find a beer that's like London Pride, but turned up to 11, in our now famous "Try Before You Die" section.

• News
• What is wheat beer? (yes, it's beer from wheat, but what else..?)
• St Austell Brewery
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die - a beer that's like London Pride, but turned up to 11

We head north of the border for a look at the Caledonian brewery, the last remaining brewery in Edinburgh. There's also a description of malt. All the tasting beers this week come from Wye Valley. It's not a paid advert, although it might seem that way. I also make a satirical point about Gordon Brown, and a bad joke about tasting...

• News
• Caledonian Brewery
• About Malt
• Quick Tastings, all from Wye Valley Brewery
• Try Before You Die

The big news this week is that there is no news - or rather, there is no news about beer festivals, as we've reached year end. Nevermind, at least you can still learn about it! We explain bright beer, and the process of bright dropping, learn the history of the Adnams brewery, and have a chocolate indulgent "try before you die".

• News
• Bright beer
• Adnams Brewery
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

There are two big secrets revealed this week - Samuel Smiths brewery, and the life of hops. But don't worry - we still have our usual secrets of quick tastings, and divulge the best kept secret in the beer world - what is this weeks "try before you die".

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• The Life of Hops - part 2
• Samuel Smiths Brewery
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

Having had four left over beers from Portugal, we'll taste those these week. With that, the start of our series on hops, coverage of the Shepherd Neame brewery, and a typically wonderful "try before you die" this is show you won't want to miss!

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• The Life of Hops
• The Shepherd Neame Brewery
• Quick Tastings, all from Portugal
• Try Before You Die

This week we explain the difference between top-fermented and bottom-fermented beers, discover how many pints in a firkin, and quickly taste four different beers from Portugal. This is all rounded up with a long-awaited "try before you die".

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• Top-fermented and Bottom-fermented
• Pins and Barrels
• Quick Tastings, all from Portugal
• Try Before You Die

Our eighth episode focusing on cider. We explain the process behind it, taste some ciders and perries, look at where it is made in our "Out of Somerset" feature, and introduce you to sublime drink in our "try before you die".

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• What is cider?
• "Out of Somerset", featuring Cornish Cyder Farm, Fowlers, Bulmers, and Aspall's.
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

We return to more tradition English-ness this week. All our quick tastings are about ale, we cover the differences between a pub and an inn, and answer the question of "what is a free house." There's also our usual round of quick tastings and "try before you die".

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• What is a free house?
• Pub, inn, or tavern?
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

Episode 6 Download it
  16th October 2007

This week, we focus on fruit beers, with our last (for the time being) look at Belgian beers focusing on lambic and fruit beers. We discover magic numbers, such as 2043, as well our usual round of quick tastings and "try before you die".

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• A guide to Belgian beers - part 3
• Magic numbers, like 2043
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

This week, we have a distinctive Belgium flavour, as we continue our look at Belgian beers, and award our "try before you die" to one of Belgiums strongests bers. There's also a report from the Bedford beer festival, a rant about certain beer-oriented web sites, and quick tastings.

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• Bedford Beer Festival - a report
• A guide to Belgian beers - part 2
• Rant of the Week
• Quick Tastings - the Gentse Trippel Christmas card!
• Try Before You Die

One month on, and we're still talking about beer! After the usual preliminaries we have a follow-on from last weeks news article about the connection between a beer's ABV, and the number of units it contains. Plus, we begin our long overdue series covering the definitions of Belgian beer.

• News
• Feedback - Thanks to Nils for this Michael Jackson interview
• The Drinkers Diary
• ABV and Units - What does it mean?
• A guide to Belgian beers - part 1
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

Third time lucky! We feature the usual selection of news, drinkers diary, quick tastings, an d try before you die. Additionally we discuss Cask Maques, and the history of Fu llers brewery.

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• What is a Cask Marque?
• A Brief History of Fullers Brewery
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die, a smoked beer

This is our second episode, with our first section of feedback, some news, a discussion of the German Purity Law, the history of Youngs brewery, and a (potentially controversial) 'Try Before You Die'.

• News: Brewery for sale, and National toast confirmed.
• Feedback
• The Drinkers Diary
• The German Purity Law
• A Brief History of Youngs Brewery
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die

Our first episode is very Belgian-centric, thanks to the review of the Brussels Beer Weekend, the beers covered in 'Quick Tastings', and the masterpiece of Belgium brewing in 'Try Before You Die'.

• News
• The Drinkers Diary
• Feedback
• Brussels Beer Weekend Review
• What is IPA?
• Quick Tastings
• Try Before You Die