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Today, John runs the Smog with his son, Cameron, known to friends and regulars as Boomer. He took the plunge on the pub after travelling to Belgium and Germany, which made him realise that the beer choice was generally poor in Stockton’s pubs. There were the town’s bankers—the nearby Sun Inn is famous for serving pints of Bass with cumulonimbus-like heads—but John argues that this strong local beer culture has held back Stockton.
In January 2024 Garrett Oliver emailed Thornbridge co-founder and managing director, Simon Webster. He’d heard a rumour that Carlsberg were “laying the unions to rest,” and asked if the Derbyshire brewery were interested in acquiring one of the sets. Fortuitously, Simon—a self-confessed Burton-o-phile—along with fellow co-founder Jim Harrison and production director Rob Lovatt, were keen to get their hands on one.
The pork scratching’s journey from humble Sunday roast side to mass-market snack belies its enduring popularity as a curious cornerstone of the British pub experience. The pork scratching as we know it exists in its own genre outside the range of normal foodstuffs, but is thought to have emerged as a home-spun delicacy in the West Midlands during the 1800s.
I first met Matt and Michelle when they worked at Hawkshead Brewery, Matt as the head brewer, and Michelle as the head of marketing. In the 2010s, Hawkshead was the pride and joy of Cumbria’s independent beer scene. Its beer was great, and its outdoorsy, alternative vibe appealed to both the Lake District’s ever-growing tourist population and its locals. It was a brewery that not only made beer, but provided a valuable social space, supported regional events, and represented Cumbria across the country.
I’m frantically searching the internet, flipping between Instagram profiles of local pubs and beer review app Untappd. Why? Well. The release of Colbier Brew Co.’s first white stout, Falsetto, has just been announced, and it’s quickly running out in the local pubs around Liverpool.
A “bodger” today means someone who does a shoddy job, cuts all available corners, takes the money and runs. But centuries ago, in rural Buckinghamshire, it meant something quite different. It referred to craftsmen who built chain-link fences for farmers to safeguard their crops and animals. Bodger’s, a barley wine from The Chiltern Brewery, celebrates that tradition.
