Here's my own personal round-up of the best beers, breweries, and pubs I have encountered over the past 12 months.... It doesn't seem 12 months since I was going through my favourites of 2023. Well actually it isn't quite, as I didn't get to do it until the first week in January, but I didn't want to let it slip again, so here in a more timely fashion are my favourites of the year. As ever, whilst celebrating the best, there are of course some breweries that have unfortunately closed down this year, such as Elland and Chapter Brewing, whilst there have been regular shenanigans again this year from Carlsberg Marstons who seem to be doing the best they can to undermine the cask ale market. The Beers It is difficult to grade these as it very much depends on the setting, the way you feel, as well as the actual beer itself. But the most objective way I can think of is to look at the beers that I have rated as being a 4 or above on the NBSS (National Beer Scoring System)...
I had an afternoon in Keighley recently, where I spent my time sampling beers from the Town's most famous brewery, found out the story of its most famous beer, and paid a visit to a few of the pubs in the town.... I'd had loads of plans during the week of different places to go at the weekend for a research day for the blog. Gradually, one by one, they were all dismissed, mainly in light of the cold and extremely blustery weather brought to us courtesy of the latest celebrity strong wind event, Storm Darragh. In the end I settled on going to Keighley, a town I had not stopped in for years, my only visits being the slow and frustrating part of a drive on the way to or from the Dales or Lakes. There is an hourly daytime bus service that runs between Halifax and Keighley, which for whatever reason I hadn't been aware, so I decided to give it a go. The journey takes you through the hidden suburbs of north Halifax, the large linear hilltop village of Denholme, nearby Cullingwort...