It’s always nice to catch people off guard. Lull them into a sense of security with a product they believe they know, let their defences drop and then subtly tweak or alter a key element and - boom - you’ll have their full attention.The one drop rhythm which is famously used in reggae music works on this exact principle.Here, we find the drums working to a classic four four on the high hat, which is then cleverly offset with the snare and the bass drum atypically hitting on the third beat. We’re not used to this sort of syncopation -...

Today’s beer is a classic example of old meets new at the crossroads of modern brewing.Brasserie Dupont has a story stretching back to the mid 1800s when it was a farm brewery making saisons, or seasonal beers, which were crafted in the winter for consumption by workers in the hot summer months.*The first mention of the Saison Dupont brand was in the 1920s and the brewery expanded steadily through the 1900s adding new brands to reflect the broader trends in beer tastes as it went. Moinette Blonde was added in the 1950s as an answer to the demand for pilsners...

Every beer has a story to tell and typically you’ll find it entwined in the brewery’s history, or the development of a style, or a personal facet of the brewer involved. On rare occasions though, you find a beer that was literally defined by a story and made to retell this tale. Today’s beer is one such brew.Battle Axe is a beer based on a man called Newton King, a prominent businessman in Taranaki who didn’t do things by halves, and who was into everything; importing, farming, shipping and finance.For leisure he loved a flutter on the gee gees, drinking...

The beer scene today is one of diversity and choice that sees a multitude of breweries jostling for your attention, but it wasn't always that way. Today’s beer, Gouden Carolus Classic, has its roots in the 1500s and for a while was very much the sole beer of the city of Mechelen, brewed at the Het Anker brewery (in what was the Netherlands but became Belgium). I love the concept of a city brewery serving its people. It seems like the perfect mutually beneficial relationship, and we saw with Bitburger and the story of Pilsner (in a blog a couple...

Drinking Belgian beer can be a dangerous game and sometimes it seems to be a case of how high do you want to up the ante - do you go dubbel, tripel or quad?!I once went for a weekend away to Bruges where I saw this firsthand. The beauty of the city was somewhat tarnished on a sunny Sunday morning as I walked the cobbled streets, by evidence of just how many people had seemingly consumed one more drink than they could keep in (if you know what I mean). I suppose it’s hard not to get carried away when...