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Colston Crawford's
Beer Column
For 21 years I wrote a beer and pubs column for the Derby Telegraph. After retiring in October 2025, I am continuing it as a blog, and this is it. Feel free to read, subscribe, comment or whatever.
Posts
Heads above water: How The Smithfield and The Exeter Arms are coping with Derby's flood defence works
I KILLED two birds with one stone one night last week and, hopefully, with this column too. I went and bought a copy of the new Good Beer Guide and made a point of getting to the Exeter Arms and the Smithfield Ale House (both pubs are of course in it). A bit of my custom is a drop in the ocean for these two brilliant Derby pubs, of course. I also get that I’m a bit late to the party in publicising their current plight. But every little helps, according to the well-known adver
Colston Crawford
7 days ago5 min read
Heads above water: How The Smithfield and The Exeter Arms are coping with Derby's flood defence works
I KILLED two birds with one stone one night last week and, hopefully, with this column too. I went and bought a copy of the new Good Beer Guide and made a point of getting to the Exeter Arms and the Smithfield Ale House (both pubs are of course in it). A bit of my custom is a drop in the ocean for these two brilliant Derby pubs, of course. I also get that I’m a bit late to the party in publicising their current plight. But every little helps, according to the well-known adver
Colston Crawford
7 days ago
The Draught Bass revival that shows no sign of slowing down
PLENTY has been written about Draught Bass in the last couple of years and here is some more, because a remarkable story continues to evolve. What has happened with Bass is one of the more unlikely tales in the last few years of Britain’s brewing history because, at a time when many beer enthusiasts favour the work of independent breweries, here is a revered brand which is owned and marketed by one unloved international conglomerate (Ab-InBev) and brewed for them under contra
Colston Crawford
Sep 17
Why monks switched dairy farming for brewing... the fascinating story of Tynt Meadow
It was 2014 when the monks at Mount St Bernard’s Abbey in Leicestershire took the decision to stop dairy farming, which had been the principal source of revenue to keep their monastery sustainable for over 160 years. The proliferation of similar farms around their 200-acre estate and plunging commercial prices for milk were just too much and the monks had to work out what they might do next. Peter Grady, brewery and operations manager for Tynt Meadow, holds court with St Arno
Colston Crawford
Sep 2
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