That time is upon us again--it's Oktoberfest! A festival that started in 1810--initially as a celebration for Crown Prince Ludwig's wedding but had morphed over the years to include horse-racing and an autumn festival--has ultimately found its identity as a place to drink liters upon liters of deliciously drinkable Oktoberfest beer while being enchanted by smells of grilled meat, pretzels, and roughly six million people all trying to use the same toilets. Although in-person festivals won’t be happening in 2020 due to the global pandemic crisis, we can still all toast ein prosit! with each other from a distance.

Düsseldorf is the home of the world-famous Altbier, and the reason  for Maggie Cubbler’s pilgrimage to the city. But as she discovered on an enlightening visit to this charming city, there’s much to discover besides. Well, that, and the beer

Our Beer Sommelier, Maggie Cubbler, recently visited Germany's Weihenstephan brewery for a tour of the world's oldest brewery. There's a reason they've been around so long.

Inside Cantillon

Beer Hawk's Patrick Gengler takes a pilgrimage to one of Belgium's most famous lambic breweries 

... drink beer. Our Beer Sherpa, Patrick Gengler, discovers  beer Elysium in the Italian capital

Rome, city of monolithic relics of a world long past is a world that, when considered, is unfathomable. The fact that the human race was so advanced so many years ago is mind boggling. So, when you think of Rome, you don’t immediately think ‘good craft beer’ but perhaps you should.

There are few cities worldwide that can match Bristol’s verve. This was Britain’s ’24-hour city’, it is a flagship for the new localism movement, its musical heritage is renowned worldwide, and now its beer scene is often held up as one of the country’s most exciting. Daniel Neilson reports

I can hear the din of an excited crowd who is about two-hours into a beer festival but it's just out of sight. Trying to get into the 25th Anniversary Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival, I grumble a bit at three quintessential Swedish blondes for being both beautiful and, well, between me and my festival glass. Finally they take their long legs and move along so I reach for a glass and a program. 

Damn. It's all in Swedish. I guess I'm winging it. No matter. I feel at home in this great Scandinavian city for today we all speak the same language: Beer. Influenced greatly by the American craft beer scene, Stockholm--and Sweden in general--is one of the world's most established craft beer industries. Mirroring the trajectory of most beer-making markets today, Sweden started with its first craft beer brewery in the 1990's. A slow-and-steady trickle continued in the years

Last Friday the trusty Beer Hawk team made our way on over to Malton, North Yorkshire to try our hand at brewing a beer with the great guys at Bad Seed Brewery. We'll probably stick to our day jobs (a sort of self-imposed exile) but we had such a great time.

Today it has come: today is Northern Monk Brew Co.'s first brew day in their new brewery site.

A couple weeks ago, I took my first jaunt down to North Wales for the weekend so it was a great opportunity to pop in to one of our lovely breweries: Conwy Brewery. Licensed to brew the sought-after Yakima Grande Pale Ale, it's no wonder that head-brewer and founder Gwynne Thomas and his crew are also churning out so many other great brews with their core range and their West Coast Brewing brand.