Springtime is here once again – bringing lighter nights and lots to look forward to in the beer world.
Back in November, I became an accredited Beer Sommelier, but the learning doesn’t stop there and I’m looking forward to continuing my beer education this year.
January marked a huge milestone for Craft Beer Newcastle as we celebrated our 10-year anniversary. What began as a small passion project has grown far beyond anything I expected, and I’m incredibly proud of the community that has formed around it. The new website will develop this year to make it even easier to discover great local beers, events, and pubs across our region.
Between celebrations, I completed the Tyneside Lambic Trail for the third year in a row. It’s a brilliant event put together by Mick from The Lanterne Rouge, and if you’ve never spent a Saturday afternoon trekking between pubs in search of wild and mouth-puckering beers, I highly recommend adding it to your to do list for 2027.
March brings with it one of my favourite beer celebrations – International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day. This year, I’m joining the wonderful team at First & Last Brewery for their brew day. Keep an eye out for the beer, along with special IWCBD releases from Rigg & Furrow and Full Circle.
Awards season is well underway too, and it was fantastic to see Twice Brewed pick up multiple gold awards at the Indie Beer Awards. The team’s success is thoroughly deserved, and I’ll be cheering them on at the national finals during Beer X in Liverpool.
Spring also brings lots of events to get excited about. Two dates to add to your calendar are Hazy Daze’s first Craft Beer Crawling around Whitley Bay on April 11-12, and the return of Blackfriars Beer Festival on May 22-24. Last year’s inaugural festival at Blackfriars was a great showcase of small breweries, and I can’t wait to see how the team builds on it this year.
With a whole season of beer adventures ahead, this is the perfect time to get out and explore. Whether you’re venturing to a taproom, revisiting your favourite pub, or drinking local beers in one of our amazing music venues, I’d love to hear where you’ve discovered across the North East. You can find me on Instagram @craftbeerncl.
Daisy Turnell is a beer judge, director at Tipple Marketing, and owner of Craft Beer Newcastle.
www.craftbeernewcastle.co.uk
