Drink News Archive

An Evening with Leffe

June 2025

We’ve been lucky enough to have the Brand Ambassador from Leffe over to guide our customers in some of our pubs through the history of this famous beer. From the brewing process, and unique tasting notes of their most popular beer, Leffe Blonde to some lesser known, but equally brilliant, counterparts. Dating back to 1240, Leffe was brewed at a time when beer was safer to drink than water (doesn’t sound all that bad!), so it’s quite a history to talk through.

So, alongside the beer, we of course served up some expertly paired small plates designed to complement the unique flavours of each beer. From Shredded Lamb and Rosemary Suet Pie, to a White Chocolate and Orange Crème Brûlée. It was quite the experience!

A quick visit to Belgium

May 2025

Ian, Operations Manager for London and a bit of the south, held his monthly meeting in Belgium this month - why not!? They went off to Brussels to sample Moules, Frites, Chocolate and, of course Beer - sounds pretty perfect. Whilst there they had a really enlightening Brewery Tour of Haacht and a trip to the Belgium Beer Museum.

(Another one of those occasions where the line between work and play seems to blur!)

Belgium Beer and Mussels Week

March 2025

A collection of our pubs decided to run a feature on all things Belgium for the week in March; an array of great beers, delicious mussels and indulgent waffles.

Their menus went down really well, so definitely one to revisit again for next year.

Weetwoods Brewery Visit

February 2025

Some of the crew from Old Hall, Sandbach went on a trip to the multi award winning brewery and distillery Weetwood to learn all about their cask ales, gins and whisky. They provide their very own Sandbach Blonde to the pub.

Weetwood's ethos fits perfectly with our own, premium quality, but they are family run with a strong belief in developing and looking after their people, minimising environmental impact and supporting their local community.

The crew of course got to taste test in their taproom, always a high point!

Oktoberfest 2024

October 2024

The purest amongst our pubs started, as is tradition in Germany, in September but many more have now joined in and there are sausages a plenty and pretzels to nibble whilst our customers get to try a whole array of German beers, in massive proportions!

The combination of dressing up and beer is too tempting for many of our teams to pass up, so lots have opted to take part, some very simply with a nod to the celebration with a few Bavarian beers on their line ups, whilst others whole-heartedly join in with Oompah bands, Lederhosen, Steins, multiple sausage varieties and beers on draught and in bottle.

Prost!

Champagne Trip

September 2024

Ops Manager Steve and his team of Managers took time out to explore the bubbles of Champagne with our friends at Castelnau.

The trip started in the heart of Reims at a cookery school where they cooked and plated their own lunch paired with some cracking NVs. Then off for a trip to the local museum to nurture their grey cells and learn more about wine making in the local area, finished the day off with a tasting menu paired with some more lovely wines.

Safe to say the team had a lovely time!

A visit to Warner’s Distillery

August 2024

Steve's Patch meeting took place at Warner's Distillery where the team had the best day. They learned about the process and ingredients behind making gins and other spirits and even got to help with quality control.

Huge thanks to Warners for the invite and for giving us the gift of seeing some of managers in full bee keeping outfits – it will never get old!

Our wonderful drinks suppliers

July 2024

We managed to pick, what feels like the one sunny day in June to hold our ‘Annual Northern Crew BBQ’ a day of socialising and sampling for the team and a chance to sit on a hay bale and make new friends or drink, eat and chat with old.

We all had a wonderful day, as always, and we couldn’t have done it without the help and generosity of lots and lots of local drinks suppliers who came along to meet the teams, show them their new products and invent brilliant games for them the play.

Thank you so much. Too many to name here, but you might spot a few you know, lots of the ‘usual suspects’ that we wouldn’t dream of partying without, but also lots of lovely new faces with new delights for us to try!

Estrella Damm tour of Barcelona

June 2024

Ioan and his Managers were off on their annual retreat (where they talk about year planning and personal development) but this year moving away from the blustery North Wales coast to sunnier times, as they jetted off to Barcelona courtesy of our friends at Estrella Damm.

A great time was had by all as they ate (and drank) their way through the city in some fantastic eateries, sampling countless beers, Albarino’s and Riojas and mountains of cured meats.

On their journey they were even fortunate enough to pay a visit to the Team INEOS Americas cup base in Barcelona where they met a few athletes and even caught a glimpse of Ben Ainsley amongst others as they walked around the training camp and saw their challenger boat for this year, hearing all about their plan and the detail behind the Americas cup as well as a trip around the Estrella Brewery and even a city tour – cramming a lot into their three days.

Safe to say a good time was had by all, and a gruelling exploratory trip with some cracking ideas and products that we are sure will make an appearance in a pub near you very soon.

A spot of European sampling!

May 2024

Our teams often visit local breweries and vineyards in search of great products and shared knowledge, but Ian’s patch of Managers went a bit beyond this month, taking the sampling experience one stage further by travelling to the oldest city in Europe, Bitburger for some lovely wine, great beers, great company and culture.

We’ve said it before and no doubt will say it again – sometimes, in our world, the line between work and pleasure is a bit blurry!

Wine Tasting Season!

April 2024

It’s wine tasting season for us and we certainly don’t have to ask the teams twice!

Everyone loves getting involved with visiting their local vineyards and suppliers and our resident Wine Guru ‘Kev’ has been doing the rounds introducing the teams to all sorts of new delights that they can add onto their menus if they so choose (obviously after extensive testing!).

So look out for some new ones to try over the coming months and obviously, your feedback is always very welcome.

B Corp Month

March 2024

Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.

The B in B Corp stands for 'Benefit for all', in that Certified B Corporations (or B Corps) are businesses that have been certified by B Lab, who present companies with lots of standards that they assess to see if they are meeting.

It’s an ever-growing community in the UK and around the world. There are B Corps you can buy from, work for, do business with and invest in. There is a B Corp products and services global directory if you’d like to take a look; www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/

Across our pubs we stock several products from B Corps; Union Coffee, Lucky Saint, Small Beer Brew Co., Jubel Beer, Punchy, Piper, Nix & Kix, Warners Distillery, Sipsmith, Brockmans Gin Ltd, Baileys to name a few.

Working with these innovative companies isn't just about crafting beverages; it's about crafting a better world. B-Corp drinks brands prioritise social and environmental responsibility alongside their delicious offerings. From sourcing ethically grown and / or organic ingredients to reducing waste and carbon footprints, ‘every sip is a step towards a more sustainable future’. Collaborating with B-Corp drinks brands means joining a community committed to positive change, where every partnership pours out a blend of taste and conscience.

B Corp Month is an annual, global campaign. Every year during March, B Lab and the global B Corp community join together to celebrate everything it means to be a B Corp.

Rake Hall crew visit Lancashire Brewery

February 2024

John and Meg from Rake Hall, Ellesmere Port had the opportunity to pop across to Lancashire Brewery for the day to meet the team there, taste some fantastic beers and spirits and hear all about the brewing process – both had a fantastic day and go back to the pub with a whole new love for Lancashire!

Burns night

January 2024

With not so much to celebrate throughout January we are more than happy to cheer ourselves up by borrowing a Scottish celebration (and of course – there is booze involved, and whilst you know that we are fully behind anyone that is taking part in Dry January, we do love an opportunity to explore the whisky shelf).

Many of our pubs celebrated in their own style, some with a Scottish nod to the occasion on their menus (if Haggis is a bit Marmite, there is never an argument over Cranachan), others with whisky tastings, whisky flights or meet the distiller nights and some went the whole hog, got their knees out and piped in the Haggis and read stories and poems.

Everyone left with a warm glow, from either the roaring fire, the lovely company or perhaps the ‘wee dram’ they had before leaving.

WSET Level Two Results are in!

December 2023

Congratulations to all who took their Level Two WSET (wines, spirits education trust) training. The results came back just before Christmas and what a lovely present that was - all 27 passed with flying colours, the best grades we’ve ever had. So, we are super proud of the Crew members who took part in the course, on a quest to ever improve their wines and spirits knowledge to pass onto our customers.

The Fox Beer and Cheese Night

November 2023

We are all quite au fait with Cheese and Wine being a fantastic combination, but the team from Titanic Brewery came along to the Fox in Newport to introduce their customers to the concept of Cheese and Beer. It was an absolute hit with our customers there and a great night for beer and cheese lovers alike!

Vineyard Visit

September 2023

In the gorgeous September sunshine, Tamsyn's patch of Managers headed deep into the Sussex countryside for a meeting and tasting at Henners Vineyard. They toured the beautiful vineyard, had a lovely lunch and ended by sampling the range of sparkling wines and liqueurs. Afterwards they headed to the coast of Eastbourne for fish and chips….sometimes the line between work and pleasure is very much blurred in our industry!

Vineyard Tour for the Bolney Stage team

August 2023

The Bolney team had a ‘School trip’ to their local vineyard, Ridgeview Wine Estate this week. A family run vineyard in Ditchling, Sussex established in 1995. They produce world-class English sparkling wine and focus on quality and sustainability from grape to glass.

Looks like they had a great time!

Thornbridge Brewery Tour

August 2023

Ops Manager Ioan’s patch of Managers went to learn about all things beer over at Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell. They enjoyed a brewery tour and were then taken through a full beer tasting from sours to DIPA’s, Hazy IPA’s and even the odd stout in-between, as well as some fresh off the line Jaipur (paired with pizza from our friends at Thornbridge). An absolutely great day was had by all. Thank you Thornbridge.

Southern Drinks Day

May 2023

The Southern Drinks Day took place at Camden Brewery this season. Loads of great new products for the pubs based in the south to learn about and taste along with some live music and of course great company.

It’s up to the teams now to figure out how to make some space on their bars to stock what they think will become their customers favourites over the Summer months.

Ginuary

January 2023

It’s that age old decision – do you partake in Ginuary or Dry January? Well, you can do both (kind of) – we’ve lots of choice in our ‘low and no’ gin range if you’d like to try something new this January. We’ve also got choices to be made in ales, lagers, ciders and other spirits – so you don’t have to feel like you are missing out whilst nursing your lime & soda!

Lakedown Brewing Co. visit

October 2022

A group of our Managers in the south had a lovely day at Lakedown Brewing co in Kent.

Lakedown is a family farm with fishing lakes, the inspiration behind a new brewery established in 2020 when the world was forced to run at a bit of a slower pace. The family got together and decided to turn their long-time dream of beer, bars and good times into a reality, in East Sussex. Through a chance pint they met their new mate Steve, the brewer, (so they knew the stars were aligned) and the rest is history.

The day consisted of an update on news and how things are going, followed by a little beer tasting (of course), a gorgeous lunch and then some fishing in Roger Daltry’s lakes!! Four Managers then had a lovely trout for supper. Thanks so much to Lakedown Brewing Co. for the invite.

New ‘Northern B&P House Ale’

September 2022

We celebrated International Beer Day in our Northern Pubs with the introduction of our new B&P House Ale ‘B&P Traditional’. We’ve been busy working / tasting / tweaking / tasting / tasting some more with Brightside Brewery to create this gluten free, ‘sessionable’, well balanced and tasty ale with a smooth finish. If you’d like to read more about the process, there is a little bit on it on this page just above this article.

English Vineyard Visit

August 2022

Coolhurst Vineyards invited us to their beautiful family estate for a tour of the vineyard, a picnic and lots of lovely wine tasting.

Settled in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in West Sussex, they produce one of England’s finest sparkling rosé wines which they supply to a selection of our B&P pubs.

An absolutely brilliant day had by all, a big thank you to Coolhurst.

Wine Tasting Days

July 2022

The last time we were able to get everyone together for a company wine tasting was just before the very first lock down – so this has been a long time coming and tasted all the more sweet for the waiting!

We fill a room full of almost 200 bottles of the most delicious wines we can get our hands on and many of the best wine suppliers across the land and invite our Managers and any passionate wine connoisseurs from their crew along to taste each in order to create their wine lists to take back to their pubs. Each pub is different and our customers have different tastes across the country, so it’s very important to us that the teams decided what makes their lists. It’s one of our favourite days in the B&P annual calendar and we are VERY pleased to see it’s return!

Southern Drinks Day

April 2022

Teams from our more southerly pubs met at the Small Beer Company in Bermondsey to discover new drinks from all sorts of different potential suppliers. Our wonderful Beth organised the day which is a highlight in our calendar and happens a few times a year. She made a little film to show a flavour of proceedings...

Our Manager’s brought along members of the team to help choose new products that they thought their customers would enjoy in the season ahead. We look forward to seeing what’s new on the bars over the coming weeks.

Northern Drinks Day

April 2022

Teams from our more northerly pubs met at the Little Fox on the Wirral this week to see, hear and taste drinks from 31 different invited suppliers. A mixture of ‘no & low’, spirits, beers and ciders all perfect for the Spring / Summer season.

As Brunning and Price is a ‘family’ or a ‘collection’ of likeminded pubs, rather than a brand, it’s up to the individual teams to decide what they would like to offer their customers, after all they know them far better than we do. So, we invite along the best and let our teams loose to chat and try out what’s new and special in order to figure out what this seasons line up should be for them. It’s a great, social day for everyone involved and hopefully at the end of it loads of ideas and new products make their way back to the pubs to our customers.

A similar day in the south will follow shortly – we like to keep them separate so we can keep the suppliers as local as possible (and of course two days trying out new drinks is always better than one!)

Sipsmith Tour

March 2022

Thanks so much to Sipsmith for hosting a group of our fun (/ gin) loving Assistant and Deputy Managers on a tour and tasting session yesterday in the beautiful Chiswick distillery.

They clearly had a great time and are buzzing to get back to their pubs with newfound knowledge and ideas to enhance their gin ranges.

Bombay Sapphire Distillery Tour

March 2022

Steve Butt’s managers met at the beautiful Bombay Sapphire Distillery in Laverstock in the deepest reaches of Hampshire last week.

After a catch up with the team and a great tasting session with Celtic Marches, they had a full tour around the distillery followed by a couple of cheeky (and obviously educational) cocktails!

Thank you so much to Bombay Sapphire for hosting such a great day for our team.

WSET Course

February 2022

For the last 5 weeks Crew members from around the country have been meeting once a week under the guidance of ‘Wine Guru’ Kevin and some of our fabulous wine and spirit suppliers to work through their WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) Level 2 course. Today they will sit what Kev calls a ‘testy thing’ and we are more than sure that they will all come out with flying colours …and a certificate …and a wealth of knowledge to help our customers make the perfect drink choice.

Good Luck team!

The ‘Quest for the next best thing!’

January 2022

Some of our ‘Northern’ Managers got together and had a session on winter warmers and spring spritz’s from no other than Rockstar spirits’ Thom Hurst (Dragon’s Den winner) last week. They then headed off and tried some tank beer from Estrella that had been kindly flown over freshly brewed from Barcelona less than 24 hours beforehand...

It’s a tough life continuously searching for the next exciting drink to blow our customers’ socks off, but safe to say they gave everything on offer a thorough test!

Which way is your January going to go?

January 2022

There are two schools of thought where drinking in January is concerned. There are the ‘Dry January’ supporters, in need perhaps of a bit of respite after overindulging in December and then there are the ‘Ginuary’ supporters who intend to just plough on!

Whichever camp you sit in, we have plenty of variety in all of our pubs to offer you something new and different to combat the January blues.

‘Southern’ Drinks Development Day

November 2021

...And now the turn of our team in the ‘south’. Another fantastic Drinks Development Day, thanks so much to all the fabulous suppliers, brewers and distillers who came along to show us their products. And well done team for ‘another tough day at the office’ trying them all!

Drinks Development Day

November 2021

A much-loved day in the Brunning and Price calendar today - Drink Development Day (for the northern pubs this week, the southern pubs are warming up for theirs next week).

A day when our teams can meet with different suppliers, brewers and distillers to see what’s exciting and new on offer and consider what their customers might like them to add to their bars.

It’s sometimes a blurry line between work and play!

Stoptober

October 2021

If you’d like to take part in Stoptober this year, but don’t want to miss out on any fun, we have you covered!

Happy International Beer Day!

August 2021

International Beer Day is a celebration on the first Friday of every August founded in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California by Jesse Avshalomov. Since its inception, International Beer Day has grown from a small localized event in the western United States into a worldwide celebration spanning 207 cities, 80 countries and 6 continents. Specifically, International Beer Day has three declared purposes:

• To gather with friends and enjoy the taste of beer.
• To celebrate those responsible for brewing and serving beer.
• To unite the world under the banner of beer, by celebrating the beers of all nations together on a single day.

So, whichever beer you choose to mark the day with, we hope you enjoy.

All hail the Ale! Cheers to the beer!

London Area gathering

July 2021

It’s so nice to actually get together again for Area Catch ups rather than just seeing each other on screens.

Ian’s London patch celebrated by holding their meeting at Liberty Wines where they enjoyed a tasting before heading into Brixton to ‘Lost’ where Duppy Share Rum shared their latest rum punches with them. (When the line between work and fun blurs!)

Cider Tasting from the comfort of our own home / office

July 2021

Just your average Tuesday afternoon in a ‘Pandemic World’ – Covid will not stand in the way of a good Cider Tasting!

Sal’s Deputy Managers and Managers enjoyed tasting the range of Ciders on offer from the Award-Winning Herefordshire Craft Cider makers, Celtic Marches. They very kindly sent everyone a box to chill ready for our Zoom tasting session and told us all about how their Vegan and Gluten Free (and sometimes almost alcohol free) range was made. Lots of lovely options for the team to choose from.

Otterbeck Distillery visit

June 2021

The Bull at Broughton’s team took a trip to Otterbeck Distillery to learn more about what actually goes into making gin so delicious. They look like they now know!

We are looking forward to them introducing a few new tipples to us.

Wine Tasting 2021

March 2021

We may have to do things a little differently this year, but we are never one to miss a wine tasting! So, to ready the pubs for their reopening we decided to hold a ‘virtual wine tasting’ – wine, tasting notes, an online expert on hand, all in the comfort of your own home – turned out rather well.

(Another occasion where the line between work and play became slightly blurred!)

Annual Wine Tasting

March 2020

One of our favourite days in the B&P calendar - Annual Wine Tasting Day! Each year we gather up all of our Managers, Deputies and budding ‘wine students’ fill a room with 135 up and coming varieties of wine and let them loose!

After much glass swirling, sipping and revisiting of their favourites the pub teams start to pull together ideas for their 2020 wine lists and specials (and they look like they had a lovely time doing it too!).

Tough day at the office!

Managers Visit to Nyetimber Estate

September 2019

Tamsyn and her patch of Managers had a lovely, if rainy, visit to the Nyetimber Estate in the beautiful South Downs. Nyetimber make award winning English fizz which they happily sampled after a rainy tour of the vineyard in their matching green Hunters!

South African Wine Masterclass

July 2019

We were delighted to have Sue Masters from Distell with us to present a South Africa Masterclass to some budding sommeliers from around the B&P family. They were a wonderful group of enthusiastic students and so it was really enjoyable to share the joys of the grape with them all!

Camden Town Brewery visit

May 2019

A huge thank you to Camden Town Brewery (the home of ‘Hells’) for hosting a group of our managers on a visit and tasting session – obviously incredibly educational (and thirst quenching).

Annual Cider Tasting

March 2019

It's another date that we all look forward to in the B&P calendar – the annual cider tasting. This year, Prae Wood Arms, St Albans, stepped in to host the proceedings; 65 Ciders, 10 suppliers and a whole host of B&P-ers eager to taste everything on offer in order to choose the best to take back to their pubs. Another tricky day at the office!

Annual Wine Tasting 2019

February 2019

It's a day that we all countdown to on the B&P calendar, crossing off days as we go through a VERY long January until it's here – The Annual Wine Tasting. We fill a room full of what's hip, happening, emerging and classic in the wine category (this year 122 specimens, including some non-alcoholic wines for the first time) and then invite everyone along to taste them all. Managers bring their Deputies and Assistants and together they create their own wine menus and wine specials for the coming year.

They go through the arduous task of sampling over 100 wines, poor things, just to bring you the very best – we are indebted to their dedication!

WSET Training

November 2018

This years Level 2 and Level 3 WSET wine and spirits courses are now in full swing.

Here are our Level 2 candidates enjoying a tasting session from the back of a tractor at the Mill House - wine ever not!

Wine Scholarship Winners

October 2018

Our brilliant Wine Scholarship Winners enjoyed a blissful treat of a day visiting Waddesdon Manor for a tour and tasting followed by dinner at Le Manoir. An absolutely sublime day!

Congratulations to all who earned their place.

The creation of Brunning and Price Traditional

September 2018

For many years now all our pubs have served an ale, arduously developed many moons ago with Pheonix Brewery, up in Manchester, called 'Brunning and Price Original'.

It's a great ale and one we're still incredibly proud of; however, the size and scale of our pubs has grown significantly since its first inception and the logistics of supplying Brunning and Price Original in the South has proved tricky in recent years, often leaving us with short supply or an inconsistent beer.

So, this led us to believe we needed another string to our bow; a new beer that would not only appeal to our southern audience, but also give us the logistical support and assurances to deliver to the ever-growing Southern family.

Off we went down to Cornwall to visit the award-winning St Austell Brewery - it was a marriage made in heaven and Brunning and Price Traditional is our proud offspring of it!

Adnams Brewery Visit

June 2018

Tamsyn's area visited the Adnams brewery in Southwold with Stuart and Lee their local Adnams Reps.

They stayed in their newly refurbished and very swanky Swan Hotel and held their GM meeting there, then were then taken around the brewery, treated to some beer tasting, which was received gratefully as you can imagine on such a hot day.

In the evening they were hosted for dinner at The Harbour Inn and went through some of their spirits and perfect serves. Fun day had by all and very kind of Adnams to educate us in their ways!

The Falcon's First Prosecco Festival

June 2018

The Falcon's customers love a good festival and are very partial to a glass or two of fizz. So Peter and the team decided to throw them an evening to explore all things Prosecco.

Three marquees, a beautiful view, a fantastic band and a lot of face glitter later and they had themselves a wonderful Summers night to remember...(and if they don't, we have this lovely video to fill in the gaps!)

Annual Wine Tasting

March 2018

Each year we hold a day for our managers and their teams, packed full of wine suggestions. This year we had 105 wines on offer for our teams to taste (what a truly terrible job!)

The idea is that the teams go away with loads of ideas of great wines to add to their lists over the coming months.

It’s always a great day for everyone to get together and mingle, as well as the most fun way of choosing a wine list that we can think of!

WSET Level 2 training

March 2018

The latest round of our Wine, Spirit and Education Trust training started this week. This time the candidates are training for their Level 2 certificate.

We kick started the proceedings with a little 'Al Fresco tasting session', luckily all the wines we tasted needed to be served chilled!

Assistant Manager, Cellar Management Training Day

November 2017

A huge thank you to Fullers for hosting a group our Assistant Managers who spent the day learning about all things 'Cellar Management'.

A really educational and fun day was had by all, as you can see from the smiles from Libby from the White Hart Chipstead and Jess from Fox Revived - another of those occasions where the line between work and play is blurred!

Camden Beer School

November 2017

JAR, James and some of the Northern managers took a trip south to the Camden Beer School for a talk on the history of beer this month.

The Beer School were wonderful hosts, included a trip around the brewery in Kentish town and an inevitable tasting session.

The Armoury, Gin Festival

October 2017

Nothing warms up an Autumn night more than a glass or two of gin to warm your cockles. The Armoury closed the road and created a beautiful waterside gin festival, no need to tell you any more, just watch this to spirit you away...

Grosvenor Arms. Beer, Gin and Fizz Festival

July 2017

The Grosvenor Arms hosted its first Beer festival with Justin at the helm this month. They joined forces with the rest of the village of Aldford to create a real féte atmosphere complete with beer tent, live music, face painting and village tug of war competition (this time around, the rope was not stretched across from one side of the river to the other, for reasons obvious in this decade - the 90's really were different times).

An Educational Day...

July 2017

...for Ian's patch who this week did the double and went to visit 'Half Hitch Gin Distillery' in Camden, where they enjoyed creating and bottling their own gin, before moving onto the Matthew Clark boutique beer show in the sunshine of Hyde Park, where they sampled their way through some delicious drinks that no doubt will be coming to a pub near you soon.

WSET Last Day

June 2017

It was the last day of training for our current class undergoing the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, Level 2, certificate this week.

They met at the Pant-yr-Ochain Wrexham to enjoy a leisurely lunch together ahead of their test, sampling and learning all about Chablis La Motte and Rare Vineyards Marsanne Viognier to steady any nerves.

Such an enthusiastic and bright group of people, we have no doubts they will all have done very well.

Craft Beer Rising

March 2017

After a London based area meeting, Ian's patch headed to Craft Bear Rising at the Old Truman brewery. It's now officially the biggest craft beer festival in the UK and was very impressive - well over 150 brewers in one place with music, food and a wide variety of beards and tattoos!

As you would expect there was a lot of keg beers on show (the trend has been heading this way for some years now) but still absolutely loads of excellent cask ales to get excited about. Highlights included a wonderful Saison from brew by numbers and some cracking stuff from the Bedlam Brewery stand.

CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival in August is the next big beer event in the calendar. It takes some beating as it's great place to sample every beer under the sun - but Craft Beer Rising offered something different and gave us all a great chance to speak to the people who actually make the beer, build up loads of useful contacts and get a feel for where the wonderful world of beer is heading in 2017.

Annual Wine Tasting

February 2017

What better way to celebrate the first day out of 'Dry January' than with the annual wine tasting?

We brought together a selection of 115 wines (and 1 beer that was so good we had to squeeze it in somewhere) and invited all of managers, deputy managers and any budding wine connoisseur crew members to come along to taste. We try to present wines that reflect current palates and so this year included many organic and biometric varieties all with great background stories as well as great flavours.

After hours of sipping and note taking, we feel sure that they all left the building (in a zag zag fashion) with ideas to pepper their wine lists over the coming year.

We love a good garden party

August 2016

When the sun is shining, there is no better way to celebrate the summer than a bit of a garden party, complete with beer tent, ciders and Pimms. Through the course of the Summer, some of our Brunning and Price pubs link up with local residents to bring their gardens alive with such occasions, and we think this little video from Little Manor gives you a flavour of what we feel the summer is all about.

Wine Scholarship Trip to Bordeaux 2016

June 2016

Each year, Kevin our 'Wine Guru' runs a wine course for any budding 'Jilly Goolden's. At the end of the course there is a little test to make sure that everyone has been learning as well as 'quaffing' and the 5 winners get a very special treat. This year's Wine Scholarship winners; Becky Simmons Assistant Manager - The Red Fox, Chris Allardes, Deputy Manager - The Sparrowhawk, Ben Walton, Manager - The Mill House, James Murdoch, Deputy Manager -The Hare, Chloe Lawless - Old Hall, were whisked off on a 3 day tasting trip to Bordeaux at the beginning on June along with Mary, Kevin and Tom who felt they needed to accompany them for 'safety reasons'.

They managed to visit places that until now Kevin has only been able to look at pressed against locked gates; Vineyards, wineries, tastings, restaurants ...it really was a grueling trip, tough but somebody had to do it, but it was thoroughly deserved by all 5 winners.

Southern Cider Tasting

May 2016

As the sun is beginning to shine we thought it best to make sure that we had the very best in the world of Cider on hand to offer throughout these barmy hours / days / weeks even. So Ally from the Black Jug and Ben from the Mill House organised for a whole array of Southern Cider makers to showcase their wares to the team in a big 'Cider -Off' down at the Mill House.

A selection of around 25 different hand pull ciders and around 25 different bottled ciders were assembled, with a couple of cider makers on hand to talk about their products. We are still unsure if this was work or pleasure, but a good afternoon was had by all and everyone left a little bit wiser on the subject with a few new favorites to add to our bars.

B&P Annual Wine Tasting

March 2016

Each year our managers and their esteemed nominated tasters get together in order to painstakingly taste, sniff and 'quaff' a myriad of wines in the quest to create the perfect wine list. What makes this special is that what is deemed to be perfect for one pub, may not be quite right for another. So instead of being prescriptive, we all taste over 100 wines in order to select the chosen few that will make it onto their own spring season wine list.

The firm favourites will of course remain, but the list is changed regularly in order to introduce some different flavours that suit the changing seasons and to ensure we always keep things interesting and, occasionally, surprising.

This year's brief; 'the inexpensive Chilean Merlot challenge', 'what could knock Prosecco off its podium?', 'the best dry Rose to sip in the summer' and possibly the most interesting of categories was 'the wildcard - open your mind stunners'.

...it's a tough day at work!

Sipsmith Distillery Tasting

November 2015

A fantastic tour of Sipsmiths Distillery was had by our managers in the South East. Stunning gin and fabulous hosts, we are delighted to see them featured on our back bars and will be visiting again as soon as possible.

B&P wine trip June 2015

June 2015

As a reward for scoring the highest points in the Wine and Spirits Trust exam, Aimee Lewis (Assistant Manager at the Architect) and Griff Bracey (Assistant Manager at the Mute Swan) were very generously sponsored by wine supplier Boutinot on a wine trip to the Rhone Valley.

They visited the vineyards and tasted the wines of Domaine Boutinot, in Cairanne; Chante Cigale in Chateau Neuf du Pape; and Chateau L'Ermitage near Nimes, ably accompanied by our trainer Suzy Turner, Graham Price, and wine guru Kevin Sambrook. Everyone said it was an amazing trip and it was a massive learning curve...