Beer, Together 🍺 – Finding what’s worth sharing.

Elton and Matt
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Two mates with years in pubs and hospitality sit down each week to drink great beer and talk about what actually matters. From craft beer discoveries and UK breweries to honest opinions, food pairings and industry insight, this isn’t a review show — it’s a conversation. No snobbery, just good beer and good company. New episodes weekly.

  1. 5d ago

    Darbys Premium Lager: The British Lager We’d Pick Over Madri?

    Darbys Premium Lager has returned — and given the choice between this, Madri, Beck’s or Holsten, we know which one we’d order. But how much of the original Darbys has actually returned? Beer, Together is back with Darbys Premium Lager, a revived British beer name with roots in the Black Country and a history stretching back more than a century. The original Darbys brewing business grew into a substantial operation with around 100 pubs by the late 1930s before disappearing in the early 1950s. Decades later, the Darbys name has been revived — but that leaves us with a question: Can you actually revive a beer, or are you really reviving a brand? We try the modern 5% Darbys Premium British Lager and find considerably more malt, colour and character than we expected. There’s stone fruit. There’s a floral and herbal edge. There’s a surprisingly strong reaction from two people who aren't exactly known for making lager their first choice. And somehow we end up discussing whether you can actually taste the care that's gone into a beer. We also discover why the first bottles were deliberately hand-labelled slightly wonkily, why Darbys sells a branded glass that can't hold an entire bottle of Darbys, and why Matt has questions about a “no adjuncts” claim when wheat appears in the ingredients. Naturally, Elton responds to this level of scrutiny by proposing a Captain Pedant cape. Then comes food pairing. Fish and chips? Absolutely. Pork pies? Yep. Cheese and onion cob? Very Black Country. Grey peas and bacon? Things deteriorate quite rapidly from there. Finally, our newly rebuilt Choose Your Fighter returns with three categories: FlavourFinish & AppearanceDrinkability Every beer is judged within its own style before taking on our reigning champion. Darbys puts up a much stronger fight than we expected — but can a premium British lager actually knock the current champion off its perch? And if you're standing at the bar choosing between one of these and a mass-market lager? Well... we have thoughts. Different beer. Real opinions. Minimal qualifications. Every week. Follow Beer, Together so you don't miss the next one, give the show a rating if you're enjoying it, and send this episode to somebody who still insists all lager tastes the same.

  2. Sep 11 ·  Bonus

    New Forest Beer Festival: 40 Real Ales, 50 Ciders & the Future of the Pub

    New Forest beer festival, 40 real ales, 50 ciders and one very traditional country pub — Beer, Together is unexpectedly back. We head to the Cuckoo Inn for a surprise episode from its real ale and cider festival, drinking New Forest IPA and working our way through a proper old-school beer festival. There’s Rebellion Brewery's Bee's Knee honey beer, disappearing festival ales, questionable cider aromas, live music, camping, burgers and the slight logistical problem of trying to record a podcast in a packed little country pub. But it also gets us talking about something bigger: what makes a great pub? Are traditional pubs becoming impossible to run? Are taprooms and bottle shops starting to replace them? And what happens when the only beer somebody can find locally is Madri? Plus, we start revealing what's coming in Beer, Together Series 2, including listener beer suggestions, some very small breweries, a more structured journey through the series — and one unexpected lager-drinker confession. Series 2 begins on the first Friday in October. Follow Beer, Together now so you don't miss it.

  3. Aug 14

    The finale - Mad Squirrel Brewing: Sumo, Wetherspoons and Staying Independent

    Mad Squirrel Sumo is a 4.7% hazy pale built around Summit and Mosaic — and tasting it raises a bigger question: can an independent craft brewery get into Wetherspoons, supermarkets and more taprooms without losing what made people care about it in the first place? Sumo is the beer we used for our never-released practice recording before Beer, Together properly began. Now it finally gets its own episode. We get into the citrus, mango and grapefruit, the dry bitter finish and whether “dank herbs” is actually a useful way of describing a beer. For Matt, Sumo is pretty much the Goldilocks beer: not too sweet, not too fruity and not too bitter, with enough dryness to make you immediately want another mouthful. Then there’s Mad Squirrel itself. We talk about the brewery’s journey from Red Squirrel and traditional cask beer towards modern craft styles, its taprooms, supermarket presence and the slightly dangerous word in our recording: Wetherspoons. Is getting an independent beer in front of thousands more drinkers clever growth — perhaps introducing people to Mad Squirrel who might then visit one of its own bars — or does going that mainstream risk alienating the people who liked the brewery in the first place? We also pair Sumo with spicy Asian food, Tex-Mex, jerk chicken, Korean fried chicken, strong blue cheese and the sort of heavyweight burger this beer can actually stand up to. Fish tacos, for reasons best left to the episode, are temporarily banned. Finally, Sumo faces current Choose Your Fighter champion I Can Get Better at Tesco for a Quid. Taste. Drinkability. Memorability. The result is fairly emphatic. This is the final episode of Season 1, but Beer, Together returns in October. Follow the podcast now and the first episode of Season 2 will be waiting for you when we’re back. And help choose what goes into the fridge next: send us the beers you love, hate or simply want to hear us struggle to describe via Beer Tasting 123 and Beer Together 123 on Instagram and TikTok. Mad Squirrel Sumo: the beer that started Beer, TogetherSummit + Mosaic: why Sumo gets its nameTasting Sumo: citrus, mango, grapefruit and bitternessWhy Sumo is the “Goldilocks beer”From Red Squirrel to modern Mad SquirrelCan Mad Squirrel scale without losing its identity?Mad Squirrel in Wetherspoons: clever move or big risk?Pub snobbery, chains and finding your tribeWhat food pairs with Mad Squirrel Sumo?Choose Your Fighter: Sumo vs I Can Get Better at Tesco for a QuidThe Vault City beer Matt couldn't finishSumo takes the final 3–0 victoryWhich beers should we try in Season 2?

  4. Aug 7

    DEYA Steady Rolling Man: Is This Britain’s Best Beer?

    DEYA Steady Rolling Man has twice topped We Are Beer’s Top 50—but is this 5.2% pale ale really Britain’s best beer? Elton and Matt review its Mosaic, Motueka, Amarillo and Idaho 7 hops, its famously soft, pillowy mouthfeel, the Robert Johnson blues story behind the name and why different batches of Steady Rolling Man can offer a different drinking experience. Then DEYA faces I Could Get Better At Tesco For A Quid in Choose Your Fighter as Beer Together debates drinkability, complexity and what really makes a great British craft beer. Follow Beer Together for weekly beer reviews, brewery stories, food pairings and two opinions delivered with considerably more confidence than preparation. DEYA Steady Rolling Man reviewBritain’s best beerbest British craft beerDEYA Brewing Cheltenhampale ale reviewMosaic hopsMotueka hopshazy pale aleWe Are Beer Top 50British beer podcastcraft beer tastingbeer food pairing 00:00 A new Choose Your Fighter champion[TIME] DEYA Steady Rolling Man first taste[TIME] Is this Britain’s best beer?[TIME] Mosaic, Motueka, Amarillo and Idaho 7[TIME] Why each batch can taste different[TIME] Robert Johnson and the Steady Rolling Man name[TIME] The beer’s soft, pillowy mouthfeel[TIME] Food pairings for Steady Rolling Man[TIME] Pale ale, hazy pale or IPA?[TIME] Choose Your Fighter[TIME] The Beer Together series finale

  5. Jul 31

    I Could Get Better at Tesco for a Quid: Is Craft Beer Worth More?

    Can craft beer justify costing more than a supermarket can? Matt and Elton review I Could Get Better at Tesco for a Quid, the 4.5% Session IPA from Pretty Decent Beer Co. We taste the tropical mango, tangerine and grapefruit flavours delivered by Simcoe and Mosaic hops, uncover the one-star Google review behind the beer’s extraordinary name and ask whether supermarket beer can ever offer the same value as a small independent brewery. There are spicy food pairings, arguments about bottle shops and taprooms, an attempt to define what “craft beer” actually means and another question nobody asked: should anyone spend £19.50 on a bottle of beer? Then I Could Get Better at Tesco for a Quid enters Choose Your Fighter against long-reigning champion Seven Giraffes. Can a beer born from a one-star review finally take the title? Follow Beer Together on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and send us your beer suggestions for Series Two. Instagram and TikTok: @BeerTogether123 Matt’s beer account: @BeerTasting123

  6. Jul 24

    London Craft Beer Festival 2026: The Best Beers We Tried

    23 beer tastings and three standout craft beers: Anspach & Hobday London Black, St Ives Brewery Slipway and Oakham Ales Citra. Beer, Together goes live from Southwark Park for our most chaotic episode yet — tasting nitro stout, New England IPA, session IPA, pale ale, lambic, sour beer, wheat beer and more while becoming steadily less capable of recording a podcast. We begin with London Black by Anspach & Hobday, the 4.4% nitro porter brewed in South London. Is it simply London’s answer to Guinness, or does its creamy mouthfeel, roast coffee, chocolate, red-fruit sweetness and softer bitterness make it a genuinely different stout? We compare London Black with Guinness, discuss why nitro changes the texture, and match it with oysters, barbecue meat, slow-cooked dishes and chocolate brownies. Next is Slipway from St Ives Brewery: a 5% New England IPA brewed with Simcoe and Idaho 7 hops. Expect apricot, passion fruit, peach, floral aromas, gentle spice and a soft oat-led mouthfeel. It became one of our favourite beers of the entire London Craft Beer Festival, prompting comparisons with Beavertown Neck Oil and a debate over whether Slipway is the fuller, fruitier and more satisfying session IPA. We also cover its alcohol-free version and pair it with fish tacos, grilled chicken, burgers, spicy street food, citrus salads and creamy cheese. Our third featured beer is Oakham Ales Citra, one of the UK’s best-known single-hop beers. We explore how Oakham helped introduce the Citra hop to British drinkers, why the beer’s grapefruit, lychee, gooseberry and mango flavours still stand out, and how its dry bitterness avoids becoming another thick “fruit juice” IPA. We also discuss its Champion Golden Beer of Britain wins and why Citra works with pizza, tomato and basil dishes, spicy Asian food, beef and venison. The festival promises around 800 beers from breweries across London, Britain and beyond, but our ambition quickly collides with heat, loud music and generous pours. This episode captures the real London Craft Beer Festival atmosphere in Southwark Park: packed brewery tents, traditional hand-pulled ales, neon-lit craft beer bars and two hosts attempting to keep useful tasting notes. Those are only the three favourites. Along the way we also taste Orbit Beers’ tzatziki sour and Peel Belgian wit, Five Points XPA, Radio City Shortwave table beer, Timmermans Kriek Black Pepper lambic, Signature Brew Roadie session IPA, Proper Job, Mad Squirrel Roadkill and several beers we can no longer reliably identify. There are cherry sweets, banana foam sweets, cucumber battery acid, rave music, questionable counting and an unsuccessful attempt to find Vault City’s Iron Brew sour. We compare modern craft beer stands with traditional cask ale breweries, explain lambic fermentation and coolships, discuss food pairings, and discover exactly what happens when two podcast hosts try to sample more than 20 beers in one afternoon. Which beer won the day: London Black, Slipway or Citra? Was the Timmermans cherry lambic genuinely vile, or was Elton simply defeated by cherries? Can a 2.8% table beer still have real body? And at what point did “responsible tasting” become “we are still ambulatory”? This is Beer, Together at the London Craft Beer Festival: honest beer reviews, British craft beer, brewery stories, beer tasting notes, food pairings and the slow collapse of two men who believed tiny glasses could not possibly be dangerous. Listen to the end for the original festival exit recording — preserved despite several attempts to justify deleting it. Follow Beer, Together and join us every Friday for more beer reviews, brewery history, tasting notes, food matching and Choose Your Fighter. London Craft Beer Festival 2026London Craft Beer Festival podcastLondon Black Anspach and HobdaySt Ives Brewery SlipwayOakham Citra beer reviewBritish craft beer podcastLondon beer festivalBest UK craft beersCraft beer tastingNitro stout versus Guinness

  7. Jul 17

    Fruli Strawberry Beer Review: The Best Fruit Beer We’ve Ever Tried?

    Fruli Strawberry Beer shocks two fruit-beer sceptics: could this be the best Belgian fruit beer we have ever tasted? Elton and Matt review Fruli, the 4.1% Belgian strawberry beer from Huyghe Brewery, made using wheat beer and real strawberry juice. Expect an enormous strawberry aroma, a creamy yoghurt-like flavour, subtle vanilla and banana notes, and a surprisingly balanced finish. We ask whether Fruli is the perfect beer for people who do not normally like beer, compare it with fruit cider and alcopops, and discuss the best Fruli food pairings—from Eton mess, cheesecake and goat’s cheese to duck salad and mild Thai curry. Then Fruli enters Choose Your Fighter against Williams Bros Seven Giraffes. Can the Belgian strawberry beer finally end its winning streak? Plus old nightclub fridges, terrible 1990s shots, a disastrous night drinking port in Lisbon and a preview of our London Craft Beer Festival episode. Follow Beer Together on Apple Podcasts so next week’s festival episode appears automatically. Anything else Discoverability keywords and phrases Fruli Strawberry Beer reviewFruli beer reviewBelgian strawberry beerBelgian fruit beerHuyghe Breweryfruit beer tastingwheat beer reviewbest strawberry beerfunny beer podcastBeer Together podcast Suggested chapter headings The Hostage NoteFirst Pour of FruliStrawberry Yoghurt BeerFruli Food PairingsChoose Your FighterFestival Episode Preview Alternative title Fruli Strawberry Beer: Brilliant Beer or Alcoholic Yoghurt? Social and preview hook We opened Fruli expecting alcoholic strawberry yoghurt. Annoyingly, it might be brilliant. Apple Podcasts promotional CTA We’ve been climbing the Apple Podcasts Food chart this week. Help keep Beer Together moving: open Apple Podcasts, follow the show and listen to our new Fruli Strawberry Beer review. Hosts Elton and Matt Audience Belgian beer fans, fruit beer drinkers, craft beer enthusiasts and anyone who prefers their beer reviews with pub stories, arguments and very little dignity.

  8. Jul 10

    Double Diamond’s weird comeback story: grandad beer, CAMRA enemy, now somehow… decent

    Double Diamond beer is back, and somehow the pint once treated like the enemy of real ale has returned as a surprisingly drinkable summer beer. In this episode of Beer Together, Elton and Matt open a 440ml can of Double Diamond, the revived 3.8% pale ale that claims to be “brewed as a pale ale, drinks like a lager, tastes bloody wonderful.” What follows is part beer review, part British pub history lesson, and part rambling tribute to the beers your grandad probably drank while you were left outside the pub with a packet of crisps. We get into the story of Double Diamond, from its Samuel Allsopp roots in Burton-on-Trent to its place in the keg beer revolution, its huge advertising push, and why CAMRA once saw beers like this as everything wrong with British brewing. There is talk of “Double Diamond works wonders,” old pub culture, Watney’s Red Barrel, tankards behind the bar, keg beer, lager-style pale ales, and whether bringing back nostalgic beer brands is a good idea or a warning sign. On the tasting side, Double Diamond turns out to be lighter, crisper and more modern than expected, with citrus, a little tropical hop character, low bitterness and an easy-drinking finish. The question is whether it should be judged as a pale ale, a lager alternative, or simply a fridge-cold beer garden pint for hot weather. There are also food pairings, including fish and chips, burgers, bangers and mash, chicken tikka masala, salty pub snacks, scotch eggs, sausage rolls and possibly halloumi that has had its tension released in boiling water. Yes, apparently that works. Finally, Double Diamond enters Choose Your Fighter against the reigning champion, Seven Giraffes by Williams Bros Brewing. Can revived pub nostalgia beat elderflower, caramel malt and actual memorability? Spoiler: not quite. Also featuring: elderflower rocket fuel, Geraldine the goat, Scottish taxi drivers, Madri confusion, the Blue Stoops, Kirkstall Brewery, beer festival danger, and the promise that Elton will one day prepare an intro properly. Beer reviewed: Double DiamondStyle: Pale ale / lager-style pale aleABV: 3.8%Brewery connection: Samuel Allsopp / Kirkstall BreweryPrevious champion: Seven Giraffes by Williams Bros Brewing New episodes every Friday. Subscribe, download, and join Elton and Matt for more beer reviews, pub nostalgia, craft beer arguments and occasional useful information.

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Two mates with years in pubs and hospitality sit down each week to drink great beer and talk about what actually matters. From craft beer discoveries and UK breweries to honest opinions, food pairings and industry insight, this isn’t a review show — it’s a conversation. No snobbery, just good beer and good company. New episodes weekly.

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