Beer, Together đŸș – 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. 6d ago

    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.

  2. 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.

  3. Jul 3

    Northern Monk Faith: NEIPA, Craft Beer and the Supermarket Problem

    Northern Monk Faith is in the glass this week as Beer Together takes on one of the UK’s best-known modern craft beers: a 5% hazy pale ale from Leeds with big gateway beer energy, soft tropical fruit, pineapple, citrus, stone fruit and a clean, gently bitter finish. In this episode, Elton and Matt crack open Faith by Northern Monk and ask whether it still deserves its reputation as one of the beers that helped bring hazy pale ale, NEIPA-style flavours and modern craft beer into the mainstream. Is Faith the perfect first step for someone moving from lager into craft beer? Is it still interesting enough for people who chase double dry-hopped, experimental, limited-release cans? And does being available in supermarkets make a beer less “craft”, or just more successful? We get into the history of Northern Monk, its Leeds roots, its proudly northern identity, and how Faith became a recognisable name in UK craft beer. The tasting notes lead us through tropical fruit, pineapple, light citrus, stone fruit, oats, wheat, a soft body, low bitterness and that clean finish that makes you reach for another sip without feeling like the beer is shouting at you. We also compare it to other familiar supermarket craft beers, including Beavertown Neck Oil, Camden Pale Ale and BrewDog Hazy Jane, and ask where Faith sits in that everyday craft beer line-up. There is also a proper craft beer debate: what does “craft beer” actually mean in the UK? Should craft beer have a tighter definition? Does independence matter more than scale? Can a beer still be craft if you can buy it next to dishwasher tablets in Sainsbury’s? We compare the looser UK pub definition with stricter European ideas of craft and artisanal beer, and end up somewhere between admiration, suspicion and mild confusion. As always, there is food pairing chat. Faith gets matched with barbecue halloumi, buffalo chicken wings, Thai food, Vietnamese food, herbs, spice, citrus and anything fresh enough to work with a soft, fruity pale ale. There is also a warning about katsu curry, a brief halloumi boiling tip, and the usual level of completely unnecessary threat-based storytelling. Then Choose Your Fighter returns as Northern Monk Faith goes up against Seven Giraffes by Williams Bros. Faith brings smooth, tropical, easy-drinking hazy pale ale energy. Seven Giraffes brings elderflower, biscuit, caramel, hops and a more memorable botanical character. Which beer wins on taste, drinkability and character? This is a funny, opinionated UK craft beer podcast episode for fans of Northern Monk, Faith hazy pale ale, NEIPA, pale ale, supermarket craft beer, beer tasting, beer history, beer and food pairing, independent breweries and the ongoing argument about what craft beer actually is. Beer Together is a beer podcast about tasting beer properly, arguing about it badly, and trying to work out why some beers stick in your head while others quietly behave themselves. New episodes drop every Friday. Featured beer: Northern Monk FaithStyle: Hazy Pale Ale / NEIPA-style Pale AleABV: 5%Brewery: Northern Monk, LeedsKey tasting notes: tropical fruit, pineapple, citrus, stone fruit, soft body, gentle bitterness, clean finishAlso discussed: Seven Giraffes by Williams Bros, Beavertown Neck Oil, Camden Pale Ale, BrewDog Hazy Jane, UK craft beer, gateway beers, supermarket craft beer, beer definitions and food pairings

  4. Jun 26

    Seven Giraffes IPA Review: Williams Brothers Brewing, Scottish Craft Beer and a New Choose Your Fighter Champion

    Seven Giraffes IPA from Williams Brothers Brewing is the focus of this Beer Together craft beer review, as we taste a Scottish gluten-free IPA from Alloa and ask whether this unusual beer is really an IPA, an ESB, a golden ale in disguise, or simply one of the most drinkable beers we have tried so far. This week’s episode explores Williams Brothers Brewing, the Scottish family brewery behind Seven Giraffes, including its origins as a Glasgow home brew shop, the story of a traditional heather ale recipe, early brewing in a railway station, and the move to Alloa, a town with strong beer and malting connections. We also look at the wider Williams Brothers range mentioned in the episode, including heather ale, Scots pine ale, gooseberry wheat ale, seaweed ale and elderberry black ale. The beer itself gives us plenty to talk about. Seven Giraffes IPA is a 5.1% gluten-free IPA made with seven different malts, including lager malt, wheat, Maris Otter, Vienna, pale rye, pale crystal and Munich. We discuss how those malts shape the flavour, bringing caramel, sweetness and body without becoming too heavy or biscuity. We also talk through the hop profile, including First Gold, Cascade and Styrian Goldings, alongside elderflower and lemon, and how those floral and citrus notes lift the beer into something lighter, brighter and more memorable. As a beer tasting podcast, we dig into the full drinking experience: colour, aroma, flavour, balance, drinkability, bitterness, carbonation, malt character, elderflower aftertaste, IPA style, and whether Seven Giraffes would work for both experienced IPA drinkers and people who normally avoid IPAs. Matt does not usually like elderflower, which makes his reaction to this beer even more interesting. There is also plenty of pub chat along the way, from questionable Hawaiian shirts and not Googling “lei” on a work laptop, to foraging in the Lake District, elderflower wine bubbling away at home, old pub beer batter traditions, dial-up internet memories, Father’s Day beer choices, and whether your dad would trust the beer but question the label. For food pairing, we move away from the obvious burger or fish and chips match and explore why Seven Giraffes IPA feels more like a posh picnic beer. Think pork pie, sausage roll, roast chicken with lemon, garlic and thyme, goat’s cheese tart, herbal salads, lighter fish dishes and food with floral, citrus or savoury notes that work with the elderflower, lemon and caramel malt. We also test Seven Giraffes against our craft beer definition discussion, including the Italian-style craft beer test around independence, production size, pasteurisation and filtration, before landing on what we call UK pub logic: this is a proper independent craft beer, even if we cannot legally certify it by the Italian definition from the can alone. Finally, Seven Giraffes enters Choose Your Fighter against the current Scottish champion, Vault City’s You Choose We Brew. We compare flavour, drinkability, character and memorability, and decide whether this balanced, floral, caramel-led Scottish IPA has enough to beat the big mango sour from last week. The result gives us a brand-new Choose Your Fighter champion. If you enjoy craft beer podcasts, Scottish beer, IPA reviews, beer tasting, independent breweries, gluten-free beer, Williams Brothers Brewing, food pairing, funny pub stories, or discovering beers worth sharing, this episode is for you.

  5. Jun 19

    Vault City Hot Honey Apple Mango: Is Matt Having a Heart Attack?

    We started with puckered faces and an emphatic “absolutely not”. We finished the can, admitted we’d buy it again and somehow crowned it our new Choose Your Fighter champion. This week, we’re drinking Vault City’s Hot Honey Apple Mango — a 6.2% smoothie sour combining fresh apple, tropical mango, chilli flakes and Scottish blossom honey. It looks like a defrosted ice lolly, pours like mango juice and eventually leaves Matt wondering whether the heat in his chest is chilli or the beginning of a medical emergency. Created through Vault City’s You Choose, We Brew competition from more than 2,000 suggestions, this is a beer designed to challenge expectations. But is it genuinely well-crafted, or has modern beer finally disappeared into complete madness? We explore Vault City’s rise from small-batch Edinburgh brewery to one of Britain’s best-known sour beer producers, why heavily fruited sours divide drinkers and whether this might work better as a shared dessert drink than a traditional pint. There are food pairings including vanilla cheesecake, coconut panna cotta, fish tacos, Korean fried chicken and strong cheese. Elton also attempts to turn it into a spicy mango margarita or a dangerously drinkable Bellini. Then Hot Honey Apple Mango faces reigning champion Dead Reckoning West Coast IPA in Choose Your Fighter, judged on flavour, drinkability and character. The result irritates both of us. Finally, we check Vault City against the Italian legal definition of craft beer: independence, annual production below 200,000 hectolitres and beer that is unpasteurised and unfiltered. Would you drink a hot honey, apple and mango smoothie sour? Tell us what you think and follow Beer, Together for a new episode every Friday. Beer, Together — finding what’s worth sharing.

  6. Jun 12

    France Made a Good Beer
 Then Called It a Pils

    France finally gives us a beer we actually enjoy — and then immediately confuses us by calling it a pils. This week we’re in Carcassonne, inside a 700-year-old fortress, drinking Ciutat Pils from Les Brasseurs de la CitĂ©, a small artisanal brewery based in Carcassonne. Ciutat is the Occitan word for “the city”, and the brewery describes itself as a family-run artisan beer producer reconnecting with Carcassonne’s brewing history.  The beer itself is 4.5%, bottom fermented, and described as a pils with pleasant bitterness and Central European-style aromas. But the moment we pour it, things go sideways: it’s hazy, murky, maltier than expected, more floral, more bitter, and not quite what either of us would confidently call a pilsner.  There’s also chat about French beer culture, why wine dominates the South of France, why supermarket beer shelves feel weirdly sad, why Desperados is everywhere, and why Matt briefly relocates Carcassonne to Wales. A surprisingly good beer. A questionable pils. A fortress. Some frogs. And two men slowly losing confidence in their French pronunciation. Beer, Together — finding what’s worth sharing.

  7. Jun 5

    Leffe Blonde: The Beer Matt Waited 20 Years to Hate Again

    Matt tried Leffe Blonde for the first time in 20 years. It did not go well. This week on Beer, Together, we’re on the Canal du Midi for the second of our France specials, drinking Leffe Blonde from a 750ml bottle and asking whether one of Europe’s most recognisable Belgian beers still deserves its reputation. There’s abbey history, AB InBev, monks, marketing, banana notes, clove, honey, Belgian beer trauma, questionable pronunciation, and the return of Matt’s long-standing problem with beers that smell even slightly of banana. We talk about the story of the Abbey of Leffe, how the beer’s historic identity sits alongside modern global ownership, and whether Leffe Blonde can really be considered craft under our working Italian craft beer definition: independent, under 200,000 hectolitres, unpasteurised and unfiltered. We also get into the important stuff: what food Leffe actually belongs with, whether it works better with pork, chicken, bacon, chips and mayonnaise, or even a roast dinner, and whether a famous beer can still be worth sharing when one of us absolutely detests it. Expect Belgian beer, boat noise, French canal chaos, monks, marketing, a suspicious amount of banana, and two mates trying to work out whether Leffe is a classic, a gateway beer, or just a very well-made pint that Matt never wants to drink again. His name is Matt.He is Elton.And we are Beer, Together. Finding what’s worth sharing. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Goodpods.Follow us on Instagram and TikTok: @BeerTogether123 and @Beertasting123 #LeffeBlonde#Belgianbeer#Abbeybeer#Beerpodcast#Beerreview#Craftbeer#ABInBev#CanalduMidi#France#Foodpairing#Banana#Belgianblondeale#Beertasting#Podcast UK

  8. May 29

    We Went to France Looking for Good Beer. Did 3 Monts Save the Trip?

    This week Beer, Together goes international. Recording from a canal boat on the famous Canal du Midi in southern France, Elton and Matt crack open a bottle of 3 Monts Saison from Brasserie Saint-Sylvestre and explore one of Europe's most traditional beer styles. What exactly is a Saison? Why were they brewed for farm workers? And how has a humble farmhouse beer evolved into the 6.5% French classic we're drinking today? Along the way we discuss: đŸș The history of Saison beer đŸ‡«đŸ‡· The last historic brewery of French Flanders 🧀 The incredible food markets of Narbonne 🩐 Perfect food pairings for a French farmhouse ale đŸš€ Life aboard a canal boat on the Canal du Midi 🏆 Whether 3 Monts can dethrone Dead Reckoning in Choose Your Fighter Expect canal boats, questionable French pronunciation, excellent food recommendations and a beer that surprised us both. Find us on Instagram & TikTok: @beertogether123 #BeerTogether #CraftBeer #FrenchBeer #Saison #ThreeMonts #CanalDuMidi #BeerPodcast #DrinkDifferentDrinkTogether

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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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