Alistair Reece

Really pleased to be on board! Plenty of stories to dig into around apples, orcharding, and cider in Virginia.

Looking forward to writing more for you!

My first piece for @ciderreview.bsky.social, where I do a tasting of ciders from around Virginia made with just our local apple, the Virginia Hewe's Crab.

Oh, those fun-loving toffs...whoever came up with the idea was clearly told, "it will never take off", to which they responded "joke's on you, the fox is on a bedsheet with people pulling at either end". How did they get the animal to sit still long enough though?

Glass of amber coloured strong bitter in a British dimpled mug.

My current #homebrew on tap is "Supercharged Bitter".

Pretty simple grist, just Murphy & Rude English Pale and Biscuit malts. Hopped with Fuggles for an estimated 38 IBUs, and fermented with good old S-04 to give me an abv of 5.3%.

Oh yes!! Happy days.

Old Friends: Unibroue La Fin du Monde a blog about beer, pubs and homebrewing. Based in Charlottesville but with a view of the world.

New post on #Fuggled, in which I revisit Unibroue's La Fin du Monde...

www.fuggled.net/2025/11/old-...

Wondering if anyone noticed the reference to a Pixar movie in my Pellicle piece last week...

Looking forward to tomorrow and a cessation of fecking political hatchet job ads on every conceivable platform. If it wasn't for the fact that it would get struck down as unconstitutional, I'd love to see a rule that candidates for office can only speak about themselves, their policies, their plans.

At the end of the day, they are all fecking mental.

There was a lad at college, I studied to be a minister, from Northern Ireland who was a member of Iain Paisley's church. Whenever he spoke in chapel, he went on and on about sodomy and the evils of homosexuality. Also had an irrational fear of my Celtic shirts, so I wore them often.

So....which hallow is everyone dressing up as tomorrow?

Starting to think it would be seasonally appropriate for my Halloween costume (if I bothered with such shite) to be a Santa Claus suit.

Diane Flynt is key not just to the renaissance in cider throughout the South, but also at the very heart of orcharding for apples, specifically cider apples.

It is always a joy to speak with her about not just cider apples, but growing apples for cider - an important distinction.

#craftcider

a man wearing sunglasses and a black shirt is saying rock and roll ALT: a man wearing sunglasses and a black shirt is saying rock and roll

My youngest just said...

"Daddy, who is Satan? The God of music?"

Hell, yeah!!!

YouTube video by The Craft Beer Channel No one makes beer like St Mars of the Desert.

What a great week of learning about brewers ploughing their own furrow.

After the wonderful piece on @pelliclemag.com yesterday, @craftbeerchannel.bsky.social bring this utter, utter delight:

youtu.be/xmJo-tCM-0A?...

What’s Worth Keeping — Macintosh Ales in Stoke Newington, London — Pellicle There’s a small yard a moment away from Stoke Newington Church Street in North East London. At its entrance an entirely perfunctory and heavily battered railing protects the square of overgrown cobble...

A brilliant read from @lilywaite.bsky.social for this week's @pelliclemag.com feature!!

Sounds so much like my kind of place, and trying to blag a business trip to London to the list...

www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/10...

Unless the ferry was just in...

So glad we grew up where we did and could actually be kids. Many, many times I am tempted to take my wee family and move back to the islands so they can have exactly what I did.

The Bon Accord on North St is everything a pub should be in my world.

List of awardees for the Best Other Beverage Reporting category at the 2025 North American Guild of Beer Writers awards.

An honorable mention from @nagbw.bsky.social for "Virginia Cider: A Scrumptious History"!!

Look at the folks that placed though...I am thrilled beyond words!

Had to look up the date, what on earth is with this timeline??

Judged objectively, Devils Backbone are still one of the best breweries in Virginia, and Jason Oliver is an amazing brewer.

As usual, the doctrinally pure of VA's craft beer community are pointedly ignoring the fact that Devils Backbone won multiple medals at #GABF, just as they did with this year's World Beer Cup results, just as they did with last year's GABF...you get the picture.

A very young Carra?

Dominic Matteo.

Do love a Yarlington Mill cider, that leathery character is stunning.

YouTube video by The Craft Beer Channel Utopian Brewery changed how we think about British ingredients.

Glorious from @craftbeerchannel.bsky.social about @teamutopian.bsky.social - wish they were available in VA.

Love the bit showing the difference decoction makes, staggering there are still folks that believe it is unnecessary, dafties all of them.

Go watch, get thirsty.

youtu.be/H1HRhgPf5lw?...

Old Friends: Boddingtons Pub Ale a blog about beer, pubs and homebrewing. Based in Charlottesville but with a view of the world.

New post on #Fuggled, no, really.

Another Old Friends post, this time revisiting the height of 90s beery cool, Boddingtons.

www.fuggled.net/2025/09/old-...

#beer

After Mlíko, Could This Traditional Czech Beer Pour Be the Next Big Thing? First came mlíko, which gave us “milk tubes,” “mlíko bombs,” and other variations on the all-foam beer serve. With bars and taprooms looking for new ways to attract customers, will the two-beer mix kn...

All-foam mlíko pours got trendy in craft beer circles. But now feels like the right time for řezané pivo, the Czech special pour layering dark and pale lagers. It’s perfect for fall.

(Illustration: 3 mugs of striped řezané pivo.)

vinepair.com/articles/rez...