Mark Johnson
@marknjohnson
Beer blogger, Beer Podcaster, Animal carer, Swiftie, Huddersfield Town sufferer, Knuckles the Echidna enthusiast
Here's a story of my first visit to the reopened Spinner’s Rest in Ancoats - that is mostly to do with a completely different pub www.instagram.com/p/Db7wDEMjQR...
Bluesky signs me out about once a month, and then expects me to remember my password. So I disappear for a bit until I give up and reset it. Twitter never did this... Here's how I'm starting Friday to celebrate going through that pain
The smoke is blocking out the sun. All the comments of "oooh it's a bit smelly near me" are not grasping what we have been living with for 5 days, and will be for some time
Trying that flavoured lager trend, that I have been avoiding, for the first time. I'm not a hater. During sports it is good company
A pint of Cask Sonoma and a third of keg Bigfoot (2025) 2015 is back in fashion 🍆
Four years since he came home to stay forever, Wilbur spent the day at his favourite brewery, being fussed and eating incredible okonomiyaki
I've gone through possibly my longest period (sans Holidays or Dry Jans) without going to the local. And I come in tonight to a killer line-up including flipping Oregon Trail. I'm not saying it's just for me, but...
Dreadful end to the season (home games.) Don't normally get a beer for the journey home but an Hour & 10 minute replacement bus journey had me looking in the fridges. There I came across this ice cold perfect summer beverage. Yes please. #replacementbusservicebeer
I was really looking forward to some post-work garden chill beers, but the wind is still very bitter here. Plan B
This isn't awful either. Just thin. The intended taste is lingering in the background, at a time when we hadn't had 7000 barrel aged stouts. Yes those are caught spider carcasses up the side of the bottle. A whole design team couldn't have made these bottles look this spooky
Well the Brett has taken over this. There is no Muscat sweetness and it is all gooseberry. But it does very much taste like a bretted gooseberry Belgian pale, so I guess it has held up well. Very flat though but drinkable
Although I'm scared to put my hand in the box to be honest. Those bottles are not alone
Found these forgotten Beavertown & To Øl relics in my shed today. Think I'll crack them open. I haven't had anything aged for too long since the days that we had a segment for it on the Pod. I think, judging by the discolouration in the labels, these may have spent some time in direct sunlight so..
They are getting all the heat at the moment for feeling like the new town centre Vape Shop, but we have just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in one of those Manchester Irish bars. Football, Irish dancing, live music, and Murphy's... I'm struggling to describe anything else required.
New staff on in the pub. Apparently I need to have a gentle word with them about my preferred glass shape but, more importantly, my feelings about a particular beer brand.
Not used here much because it has been wonky about me uploading pictures. And, if I were to give the other place credit, that wasn't an issue there. I'll trial one from the weekend to see if it is worth it...
£5 for a pint of Millstone in the Tameside area. FIVE whole pounds. I think this was the moment that, even I, said "... that actually is a lot of money for a pint."
Thoughts on the Barley Mow on the social app www.instagram.com/p/DUBVKq9DVw...
Hanley Town wasn't enough to get me blogging again, but was enough to get me writing something down. Gentle reminder that it's alright on Insta. Something different, rather than the forced attempt to recapture what we lost (which is what here feels like.) www.instagram.com/p/DTx-RfFjWZ...
Was originally posting "first pint since Saturday," and then realised that it is only Tuesday. It must have been a long work week already Red Willow, Weightless in fine form
Back to work today, but yesterday was magical so I have that to hold on to. Oh, and Happy New Year! I have no resolutions other than being a bit happier to be alive. And maybe going to one or two beer events again.