Real Ale Craft Beer | Q&A

Are you curious to know about the people behind the beers you buy? Or perhaps you want to know what inspires brewers to brew and beer bloggers to blog?  This post introduces Simon Martin, who reviews beers on his Youtube channel.

Who are you/what do you do?  My name is Simon Martin and I run Europe’s largest Craft Beer channel on Youtube Real Ale / Craft Beer, with over 1,200 video’s and over half a million views to date.

How long have you been reviewing beers for?  I started my Youtube channel in January 2010.

What inspired you to start your review channel?  The one thing that inspired me to start reviewing on Youtube was a lot of people were writing blogs regarding beer but only a handful of Americans were reviewing on Youtube, so with our great range of UK ales I decided to open a dedicated beer channel.

What is the best thing that has happened to you as a result of your reviews?  There have been plenty of highlights so far reviewing beer with BBC Radio & TV appearances coming my way, but without doubt my biggest achievement so far is my collaboration beer “Barry Island IPA with Brains Brewery being sold around the world and in Morrisons & Tesco stores nationally.

If you could work for any brewery, which one would you choose and why?  If I was to work for a brewery then for me in would be a combination of sunshine (San Diego) and the amazing beer being brewed, so it’s Stone Brewing Company for me.

What is your favourite beer, wine or spirit?  My favourite beer is Alesmith Speedway Stout

What do you think makes a great beer?  What makes a great beer for me is a combination of balance, good mouthfeel for the style of beer and a great taste.

What was your first drink and where were you when you had it?  I was born in Wales so inevitably my first pint of beer was Brains Bitter.

What drink can you no longer face having had one too many?  Whisky!! As I binged on it one night as a 16 year old and was ill for 3 days afterwards.

What is your favourite style of beer?  My favourite style is American Style IPA 6% and over.

Bottled or canned beer?  For me Craft Beer is best from a can, as a can offers freshness and does not bleed any unwanted light into the beer (causes a beer to skunk/taste bad.)

If you have to pick, which would be your top three beers in the whole world?  If I had to pick my top 3 beers of all time it would be 1) Alesmith Speedway Stout, 2) Bell’s Hopslam and 3) Firestone Walker Double Jack IPA.

What is the silliest thing you have done whilst drunk?  The silliest thing I have done whilst drunk is climb to the top of an unused tractor only to fall off and land on my face.

What is the best part of your job?  The best part of my job is trying some of the best beers ever to have been brewed in the world and help educate new people to Craft Beer. There is nothing quite like someone sending you a message saying thanks to me gone are the days of drinking cheap mass produced lager.
Simon is also kindly reviewing beers for us on a regular basis. Those reviewed so far can be found in an album over on our Facebook page, which will be updated on an ongoing basis.

Thank you to Simon for taking the time to take part. Who would you like to find out more about? Leave a comment and we’ll see what we can do!