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Here’s our pick of beer- and pub-related reading from the last week, from*Brexit to botanicals.

Brewers have begun to react to the EU referendum on 23 June*mostly — unless we’ve missed something, which is possible — expressing worry:
→ Paul Jones of Manchester’s Cloudwater says*‘As a company, we’re sorely disappointed that our immediate future is now a lot less certain than a week ago’.
→ For Good Beer Hunting*Matthew Curtis got soundbites from a couple of others including Claire Ashbridge-Thomlinson of East London Brewing Co who said, ‘we*have just had a cancellation of an export order from an Italian customer who felt insecure going ahead in the present climate’.
→ And it’s not just hip craft brewers who are worried: Greene King has concerns about*‘the near-term’, too.

More from Matt Curtis who had a chat about yeasty beer with revered beer writer*Randy Mosher a while back and they agreed to disagree:*‘Yeah it looks like shit, but the smell? Wow… The taste is phenomenal’.
Brewery takeover news: St Austell has acquired Bath Ales, as reported by Beer Today.*We did*not see this one coming, though we have been observing St Austell’s attempts to build a presence beyond Cornwall (e.g. a flagship pub in Exeter). This gets them 11 pubs in and around Bristol as well as the brewery. St Austell have resisted setting up their own faux-craft spin-off brand but, with this purchase, have picked one up as a bonus: Bath Ales are behind Beerd. It’s all a bit Whitbread-in-the-1950s, which is fascinating.

Trademark dispute update: Camden (now part of AB-InBev) has settled the dispute with Redwell of Norwich over the name*‘Hells’.
SOURCE: The Beer Nut. The Beer Nut continues to report on Guinness’s attempts to Do Interesting Things, this time providing tasting notes on the latest batch of Open Gate spin-off brewery beers:
The aroma [of Botanical Ale] was lovely… an Italian-smelling blend of pizzaish dried herbs promising a drinking experience beyond the usual… The base seems to be a pretty straightforward red ale, 5% ABV, dry and slightly roasty. But you don’t get much of a look at it before the huge explosion of herbs kicks in. I didn’t catch the full list of add-ins but the oily greenness of sage is obvious at the centre while around it I got elements of basil, rosemary and peppercorns, some of which may actually have been used.
And, finally, wisdom from Lars Marius Garshol on Twitter:
Quite often, "farmhouse" means: "be careful when opening" pic.twitter.com/LnD7EPXKn3
— Lars Marius Garshol (@larsga) July 1, 2016
News, Nuggets & Longreads 2 July 2016: Brexit, Murk and Guinness from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Beer blogging since 2007, covering real ale, craft beer, pubs and British beer history.


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