Readers Choice — Our Top Ten Features of 2024
Is the long form brewery profile done and dusted? Five years ago, when we launched this magazine, it was these kinds of features we specifically had in mind to lead our content. In fact, we often referred to them as our “bread and butter.” About 18 months ago Jonny and I were looking to schedule some new content and we felt the number of brewery profiles we had in the pipeline was lacking, so we commissioned loads of them.
Our editorial process is quite slow, partly because we’re small and limited by the size of our team, and partly due to the time each of us has available to dedicate towards the magazine. But this is also because our editorial process is thorough, and we will work with a writer on their draft until we feel it’s ready for publication. On average it takes three to four months from the point of commissioning to publication, but sometimes it might take a bit longer. As a result of this, and the aforementioned scheduling of brewery profiles, we ended up publishing 14 of them this year alone—a solid 20% of this year’s written content.
While these features remain popular, in that they’re well read, we’ve come to realise that readers are often seeking more than simply a narrative piece about a brewery with a friendly owner who makes really tasty beer. There needs to be an angle, a hook, a proper story to dig your teeth into. We will continue to publish stories about beer and breweries in 2025, but with greater scrutiny and tighter angles focusing on what we feel really matters to our readers. Throughout this year we’ve been pausing to check ourselves and ask “who really cares about this, and why does it matter?” Two hugely important questions when you’re publishing content about any given subject.
What we’ve found is that a certain kind of feature has really captured our readers' attention this year. These are usually cultural observations, particularly those centred around race, sex, history or class—or various combinations of all four. The numbers tell us this is what our readers desire to read the most, beer and pubs just happen to be the lens through which we observe them.
Another thing we’ve learned in five and a half years of publishing Pellicle is that day one, week one, or even month one clicks are not, and will never be a fair assessment of how “successful” any given piece of writing is. Case in point: our three most read features in 2024 were all published at least two years ago. Our most popular, Paul Crowther’s entertaining homebrew recipe based on Nuka Cola from the Fallout videogame series was a huge hit this year thanks to the release of its accompanying TV show of the same name, (and our half-decent SEO.) I sincerely hope thousands of people actually tried this recipe for themselves at home. If you did, please get in touch to let us know!
““Certain Pellicle pieces give us a feeling; a sense that they’re going to be read and referenced for years to come.””
Following it are a couple of features that, more-or-less, see new traffic every day. Our two most popular features of all-time: Katie Mather’s thorough taxonomy of British bread rolls, and Reece Hugill’s emotive look at the history of banked pints in Teesside. We’ve started referring to these articles internally as “legacy” pieces. In part because they best represent what we’re trying to achieve as a publication, but also because they now exist outside of what we would consider to be our normal readership. They now belong to the public domain as genuine cultural reference points. As a founding editor of this publication I don’t think there’s anything we, or indeed our writers, could be prouder of achieving.
This year, other pieces started to join them in the upper echelons of our analytics. Jemme Beedie’s work pops up twice, with her research into the history of the hauf an’ hauf, and her op-ed on breastfeeding in pubs constantly showing up at the top of our monthly rankings. Rachel Hendry’s deep dive into the history of Scampi Fries did serious numbers this year too, as did Jacob Smith’s melancholic ode to the demise of Jennings Brewery in Cumbria, and Robbie Pickering’s trip to Glasgow’s The Laurieston.
Certain Pellicle pieces give us a feeling; a sense that they’re going to be read and referenced for years to come. It might not happen overnight, but we’ve learned that, with a little patience, most of what we put out eventually finds its audience. This year we feel like we’ve published many more pieces that will contribute to the melting pot that defines our “legacy” as a publication, many of which are on the below list. This is testament to the incredibly hard work our writers put into creating them, and our photographers and illustrators put into bringing them to life.
Most importantly, it demonstrates what we’re able to achieve with greater resources. It’s not about publishing more (even though we also broke our record for number of published features in a calendar year) it’s about publishing better. Hitting 500 paying subscribers is a huge milestone for us, one that will directly benefit our contributors, and in turn the content they produce.
If you’ve subscribed to Pellicle this year, or ever, please know that you’ve made a huge difference in what we’ve been able to produce. We plan to keep it going in 2025 with our first three months of content commissioned (January is already scheduled, in fact.) My plea to you is that if you’ve enjoyed one or more of the pieces listed here, or anything we’ve published this year, then consider joining us as a paying subscriber. Even if it's a pound, the cost of a pint, or only for a month or two, it all adds up and goes into the pockets of the people whose hard work you enjoy every time you visit this website.
Thank you for reading and supporting Pellicle in 2024. Here are our 10 most popular features in terms of overall traffic we published this year.
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1. This is the End — The Sad Demise of Worthington White Shield
Words: Pete Brown, Illustrations: James Albon
At number one is a writer who could truly be considered the Lionel Messi of beer writing, the GOAT himself, Pete Brown. When I first queued up at a talk he held more than a decade ago at the old Meantime Brewery in Greenwich to get my copy of Hops and Glory signed, I never in my life thought the bloke would actually be working for me. I’m eternally glad he has the capacity, as this year he brought all of his personality (and plenty of genuine ire) to this piece lamenting the mistreatment, and ultimate demise of one of British beer’s true icons, Worthington White Shield. It’s not all bad news though, stay tuned early in the new year for a new story about how this beer has found a new steward and its legacy is being continued.
2. Timothy Taylor’s Landlord — A Polyptych of a Pint
Words: Rachel Hendry, Photography: Matthew Curtis
I daresay that if there were a few more weeks left in the year this incredible ode to Timothy Taylor’s Landlord by Rachel Hendry might have just pipped Pete Brown to the post. But here we are, out of time—although you might want to give yourself a little if you haven’t sat down and devoured this piece yet. Rachel is a good friend of the magazine and a ridiculous talent, and when this piece arrived in our in tray we all gawped at its quality and class. When I talk about finding new angles through the lens of beer and pubs to explore our favourite subject, this is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about.
3. Mountain at my Gates — The Endings and Beginnings of Community-Owned Pubs
Words and Photography: Jacob Smith
One of the best things about publishing a magazine is working with newer writers and seeing them flourish. Jacob is one of those writers, building on that feeling of tension and pensiveness he captured in his story on Jennings Brewery with this look at the struggles faced by many community owned pubs. It’s a good read because it uses a solid case study to build a proper argument, opposed to the often rose-tinted look this subject is usually given in the wider press. Stories that challenge preconceived notions in beer writing don’t often do well, but this did, because I reckon it got to the nub of a difficult subject that others hadn’t quite found the words for yet. I sincerely hope it's a discussion that keeps going.
4. The Essential Guide to Beer and Crisp Pairing
Words: Rachel Hendry, Illustrations: Jessica Wild
The only writer to feature in this list more than once is our Rachel, and that’s because she has absolutely smashed it this year. Yes she can do solemn and serious, righteous and reverential, but can also turn her hand to fun and whimsical. Her piece on beer and crisp pairing, which may or may not be a wry look at the often stuffy approach to beer and food writing, was a wonderful example of this. While we still haven’t made much progress in establishing our Essentials series of guides—this is only our second—we’re getting there. And when we publish more we’ll aim to be as irreverent as we are informative, the balance between which Rachel strikes perfectly here.
5. Apathy Has Rained On Me — On DEI Burnout in the Beer Industry
Words: Ruvani de Silva, Illustrations: Heedayah Lockman
Long time readers of this particular seasonal listicle might remember that in the past I have expressed frustration at how our features that dig into challenging topics such as diversity, equity and inclusion in the beer industry have not captured the kind of audience I wish they would. I understand this, because to read these pieces you need to allow yourself to be challenged, and to be challenged often you need to be in the right headspace and have enough energy to process what might be a difficult subject. It is immensely refreshing, then, to see how widely read this piece about the burnout being experienced by beers’ DEI activists, written by newly-crowned Beer Writer of the Year Ruvani de Silva, has been. I can tell you she worked her arse off on this piece, and it shows in every carefully considered sentence and paragraph. A must read, and one we’re proud to have been the home for.
6. The Story of Dora Kulka, and How One Woman Changed British Beer Forever
Words: Will Hawkes, Illustrations: Laurel Molly
Probably one of the most important pieces of writing we’ve published to date, Will Hawkes’ telling of the story of Jewish scientist Dr. Dora Kulka is a masterpiece, and one that deserves your undivided attention. Stories of this nature don’t drop into our inboxes all that often, and even Will confessed to us that he was researching for another piece when he pulled at a particular thread and discovered the fascinating history of Dr. Kulka. As well as being an important record of British brewing history, and one of its most influential figures, it's also a hugely emotional piece, and one that will likely require you to collect yourself a couple of times during the read. One to savour, and then read all over again so that it’s never forgotten.
7. Anon, A Giant Monster Roams — Torrside Brewery in New Mills, Derbyshire
Words: Katie Mather, Photography: Matthew Curtis
At some point last year Katie and I met in the Derbyshire Town of New Mills to begin work on this profile in earnest. If memory serves it was a horrible day, and we were both—for various reasons—in bad moods. But we got on with our jobs, and while Katie sat down to interview the folks from Torrside Brewery I pottered around the brewery taking photos. We also got to spend a bit of time discussing the mag, and where we would try and take it as a team. Boldly, (and excitedly, because I remember being desperate for Katie to write more for us) I suggested we lead with this piece at the start of the new year, as a statement of intent. Looking back I can’t think of a better way we could have done so, as it set the tone for many more great stories just like it that came afterwards. We’ll have plenty more from Katie in the near future, too. Maybe even in print.
8. Young and Beautiful — The Rise and Fall of the Babycham Girl
Words: Rachel Hendry, Illustrations: David Bailey
The third and final entry from the talented Ms. Hendry is also our most popular piece of cider writing for the year. Internally we’ve had a bit of a battle with our cider and wine content—not between each other, don’t worry, but with the content itself. We’ve been trying to find our voice in cider for a long time, and initially did that through artful profiles of small producers, just like we’ve done with beer. But, I’ll be honest, the audience for those pieces is far, far smaller than what we have for beer, and there is sadly little sign of it having grown. We’ll still publish them when we find stories that excite and inspire us, but stories with a greater cultural focus, like this on perry, sex, and stereotyping is much more our vibe these days. We hope to find more cider and wine stories (and spirits, and whatever else) just like this one for you to enjoy next year.
9. Between Angels and Imp Sects — A Search for Identity Within Lincoln’s Pubs
Words and Photography: Matthew Curtis
As an editor and publisher, there is a tendency—an urge, perhaps—to publish whatever the hell you like, because it's your own damn magazine. And that’s exactly what I did when it came to this piece, digging into some past trauma as a vehicle for visiting, and then writing about a few pubs in my hometown, Lincoln. At the time of writing it I felt stuck in a rut, with various pieces on the “to-do” list, but also a sense that I was unable to continue with those until I got this one out of my system. Yes, it was a wholly self-indulgent exercise, but one I’m still proud of. I’m thankful plenty of you sat down and read it over the course of this year.
10. You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat — Narragansett Brewery in Providence, Rhode Island
Words and Photography: David Nilsen
I’ll be honest with you now: about seven different pieces have spent the last few weeks vying for this final spot, and even now as I publish this final list there are clicks in the single figures separating some of these pieces. As such it feels unfair not to list them all, so I will: Lily Waite on Ideal Day Brewery, Martin Flynn on Donzoko Brewing, Laura Hadland on Anspach & Hobday London Black, Katie Mather on Theakston’s Old Peculier, David Jesudason on Elusive Brewing, and me, Matty C, on RedWillow Brewery. But it is David Nilsen who laughs last with this lovely profile of Narragansett Brewery in Rhode Island—one made famous by its inclusion in the 1975 Steven Speilberg hit, Jaws.
In our first five years the top 10 in any given year has always been clear cut, but not this time. I suspect that if I checked the figures again in a month these pieces would be in a completely different order, and that, if anything, demonstrates how much our readers (that’s you, btw) have devoured Pellicle this year. Thank you to each and every one of you for logging on. We’ll be back next year with plenty more.
