News, nuggets and longreads 13 June 2026: Foolish Seasons

Every week we round up the best beer writing from the past week. This time, we’ve got ’Spoons, the Black Country and a dissenting opinion on low alcohol booze. First, news of the death of an important figure in British brewing, Rob Jones, founder of Dark Star, whose Hophead is one of the all time classic pale-n-hoppies. For Pellicle Jones’s one-time protégé and long-time friend Mark Tranter has written a heartfelt obituary which puts his contribution in context: This makes it all the more remarkable that we – Rob leading, me learning—started to brew things that were pretty outside the box. We brewed single-hop pale ales, full-strength IPAs, a delicately spiced wheat beer, and a nitro stout – all for the pub, and the customers loved them. Then one day, in 1996 or ’97, the Peters returned from the U.S. with some Cascade hops, and that changed things for us forever. The Green Goddess, South London, 2025. At his renamed blog Caskapital hospitality professional Michael Deakin has attempted…