News, nuggets and longreads 17 October 2026: Nutkin’s Last Stand

Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got light Czech beer, 19th century ale and Zoigl. First, a bit of news about the revival of an old brewing brand: Allsopp’s IPA is a cask ale apparently ‘inspired’ (yes, we know) by an 1822 recipe. There’s something romantic about these old brands – names you know from tin signs in museums and perhaps the occasional stained-glass window in a well-preserved pub. Allsopp’s has the advantage of the involvement of an actual Allsopp and has its beers brewed by a trusted name, Kirkstall. Do we think this beer is really, in any meaningful sense, historic? Of course not. But will we get a thrill out of ordering a pint of Allsopp’s IPA if we come across it in a pub? Certainly. We didn’t have a photo of a 7°P or 8°P beer so this (we think) 10°P will have to do. When we saw Evan Rail in Prague during the summer a theme of our conversation was the increasing availability of lighter beers with lower alcohol…