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3 MIN READ TIME
A non-alcoholic beer with…

AL MURRAY

He’s become known for his popular World War II history podcast and books, but Al Murray is currently touring the UK in his comedy guise as The Pub Landlord. We caught up with him to talk pints, seafood feasts and Big Green Eggs

Because my stage persona is The Pub Landlord, I get given a lot of pints. It’s not a bad life! I get beers left at the stage door to drink with the show, but I can’t drink an 8% beer before performing. Last year we did our own beer – Guv Island – with Mad Squirrel Brewery in Hemel Hempstead – it’s a very delicious pale ale.

I ‘drink ’ on stage, but I use zero alcohol beer. It means I’ve drunk an awful lot of it. Kaliber was the alcohol-free beer when I first started 30 years ago. It had a really tart, fruity taste and it wasn’t very nice. They ’ve got so much better since then. I think Guinness Zero is a revelation – it’s incredible. And I do drink it when I’m out. Sometimes I alternate it with the real stuff so I don’t get too whammed.

On tour I’ll eat a proper big lunch. My tour manager is a massive foodie so he’s super organised and makes sure we book places in advance. If it were up to me, we’d just go to the chippy all the time. I manage with a sandwich or banana before the show. We recently went to Dishoom in Birmingham after a show at around 11pm. The food there is excellent, but I can’t be eating that late. You end up waking in the middle of the night and farting like you invented it.

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delicious. Magazine
March 2025
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