They say… 
Best beer and travel writing award 2015, 2011 -- British Guild of Beer Writers Awards
Accredited Beer Sommelier
Writer of "Probably the best book about beer in London" - Londonist
"A necessity if you're a beer geek travelling to London town" - Beer Advocate
"A joy to read" - Roger Protz
"Very authoritative" - Tim Webb.
"One of the top beer writers in the UK" - Mark Dredge.
"A beer guru" - Popbitch.
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Beer sellers: Zlý Časy / Pivkupectví
Top Tastings 2010
ABV: 6.2%
Origin: Broumy, Středočeský kraj, Czech Republic
Website: www.pivovarmatuska.cz
 One of a small but growing number of innovative new microbreweries challenging the dominance of straightforward pale and dark lagers in the Czech Republic, Pivovar Matuška was founded only in 2009 but has already caused ripples internationally with its eclectic range of quality beers. It’s run by Martin Matuška and his son Adam from an outhouse in the family home in a small village not far from Beroun in Central Bohemia.
Martin has worked abroad including in the US, and the influence shows: besides more familar lager styles the brewery produces gems like this American-tinged IPA, although the brewery insists it owes as much to English inspiration.
It’s a pretty amber colour with an unfiltered haze and a thick, creamy yellowish head. There’s telltale grapefruit notes of Cascade on the aroma, and the thick malty palate is very soft and lightly chewy, with a gentle thistly and citrus note. A spicy finish has hints of mint and grapefruit and a lengthy, soothing quality that seems typically Czech.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/matuska-raptor-ipa/123352/
Beer sellers: Zlý Časy / Pivkupectví
ABV: 5.2%
Origin: Polička, Pardubický kraj, Czech Republic
Website: www.pivovar-policka.cz
 Poličské Záviš světlý ležák 12° This intriguing brewery in the birthplace of composer Bohuslav Martinů traces its history back to 1517 when it was founded by a cooperative of townspeople, thus its full title Měšťanský pivovar v Poličce, ‘Polička town brewery’. These days its carefully made beers bear EU Protected Designation of Origin logos on their attractive art nouveau labels.
This unpasteurised lager pours a pale gold with a fine white head and a good, lively bead. A grassy floral hop aroma has slightly sweaty tones, with a floury malt note. The palate is very crisp and slightly tangy with bitterish, quite complex herbal hops and a touch of citrus, well supported by a rich, creamy texture. A citric, slightly oily note tinges the finish, which is notably bitter for the style with a lingering pursing quality. An impressive example of its style.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/poli269ske-zavis-sv283tly-lezak-12o/13068/
Bohuslav Martinů
Beer sellers: Zlý Časy / Pivkupectví
ABV: 7.5%
Origin: Vyškov, Jihomoravský kraj, Czech Republic
Website: www.pivovyskov.cz
 Vyškov Jubiler In the historic town of the same name in a rural part of southern Moravia once populated by German-speaking farmers, the Vyškov brewery was founded in 1680 by the bishop of Olomouc, remaining in church hands until well into the 19th century. Like most Czech breweries it was nationalised after World War II and, it appears, is now one of the few to remain in state hands. There have been various unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer, as a result of which it’s been under threat of closure. The most recent invitation to tender for brewery and brands was issued in December 2010. Losing it would be a great shame as it produces an interesting variety of beers including some unusual specialities.
Jubiler is one of these — according to Czech beer expert Evan Rail it’s arguably the best strong pale lager in the country. It was originally brewed to celebrate the brewery’s 325th anniversary, to an original gravity of 16.80 in the old Plato (Balling) scale, commemorating the foundation date. It’s a gold beer with a little white head, and obvious alcohol on the perfumed, estery, varnish-tinged aroma, along with an odd dry spicy note. A firm malty palate is soft but dry with floral, citric and slighty apricottish flavours, with some light hops emerging over firm, fruity malt. A warming malty swallow leads to a finish that rapidly turns pursingly dry and firm, with powdery hops on the tongue. Sadly pasteurised but otherwise a beer of some authority.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/vyskovske-jubiler/47916/
 What better image of London beer? Fuller's Brewers Reserve No 3 maturing in the spare spaces of the Griffin brewery, spotted in January 2011. Don’t you just hate finding websites with grandiose mission statements that haven’t been updated for many months? Me too. I should therefore apologise profusely for leaving this site in just such a state of neglect recently. However I have a very good excuse.
Since November I’ve been hard at work researching and writing my first book, London’s Best Beer Pubs and Bars, due to be published by CAMRA Books this July. The book is intended to provide a one stop shop for anyone with more than a passing interest in beer, resident or visitor, who wants to explore London’s already decent and rapidly improving beer scene. More than just a pub guide, it’s also a celebration of the renaissance of craft brewing in London and the capital’s increasingly vibrant community of specialist beer pubs and bars.
The biggest section of the book is a directory of places to drink — mainly pubs of various kinds, but also bars, the best beer shops and a few other places ike social clubs. They’ve been chosen to give a broad picture of the wide variety of top quality beer available in London — not only cask, but bottled and imported craft beers too. Then there’s an extensive section on beers widely available in London, not only from the UK but from some other countries, with brief tasting notes.
The London brewers are given enhanced coverage, and deservedly so, as this is one of the most exciting stories the book has to tell. When Young’s quit Wandsworth in 2006 they left behind only seven commercial breweries, of which only two were substantial producers of craft beer. But since early 2007 another six have appeared, and many of the existing brewers have developed and grown substantially. The quality too is impressive — as one brewer told me, there’s little point in brewing in London unless you can at least match the standard of Fuller’s. Some of the new brewers are truly extraordinary, like the Kernel, recently listed as one of the top five newcomers of 2010 by ratebeer.com. While we’re still some way from reclaiming London’s title as the brewing capital of the world, we certainly don’t have to hang our heads in shame anymore when we’re asked about our local breweries.
London’s former glories are also covered, with plenty of background on brewing, history and geography to set the context, a roundup of beer styles and my own take on the obligatory ‘How beer is brewed’ article. All in all I’m very pleased with the book, and delighted to have been offered such a timely opportunity.
However producing such a book from scratch in a very short time frame while also holding down a full time job has proved something of a challenge. I negotiated a four week sabbatical from my day job, but that hasn’t been enough to complete the work, so I’ve been working on the book in my spare time too. I’ve pretty much worked every waking hour not taken up with the necessities of life every day between early November and early March, cancelling all but the most pressing existing commitments.
Extensive research accounted for much of the time. It may shock you to discover that some writers compile books of this kind exclusively by telephone and internet. I felt I owed it to my readers to visit everywhere that was included, even places I was familiar with, just to remind me. Between 13 November and 8 February I visited practically every place on my original shortlist of 297, of which just over 250 have ended up in the book. It sounds like a riproaring pub crawl, but consider visiting 21 pubs in a 14-hour day with no more than a few sips of a half in any of them and you might take a different view. More time was spent travelling than in the pubs themselves — by every mode other than my own car, including bus, tube, train, tram, Boris bike and, just once, a taxi to extricate me from the rural extremities of the London Borough of Bromley. I’m grateful for being a keen and fast walker as this provided the most convenient mode for most of the trips. Of course there are worse jobs, but it’s certainly hard work!
While exhausting, it’s also been a fascinating and rewarding process. For all the gloom that seems to dominate parts of the industry, it’s great to see so many licensees doing well by being imaginative, enthusiastic and community focused as well as making the best of their beer offer. It’s also really encouraging to see a notably younger and very savvy crowd out enjoying fine beer in new pubs and bars like Cask, the Dean Swift, the Euston Tap, the Jolly Butchers, Mason & Taylor and the awesome Southampton Arms.
As the publication date approaches, I’ll be giving the book more exposure on this site. Inevitably a book like this goes out of date immediately the last word is written so after publication I aim to post updates on these pages.
Meanwhile, I’ll be back to some of those pubs myself for more than just a sip of a half!
Keep track of the latest news on the London page.
First published in Beers of the World June 2008
 Beermania, Brussel-Bruxelles Browse the impressive framed collection of international press coverage on display at Beermania and you’ll find that most journalists who visit Brussels’ best specialist beer retailer write at least as much about the proprietor as his shop. Not surprisingly, since Nasser Eftekhari is a remarkable character: passionate, knowledgeable, articulate and outspoken in his opinions. And then there is the intriguing question of how a political refugee from Tehran came to be one of the leading international ambassadors for the Great Beers of Belgium.
 Inside Beermania, Brussel-Bruxelles In fact Nasser’s family were Zoroastrians with no taboo against alcohol, and he became interested in home brewing while still in Iran. Things became difficult when Khomeini came to power and Nasser fled the country in the early 1980s, eventually arriving in Brussels where he developed his passion for the local beer. Beermania had already been open for three years when he bought it in 1986 from a customer of the pub where he was working.
Since then Nasser and his wife Natasha have built the shop up into an essential stop for international beer hunters, who are well rewarded for the effort of heading off the tourist track to the vibrant, cosmopolitan and increasingly yuppiefied community of Ixelles. Around 400 hand-picked beers are stocked, all of them Belgian except for the Dutch La Trappe beers that complete a comprehensive Trappist range. There are particularly strong collections of abbey beers, lambics and rare Wallonian microbrews, and few big commercial brands. Aged beers, big bottles, gift packs and selection boxes, glassware and beer books are also available. Bar area, Beermania, Brussel-Bruxelles
 Inside Beermania, Brussel-Bruxelles Last year Nasser used his knowledge of his customers’ tastes to launch his own beer, Mea Culpa, presented in a dramatic glass with a swan-necked stem, contract-brewed at an unidentified brewery. Everything can be sampled for a slightly higher price in the beautiful tasting area with fine oak floors and furniture: in typical attention to detail, the state of the art fridges have had their motors removed to the cellar so the noise won’t disturb the ambience. The shop also hosts regular jazz gigs, and cuisine à la bière events are planned.
Nasser will happily share his expert knowledge of the Belgian beer scene in fluent French, Dutch or English. “The life of all Belgian breweries changed overnight in the late 1970s when the world discovered Belgian beers through Michael Jackson,” he says. “Beer orders rained down from around the world and of course we were not ready for this success. Brewers expanded too fast, got into debt and crashed down. The survivors reduced the quality of the beers by things like reducing fermentation time. Now the small brewers are struggling and for the big brewers, with their marketing managers and export managers, beer is a business, not a passion. On the other hand, American beers are getting better and better – a big danger for Belgian brewing. Meanwhile, I’m planning to keep going as the shop window for all good breweries in Belgium!”
Fact file
 Mea Culpa glass, Beermania, Brussel-Bruxelles Address: Waversesteenweg/chaussée de Wavre 174-176, 1050 Elsene-Ixelles, Brussel-Bruxelles
Phone: +32 (0)2 512 1788
Web: www.beermania.be
Hours: Mon-Sat 1100-2200
Drink in? Yes
Mail order: Yes, worldwide through website
Manager’s favourites: Mea Culpa, Westvleteren Blond, Orval
Beer picks
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3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek 5%, Beersel, Vlaams-Brabant, Vlaanderen. Stunning cherry lambic from classic Payottenland café, lanolin aroma and dry tart palate softened by fine fruit, elegant subtle cherry finish.
- Blaugies La Moneuse 8%, Blaugies, Hainaut, Wallonie. Dry golden triple with perfumed orange pith and woody hazelnute palate, and warming bitter herb and exotic fruit finish.
- Bocq St Feuillien Brune 7.5%, Purnode, Namur, Wallonie. Rich, abbey brown with old books, mandarin, chocolate, glace cherries, liquorice, dates and vermouth in complex palate and long layered finish.
- St Hélène Djean d’Mady 5.5%, Èthe, Luxembourg, Wallonie. Delightful rustic amber ale from Gaume region, with toasty gooseberry fool notes and a soft, dryish sappy finish.
- Van Steenberge Beermania Mea Culpa Blond 6.5%, Ertvelde, Oost-Vlaanderen. Beer Mania’s own brand, a soft, seedy, lightly fruity blond with a dry quenching vanilla-tinged citric finish.
Beer sellers: Beermania
ABV: 8%
Origin: Blaugies-Dour, Hainaut, Wallonie
 Blaugies La Moneuse Though the centre of gravity of Belgian speciality brewing is skewed towards the Dutch-speaking north, some of the most interesting and rustic Belgian beers come from small rural breweries in the French-speaking south of the country. Consider Blaugies, a brewery in a garage in the village of the same name, part of the commune of Dour in the west of Hainaut province, right by the French border. Couple Pierre-Alex Carlier and Marie-Robert Pourtois started it using pots, pans and advice from a friendly local brewer in 1988, and it’s since become the family business, with much of the production going to export.
Blaugies offers some intriguing specialities such as a a saison brewed with spelt and a wheat beer flavoured with figs. The core brand remains the brewery’s first beer, the saison-style deep golden Moneuse, named for a late 18th century ancestor, AJ Moneuse, a notorious local gang leader and bandit. Like the rest of the range it’s bottle conditioned in both 375ml and 750ml bottles with wired corks.
The combination of a lively condition and a thick sediment cloud the beer under a thick white head. The aroma is relatively restrained, with spicy and creamy light malt, and there’s a dry, slightly woody palate developing chocolate, hazelnut, herbs and stalky perfumed orange pith. A hoppy, herby finish gets dry, woody and warming with bitter herbs and exotic fruit.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/la-moneuse/9351/
Beer sellers: Beermania
ABV: 7.5%
Origin: Purnode, Hainaut, Wallonie
Website: www.st-feuillien.com, www.bocq.be
 Du Bocq St Feuillien Brune Feuillien or Foillan was an Irish evangelist who, like numerous others, took up the viable 7th century lifestyle choice of wandering Europe preaching and setting up monasteries. Shortly after founding one at Fosse-la-Ville near Nivelles he was murdered by bandits — allegedly his decapitated head continued to preach after it had been flung into a pigsty. The Catholic Encyclopaedia says he died in the Zoniënwoud, the Forest of Soignes southeast of Brussels, but another claimed scene of the crime is Le Rœulx in the province of Hainuat. A Premonstatrensian abbey was founded in his name here in 1125, which quite likely brewed beer; it later succumbed to dissolution following the French revolution.
In 1873 the Friart family established a brewery in the town which through the 20th century developed a lucrative sideline in drinks distribution, so much so that in 1977 it pulled out of brewing altogether, commissioning its brands elsewhere. The mash tuns were stoked again by a new generation of Friarts in 1988 — the aim to bring all brewing back in house has not yet been achieved and some beers are still farmed out. When the Friarts moved into the abbey beer market, they naturally enough took the name of St Feuillien, and these brands have since become so prominent they renamed the both brewery and warehouse after them.
The brune is currently still one of those contract brews, emerging from du Bocq of Purnode, Namur, which brews for Corsendonk and others as well as making its own strong ales under the Gauloise brand. But despite its mixed origins it’s one of the better Belgian abbey browns. It’s a dark amber beer with a ruby tinge and a loose white head. A rich aroma has old books, yeast and chocolate, while a rich, sweetly fruity and malty palate yields mandarin, herbal angelica, glacé cherry and vermouth, drying into a rounded but firm, long and layered finish with plenty of fruit, some burnt roasty notes, dates, bonfire ash, a waft of hops and a sprinkling of salt.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/st-feuillien-brune/2405/
Beer sellers: Beermania
ABV: 6.5%
Origin: Ertvelde, Oost-Vlaanderen
Website: www.beermania.be/meaculpa, www.vansteenberge.com
 Van Steenberge Beermania Mea Culpa Nasser Eftekhari had been tasting, discussing and selling specialist Belgian beer in his comprehensive Beermania beer shop in Brussels for over 20 years when he commissioned his first own label brand in 2007. He was therefore well placed to know what would work with his customers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he went for a blond medium strength very broadly abbey style beer. Its Latin name – Mea Culpa meaning ‘my fault’, a reference to a confession of sinfulness in the Roman mass – manages to evoke both monasticism and the sense of self-indulgent wickedness normally exploited in Belgium in branding stronger golden ales
The result is distinctive and unusual and doesn’t taste quite like any other beer. Some of this is due to the use of 10 different spices in a secret blend. Also supposed to be secret was the beer’s actual brewer, although this has since been leaked as Van Steenberge, the East Flanders brewery known for Gulden Draak and Bios brown ales as well as a long list of contract and own label brands.
 The Mea Culpa glass This cloudy blond beer has a thick white head and a slightly sourish aroma with complex spice, pale malt and vanilla notes. The palate is softly malty and apple-fresh with some phenols and subtle spicing with seed and herby notes. The finishes manages to be both drying and quenching with citrus, more vanilla and a late herbal touch. It won’t knock you down as an undiscovered classic, but it’s nonetheless a smooth, tasty and very drinkable beer with enough quirkiness to claim its own identity.
Nasser also put a lot of work into developing the beer’s own glass, a spectacular swan-necked creation in Bohemian crystal specially made in the Czech Republic. This rivals the Pauwel Kwak stirrup glass as Belgium’s most distinctive beer glass, but unlike the latter it’s a thing of beauty and elegance that doesn’t make you feel an idiot for drinking from it.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/beermania-mea-culpa/60038/
Beer sellers: Beermania
ABV: 6%
Origin: Beersel, Vlaams-Brabant, Vlaanderen
Website: www.3fonteinen.be
 3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek Traditional spontaneously fermented lambic beer doesn’t reach the consumer without being subjected to additional processes of maturation, blending and/or steeping with fruit to make it palatable. Though today’s better known lambic breweries generally carry out such processes themselves, there are opportunities for a third, non-brewing, party to get involved, as in the production of blended Scotch whisky or certain fortified wines. In the past there were numerous independent dealers and blenders of lambic in Pajottenland, including pubs that prided themselves on their own blends, particularly of g(u)euze, the flagship sparkling blend of old and new lambics. The term geuzestekerij, geuze tappery, is now used for independent blenders, though according to the authors of the newly updated LambicLand (2010), it was based on a coinage by Peter Crombecq, a founding father of modern Belgian beer appreciation, which places it no earlier than the 1970s.
The Debelder family started blending lambics in 1953 at their Beersel pub, De Drie Bronnen (‘The three springs’), and continued the practice when they moved to the Drie Fonteinen (‘Three fountains’) pub-restaurant in the same village. Over the decades Gaston Debelder and then his sons Guido and Armand built Drie Fonteinen’s reputation to the extent that it became one of best known Pajottenland lambic cafés, acquiring worldwide fame as enthusiasm for Belgian craft beer went global, with its bottled lambics available far beyond Beersel. In the 199os, concerned at the dwindling supplies of wholesale lambic, Armand took the decision to start brewing it himself, setting up a new company, AD Bieren, and the cachet of his 3 Fonteinen brands among international beer enthusiasts looked set to keep growing.
Then in May 2009 disaster struck: a thermostat in one of his temperature-controlled storehouses in nearby Halle failed over the weekend, ruining 50,000 litres of uninsured beer, worth €224,000, in the middle of its bottle conditioning process. Coming at a time when Armand was already in difficulties financing his brewing kit, this could have meant the end of AD Bieren, but in an impressive display of generosity, beer fans and brewers rallied round. 30 volunteers spent a Saturday pouring out all the bottles, worth a considerable amount even empty, so the contents — drinkable but not properly matured to the brewery’s high standards — could be shipped to the Biercée distillery in Thuin for turning into the world’s first lambic eau-de-vie. Named Armand’Spirit, it was largely pre-sold even before the stills fired up.
Now, while a return to brewing is unlikely in the forseeable future, 3 Fonteinen continues to blend using its own old stocks and bought-in lambics, and still commissions non-lambic beers from De Proef under the Beersel brand. Its signature products remain its Oude Geuze and Oude Kriek, its versions of the two legally recognised and protected lambic styles. The base lambic is made from 40% unmalted wheat alongside barley malt with properly aged hops as standard for the style; the kriek contains 35% genuine sour kriek cherrries.
My tasting notes for the kriek are for a 2004 bottling I bought in Liège, back when 3 Fonteinen was brewing, and finally opened almost four years later, but still well short of its best before date of 2014. The beer poured a proper cherry red with a foamy pink head that soon declined. There were cherry stones, lanolin and fruity sharpness in a slightly salty aroma, and an absolutely dry and clean tart palate softened by subtle fruit with hints of lemon juice and apple. The swallow felt like it had rinsed my teeth, setting up a tart finish with subtle almond, cherry and blackcurrant notes. Overall this was an extremely elegant beer, dead dry but well-balanced and not as challenging as some examples of this fascinating family of beers.
Update May 2012: Thanks to particularly strong sales since the accident, 3 Fonteinen has been able to restore its brewing capacity earlier than expected. A new brewery is being installed over summer 2012 and should be in operation for the 2012/13 brewing season.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/3-fonteinen-oude-kriek/11175/
First published in Beers of the World April 2008
 Beers of Europe The UK’s biggest range of international beers, comprising over 1,700 lines, can be found at a shop and warehouse in an industrial unit on the unpromisingly named Garage Lane, Setchey, just off the A10 on the rural southern outskirts of Kings Lynn. Surprising, perhaps, since the old port of Lynn, while pretty and historic, is hardly a buzzing metropolis. But if you offer a service like Derek Clark, his wife Carol and sons Jason and Daniel, the dedicated connoisseurs will come to you.
The area does have its other attractions, with the Royal residence of Sandringham just up the road and the beautiful Norfolk Coast and Broads close at hand, so some customers combine beer shopping with a leisure break. But others regularly trek from London, Birmingham or from even further afield, such as the two Californian abbey beer devotees in search of Tongerlo Dubbel.
 Belgian beer shelves in Beers of Europe “They emailed me the day beforehand to check I had it in stock,” says Derek. “Then they flew to Heathrow, hired a car, came straight here, bought a case, spent a day on the coast and flew home. They worked for the airline so they got cheap tickets.”
 Seriously big bottles at Beers of Europe Though born in London, Derek grew up in the area and first worked designing TV aerials for the family firm, which happened to have associate offices in Belgium and Bavaria. While visiting these Derek got a taste for the local beers, particularly the darker examples, and thought they should be available back home. The Clarks first planned a wholesale business but when this didn’t work went direct to the customer, opening Beers of Europe in 2000, just as both internet shopping and interest in speciality beers were growing in Britain.
 Don't forget the glasses: Beers of Europe Today a third of the beers are Belgian, and about a sixth German, including some that rarely travel beyond their home town. The German collection is a particular strength, with rarities such as unfiltered lagers, and even impresses German visitors delighted to find beers impossible to obtain at home thanks to their notoriously regionalised beer market. Of the rest, a third is British, including a good range from East Anglia, and the rest genuinely international despite the company name. “If it’s unusual, even if I can only sell a case every six months, I’ll buy it,” says Derek. Glassware, fine ciders and unusual wines and spirits complete the range.
Expansion is planned, and there’s talk of adding a bar and perhaps even a brewery. Internet and mail order are a core part of the business, but Derek insists the walk-in shop plays a critical role: you sense face-to-face contact is a big part of his job satisfaction. “Our customers are nice, honest people who appreciate the good things in life,” he says. I’ll drink to that.
Fact file
 - Beers of Europe
Address: Garage Lane, Setchey, King’s Lynn PE33 0BE
Phone: +44 (0)1553 812000
Web: www.beersofeurope.co.uk
Hours: 0900-1800 Monday-Saturday, 1000-1600 Sunday
Drink in? No
Mail order: Yes, UK only
Manager’s favourites: Weltenburger Asam Bock, Peroni Gran Riserva, Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby
Beer picks
Five dark beers of Europe
- Achouffe McChouffe 8.5%, Achouffe, Luxembourg, Belgium. Strong but drinkable Scottish-inspired speciality with burnt twig and flower aroma, fruity herby palate and sweetish lightly roast malt finish.
- Budweiser Budvar Dark (tmavý ležák) 4.7%, České Budějovice, South Bohemia, Czech Republic. Easy drinking malty dark lager with caramel and gently smoky cigar notes from world-class brewery.
- Koningshoeven La Trappe Dubbel 6.5%, Berkel, North Brabant, Netherlands. Chestnut ale from the Dutch Trappist brewery, with malty dusty book aroma, aged port and candy on palate and mint chocolate finish.
- Tipples Hanged Monk 3.8%, Acle, Norfolk, England. Bottled conditioned dark mild with blackcurrant liquorice and cola aroma, pastilley malted mik palate and lightly dry smooth finish with mineral notes.
- Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock 6.9%, Kelheim, Bavaria, Germany. Outstanding reddish-brown strong monastic lager, with toffeeish aroma, firm but soft toasty palate and nuts and oaked wine in rich malty finish.
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Cask  This pioneering new book explains what makes cask beer so special, and explores its past, present and future. Order now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
London’s Best Beer  The fully updated 3rd edition of my essential award-winning guide to London’s vibrant beer scene is available now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
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