2012 was the year that millions of Britons ended up with sore arms as they deliriously waved flags during the Olympics and Paralympics. Londoners too waggled the Union Jack with enthusiasm. Had the host city been St Albans or Durham, residents could have waved the official flags of those cities....

Here's a conundrum - beer sales in Britain have dropped recently, yet this is a golden age in British brewing with more breweries making our national drink than before 1939. Where is all this beer being consumed - the Rover's Return, Queen Vic, and Woolpack? That's the problem - Britons...

It's official - Britain is brilliant! And long may looking at life through rose-coloured spectacles last. Our spectacular summer of sport and celebration may be over, but no need to feel bereft because Britain not only excels in elite cycling and rowing, it rules the world with prowess in a...

Wine drinkers of the world I have a challenge for you. Nominate wines that match every course of every meal of the day. It's not easy - especially finding wine for a fry-up or rice pudding. Forgive me for being smug, but with beer it's a doddle. I am a...

To all the cynics out there who wake up each morning with a frown and a bad word for London. Why? Judging by some of the recent media coverage it appears that Chicken Licken is spreading the word that the sky is falling. And it is about to land on...

We don't need an excuse for a drink in Britain but if we did, Jubilee Weekend would be it. Party fever is building. Have you decided yet what or where you will be drinking? If not, may I offer my suggestions for patriotic libations to celebrate this historic time?

In the past few weeks we have seen these headlines: Binge-Drinking Out of Control in Britain; Millions Of Middle-Class Drinkers Putting Health At Risk With Evening Tipple; Binge Drinkers Make Town Centres No Go Areas.

News outlets never splash the good news about alcohol do they? Because there is...

I recently entered paradise in Grantham and paradise resembles a brew house. For years I have been dreaming about brewing a beer with a professional brewer, and that fantasy has now come true courtesy of a brewery in the Lincolnshire market town.

Grantham is notable for being the birthplace...

If Eddie & Joe Grundy from The Archers are reading this - I have a few friends who long to join your cider club.

It's true that five years ago they would have thought cider was something that only characters in Thomas Hardy novels and school kids in bus...

What song do you sing in the shower? My default tune is Rule Britannia. I particularly relish the trill of notes on the word 'first' ('When Britain first at heaven's command') not least because I have recently learned the correct musical term for a syllable sung with several notes in...

I worship at the altar of Ninkasi (Sumerian goddess of beer), and water + malt + hops + yeast = beer; is my favourite mathematical equation, so I am really excited about the renaissance of beer making in Britain.

It's a golden age for brewing with more than 840...