I love oak. It is indeed a wondrous, magical thing. Whisky isn’t whisky without its beguiling touch and, well, most wine wouldn’t be wine without oak's sweet caress either. Of course, oak and beer go hand in hand too, and this relationship goes back many centuries, but, with the availability of stainless steel and all the improved hygiene and cost savings it brings, we've seen its use decline.When I think of the role of oak in beer today I think of barrel aged stouts or barrel aged sours; lambics, gueuze and the like. The first is a great example of oak maturation and the latter goes one...

What do you think of when you read the words New England IPA on a can? Do you think of somewhere in the US or do you think of a hazy, fruit forward but heavily hopped beer? I’m guessing the latter and I doubt you would go out of your way to track down a brewery based in New England to get your hands on one either!    Of course, in the globalised era in which we find ourselves and with the unrelenting craft beer explosion, the ingredients that make these beers are readily available all around the world, as are the...

The Brits will tell you they’ve been making craft beer since way before it became fashionable - they just called it real ale. But then, of course, people have been making beer for literally thousands of years. Talk to the Mesopotamians in the fifth century BC and they’ll tell you they were making it then. They probably had a different name for it too. Names are just names and beer is just beer, but, the definition of what is now a craft beer is certainly an interesting one.    I only mention all this as today’s beer is made with a recipe that...

It’s always good to take another look at those iconic names in beer. You know the ones, they’re so familiar we tend to take them for granted. A bit like the cornflakes in the breakfast aisle of the supermarket, we often walk past them and head for the coco pops or the muesli with the added fruits and a plethora of different nuts. We’re attracted to the new and shiny beers like magpies, the ones that promise us a voyage into a universe of crazy flavours, but, there's a lot to be said for simplicity and tradition too.Duvel have been making beer...

You’ve got to love the Danes. Any nation that has a word for “after work drinks” (fyraftensbajer) has a lot going for it in my opinion.They’re famous for many things; the conquering Viking escapades of yesteryear, licorice (I discover) and the concept of Hygge (a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being). But, you wouldn’t necessarily associate them with beer. However, Denmark is where Mikkeller began way back in the early 2000s and, in true Viking style, the brand has gone on to conquer the craft beer scene, now exporting beer to 50 countries...