In 1636 the poet and traveller John Taylor wrote, ‘Hertfordshire is a County that surpasseth all other Countries and Counties for making the best malt.’ Much of that malt went by cart or barge to London, but Hertfordshire also has a long tradition of brewing, as well as malting, and the county eventually developed several substantial breweries. These included Benskin’s of Watford, which at one point owned some 640 pubs from Brighton to Cambridge, and even supplied the House of Commons. Tod...

Amber, Gold & Black is the most comprehensive history of British beer in all its variety ever written. Learn all there is to know about the history of the beers Britons have brewed and enjoyed down the centuries: Bitter, Porter, Mild and Stout, IPA, Brown Ale, Burton Ale and Old Ale, Barley Wine and Stingo, Golden Ale, Gale Ale, Honey Ale, White Beer, Heather Ale and Mum. This is a celebration of the depths of our beery heritage, a look at the roots of the styles ...

Winner of Beer Book of the Year at the 2016 British Guild of Beer Writers Awards The history of ale and beer is pitted with strange tales. Take the way the RAF made sure British troops received supplies of beer after the D-Day landings in 1944, for example: they filled up the fuel drop-tanks slung below Spitfire fighters with mild and bitter and flew seventy-five gallons at a time over to the makeshift landing strips in Normandy. Then there’s the Great London Beer Flood of 1814, when a gia...

Explore global beer diversity, from ancient origins to modern innovations across 40+ countries, appealing to both novices and aficionados. Come with us on a beer-fuelled journey crisscrossing the globe, taking in every continent and more than 40 different countries, as we discover the huge range of different brews available today around the world, explore their backstories, take a deep dive into the history of beer, going back 13,000 years to the dawn of civilisation, and come right up to ...

A delicious taste of the secret, exciting and often dangerous history of illicit spiritsBritain has always been a nation of enthusiastic drinkers. Any attempt to regulate, limit or ban our favourite tipple has been met with imaginative and daring acts of defiance: selling gin through pipes in a London back alley; smuggling brandy across Cornish clifftops; or dodging bombs and shrapnel running whisky in the Blitz.The history of spirits in Britain has more il...

Many beers have now gone, but they are not forgotten. They may have been swept away by a tide of takeovers and closures, their rich heritage casually spilt on the boardroom floor, but their powerful presence still lingers in the air. And some famous names have even risen from the dead to haunt the bars once more. Barnsley Bitter was a name to conjure with in Yorkshire and beyond for years. When Courage decided to close the Oakwell Brewery in 1973, thousands of protest marchers poured on to...

The portable guide to potable purveyors. "From alehouses, inns, and taverns, to the pubs we know today, Gordon Thorburn explains all . . . Cheers!" — Best of BritishIs there really a pub called The Toad Rock Retreat? Which one town has the pubs with both the longest and the shortest names? How many Lions, Crowns, and Horses are there? How many pubs are called The Speculation, The Triple Plea, and The Welcome Stranger? Why would you give your pub a ...

From award-winning booze correspondent Henry Jeffreys comes this rich and full-bodied history of Britain and the Empire, told through the improbable but true stories of how the world's favourite alcoholic drinks came to be.Empire of Booze traces the impact of alcohol on British culture and society, from madeira and India Pale Ale being created to withstand the long, hot journeys to overseas territories to why whisky became the favoured choice for weary emp...

How punter power pulled the humble pint back from the brink, this is the surprising story of a very British consumer revolt! Following a cast of bloody-minded City bankers, hippie microbrewers, style gurus, a Python, and a lot of men in pubs, Brew Britannia tells the story of the campaign to revitalise the nation's beer which became the most successful consumer revolt in British history! Fifty years ago the future of British beer looked as bleak as the weak, sweet, bland and fizzy pints be...

Denis Gregory takes us on an unforgettable and hilarious journey through the history of Australia and what it means to be an Australian. Full of quirky observations and little-known facts, this book is a vivid commentary on the life and culture of ' the lucky country'.

From the Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution, the Romans to the Regency, few things have mirrored society or been affected by its upheavals as much as the food we eat and the way we prepare it. In this involving history of the British people, Kate Colquhoun celebrates every aspect of our cuisine from Anglo-Saxon feasts and Tudor banquets, through the skinning of eels and the invention of ice cream, to Dickensian dinner-party excess and the growth of frozen food. Taste tells a st...

Now available in an all-new format, Bill 'Swampy' Marsh once again pays tribute to the people who have made Australia unique.'two bung knees. Can't swim. Is afraid of the water. Jumps in a kayak. takes a deep breath. Says a little prayer, and away she goes. And that's the character of the CWA, isn't it?' Helen Wall, Caniambo CWA, VictoriaPut your hand up if you think the CWA is a tea-and-scones group of women who sit around tables and chat away. Wrong! Well, they do make the best ja...