Some might say that online presence is vital for microbrewers. That without a website, Twitter account and Facebook page a brewer is missing out on sales opportunities and marketing potential. And I'm sure some brewers would hear those words, shake their heads and then get back to their business of brewing beer for a sustainable market.

Jo Allsop doesn't need web-based shenanigans to sell his beer. If you go looking for Whim Brewery online, you'd be lucky to find even his phone number. The truth is, his beer sells well in the pubs close to the Hartington-based brewery in Derbyshire's Peak District as well as throughout the county. My local, the Royal Oak in Ockbrook, will clear a barrel of their IPA or Bitter so quickly that there's hardly time to change the pump clip.

Good beer is where you find it. And you don't always need the tinterweb to tell you where that is. (Apart from now, if you've never heard of them before. Irony, indeed).

Why try? Well-made, well balanced, full of flavour. Lets the ales do the talking.

What to look for? Hartington Bitter and Black Christmas (which I've managed to drink in July at the brewery-owned Wilkes Head in Leek).

Where to buy? As well as the Wilkes, Whim beers appear at the Charles Cotton (Hartington) and are regulars at the Flowerpot and Smithfield in Derby. >

Regular readers know I'm a huge fan of Thornbridge. I've brewed beers with them. I go out drinking with them. They send me samples. I've supportive of all they do. I write about them often.

Why?

It's this simple: I still get a buzz when they release a new beer. Do other brewers make me feel the same way? Well, I can count the number of them on the fingers of one hand.

The owner, Jim Harrison, knows what he wants. Head Brewer, Stefano Cossi, knows how to brew it. The whole team know how to deliver the results.

There are three reasons why Jaipur is a world-champion beer. Why styles old and new are executed with thrilling precision. Why I would choose a Thornbridge beer over any other cask in the world.

Innovation. Passion. Knowledge.

You can taste it in every Thornbridge pint.

Why try? They're the best beers brewed in England.

What to look for? Jaipur. Kipling. Brock. And, if you're oh-so-lucky, Bracia.

Where to buy? Plenty of places across the country but rarely better than drinking it the Sheffield Tap, The Bear in Alderwasley, Packhorse Inn in Little Longstone or Greystones in Sheffield. And myBrewerytap have a range of bottles on sale too. >

Gazza Prescott and Dave Szwejkowski of Steel City Brewing can be objectionable, arrogant, opinionated and bloody-minded. That's why I like them; that's why I like their beers.

With a clear idea on what to brew - hoppy as hell - they could have stuck to homebrew bucket-action in a garage. Instead, they operate as a 'cuckoo' brewery, using other brewplants to produce mainly light, hoppy beers in what they call a 'Mid-Atlantic' style. As they have strong opinions about beer - US hops, good; crystal malt, bad - it's good to see them walking the walk and not just loudmouthing the talk.

The results may be divisive but at least they're never boring. As they have full-time jobs, beer production is sporadic but that adds to the thrill of the chase for beer tickers and lovers of humulus lupulus alike.

Just do us a favour, guys. Brew something really hoppy. You know you want to ;-)


Why try? They know what hops can do and they aren't afraid to use them

What to look for? They don't have regular brews: check their website for details

Where to buy? Most likely to be found in Sheffield (Wellington, Rutland), Worcester (Dragon) and, er, Horsley Woodhouse and Kilburn in Derbyshire (Old
Oak and Hunter's Arms) >

The Kelham Island Tavern is famed for its choice of rotating guest ales, their names chalked up on a blackboard to the left of the bar. I never look at it. I never need to. Because the KIT has a regular beer which, if the other Sheffield pubs served it, I would drink in every man jack of them. Brewer's Gold. By Pictish.

Words seem woefully inadequate when trying to explain just how much I love this beer. Which, for a beer writer, is rather a cop-out. But its strength and depth and breadth is more than just a sum of its liquid bread and flighty hop mouthfeel. It's my contented exhalation, a sense of normalcy restored, the bittersweet memory held for the rest of the topering day. For me the beer is inextricably linked to the KIT - I've never drank it anywhere else - and it's become my flavour-track to both beery gatherings of sweaty topers and solitary musings over half-completed crosswords.

But there's more to Pictish than Brewer's Gold. Indeed, they brew a whole heap of single-hopped lovelies which just seem to be more.... complete than other brewer's fayre. The last I drank, Motueka at Sheffield's Sheaf View, was... satisfying. As in, three pints worth of satisfaction. And what's not to love about the brewer saying the single-hopped beers get brewed as and when he feels like it? And that he can't be bothered to write almost identical tasting notes, so he just uses the phrase "A pale, very hoppy beer brewed using [insert name] hops"?

Few beers make an award-winning pub's beer selection an afterthought. That's the power of Pictish at the KIT.

Why try? Seemingly effortless balance, allowing the hops to shine rather than dazzle clumsily

What to look for? Brewer's Gold. Any of the single-hop series.

Where to buy? Apart from Brewers's Gold at the Kelham Island Tavern in Sheffield - and get your hands off, it's mine - Pictish distribute widely throughout Lancashire, Manchester and West Yorkshire. >

Palates change. When I tasted my first pint by Oakham, I wrote that it was "massively hopped - pulls your lips back over your head, a bit too frantic for me". Nowadays, Oakham on the bar is my guarantee of a refreshingly-hopped beer.

What I love about Oakham - apart from their superlative beer - is that they just get on and do stuff that other brewers would crow about and muck up. Collaborative brews (with Newby Wyke and Green Jack), barrel-aging (such as Oblivion or Atilla), and pioneering hop brews(Citra).

I was guilty of sidelining Oakham beers during my scooping years. Now, I drink it out of choice wherever I find it. There are plenty of pubs around Notts and Derbyshire that have Bishop's Farewell and/or JHB as regular beers. And I am more than happy to drink long and deep.

Why try? Hops used judiciously, not afraid to oomph the ABV if it carries the flavour better

What to look for? JHB and Bishop's Farewell. The best cask Citra in the UK. And dark beers like Black Hole Porter. And the full-bodied Atilla or Tranquility.

Where to buy? All over the East Midlands and Cambridgeshire. But best at their own pubs such as the splendid Barton's Arms in Aston. Well worth the trip to Peterborough to drink at Charters Bar, a converted Dutch barge, and their Brewery Tap with its glass-fronted brewkit. >

I love to drink beer in the county where it's brewed. I love to find a pub near the brewery and enjoy their beer on its home territory. And so here's a brewer I've sampled in Manchester and Sheffield but never in their Somerset homeland. Not odd, though, given that I've never been to Somerset.

My introduction to Moor Brewing came though odd casks at CAMRA festivals and found them all to be, well, average brown British bittery beers. The brewer fell off my radar until a few years ago when I picked up a few of their bottles from beermerchants; the branding grabbed my attention as it was so much bolder, more confident - as were the beers. Step forward Justin Hawke, a new broom brewing up stuff that brought more than a little of his native West Coast USA flavour to the West Country.

Tracking down casks of Moor up here in the Midlands is tricky; a real shame as I've still got a taste for some of their sessionable beers. I've also got a taste for their 9% JJJ IPA but that results in a short, messy session. There's only one thing for it - I need to find me a Somerset pub and drink Moor beer all the live-long day. Sounds like an ideal summer weekend to me. I wonder if there's Moor beer on the bar at Somerset Cricket Club?

Why try? Classic styles re-invigorated; contemporary styles mastered.

What to look for? Quaffers on cask like Revival and Peat Porter; sippers in the bottle such as JJJ IPA and Old Freddie Walker.

Where to buy? Errr, Somerset is your best bet. If anyone can recommend somewhere there, please let me know. Meanwhile, you can always buy bottles from beermerchants. >

Perhaps it's a Manchester thing. What you see is what you get. No airs, graces, pretentions. Marble take the guesswork out of buying beer: Manchester Bitter. Stouter Stout. Chocolate. Ginger. Pint.

Brewing began in a back room of the Grade-2 listed Marble Arch pub in 1998; increased demand led to a second plant opening up underneath the nearby railway arches in 2009. Along the way, successive brewers have found inspiration to brew beyond the ordinary English fayre. Chocolate Dubbel, Decandence Kriek and Special Barley Wine are all indicators of Marble's experimental edge.

Why try? They don't re-invent beer; they strip it down to its bare bones and rebuild it. When some styles have all too often gone awry with malt changes and odd hopping, Marble get back to basics and brew assertive beer really well.

What to look for? Either the eminantly sessionable 3.9 or Pint. If you're in Marble Arch and they are serving Dobber, try it without the sparkler. You won't get punched in the face for suggesting it. Honest.

Where to buy? Marble Arch, 73 Rochdale Road - possibly the finest brewery tap I've ever visited. Marble's bar at 57 Thomas Street also stocks cask. Bottles can be bought online from myBrewerytap.

>

How many times do you hear brewers being criticised for all their beer tasting the same? Is that really criticism at all? Or is it an indication of consistency?

It's quite possible that the Little Ale Cart brewery, a one-barrel plant shoehorned into the back of the Wellington pub in Sheffield, do brew some dark beers. It's possible that pixies ballet dance along the bar as well. Never mind the conjecture, let's establish the facts: the names on the clips seemingly change every day but the story stays the same; pale beer, well-hopped, well brewed.

In a city that's awash with great beer in general and pale ale in particular, it takes something special to recommend one pub and its wares. Others try to vary their line-up; Little Ale Cart sticks with the knitting and delivers definitive pale and hoppy beer over and over again.

Why try? If you like pale and hoppy, they brew superlative pale and hoppy. Like you need reminding.

What to look for? Whatever the pale, hoppy ones are called when you visit. Probably some kind of locomotive.

Where to buy? The Wellington, Henry Street, Shalesmoor, Sheffield. Next to the Shalesmoor tram stop. Beer brewed on the premises. >

I've only met Evin O'Riordain of The Kernel Brewery once. I didn't ask him if he started out with a master plan like this:

Open brewery on London. Buck the trend by bottling most of the output. Have said bottles sold in the best beer bars and retail stores across the capital. Brew classic styles with a contemporary twist. Win the hearts of beer enthusiasts, win awards at industry competitions. All within eighteen months of opening.

But that's what he's done. And, in the process, he's become one of the drivers behind the revolution of the capital's beer scene. Keen to collaborate, eager to innovate, passionate about re-invention of classics. Kernel aren't so much ripping up the rule book, they're writing their own.


Why try? Perfectly bottled live beer in styles that have a depth and breadth of flavour.

What to look for? IPAs such as S.C.C.A.N.S or their award-winning Export Stout

Where to buy? Direct from the brewery or from various bars/shops in London as mentioned here >

When I first holidayed in Norfolk, I had straightforward expectations of the beer I'd find; classic English bitter. Adnams and Woodforde's sold plenty of it, I drank plenty of it. But some days, particularly the blistering hot ones, my palate wanted a little more zing. That's when I realised that beery happiness is egg-shaped.

Reedham may seem to be a sleepy village on the Norfolk Broads but Humpty Dumpty have been busily brewing there since 1998. Something that Stephen George, Craig Fermoy and the team have really nailed is a host of great quenchers - perfect for the end of long meandering Norfolk walks whether you're on the coast, on the Broads or tramping round Norwich on the tourist trails.

And they're Norfolk and proud of it. Their Maris Otter malt is from Teddy Maufe's famed Branthill Farm. They brewed an IPA in support of the Wherryman's Way long-distance footpath. They work the farmer's markets, they have a bar at the Royal Norfolk Show, they are fervent supporters of the village's beer festival. They may just be the hardest working brewery in Norfolk...

Why try? The lighter-ABV beers are thirst-slaking; the stronger stuff is proper 'feet-up-at-the-end-of-the-day' beery enjoyment.

What to look for? Those quenchers I first found, Little Sharpie and Lemon & Ginger.

Where to buy? Norfolk. Humpty Dumpty have a brewery shop on-site, the Real Ale Shop at Branthill Farm and Beers Of Europe stock their bottles, the Lord Nelson at Reedham always has a cask of theirs on. Then there's the farmer's markets at Aylsham and Beccles. And you may find some at the Berney Arms Inn - a pub you can't drive to but can walk, sail or take the train to. You'll be glad of a pint when you get there... >

Some brewers demand the centre-of attention, illuminated by the faces of smiling acolytes. Some brewers just get on with the job of brewing great beer. Nigel Wright is firmly in the latter category.

You get the feeling that if Nigel plied his trade in a city rather than Market Deeping, his beers would literally be on the lips of many more drinkers. But he seems content to meet the demands of the local market whilst venturing forward with wider distribution for his bottled beer.

Hopshackle get on and do what some brewers just dream about; re-invigorating classic styles whilst still forging ahead with hop-forward experiments. American-style ales, historic porters, robust bitters, single-hopped IPAs... no edgy marketing, no Twitter hype, just well-made, tasty beer.

Why try? Not afraid to experiment whilst paying absolute attention to quality.

What to look for? The Historic Porter is a complex mix of roasted notes, tart fruit and liqorice licks. For a hoppier hit, Resination takes on the Americans at their own game and offers intense bitterness tempered by floral, herby flavours.

Where to buy? Cask may prove elusive outside of the South Lincolnshire area. Bottles can be bought, including an excellent mixed case from Ales By Mail. >

I can almost here the naysayers out there now. "But.... FULLER'S? They're a... a... BIG BREWER! IN LONDON". Well...Big Fat Deal.

One of my locals, the Royal Oak in Ockbrook, often has Fuller's beer as a guest. And we're about a hundred miles away from the brewery. In that bit between the M25 and M62 that is neither Darn Sarf or Oop Norf. And still the London Pride tastes fermenter-fresh. Head brewer John Keeling even came along one weekday evening for a two-hour 'Meet The Brewer' session. I applaud that commitment. Some of our local brewers wouldn't cross the road to go and talk to their customers.

It's easy for some beer 'lovers' to cock a snoot at breweries larger than a bathtub. I tend to concentrate on beer quality - after all, isn't good beer is where you find it? I like London Pride, I love ESB and I could quite happily drink London Porter until my extremities dropped off.

At Nottingham CAMRA Festival last year I stood drinking the cask Porter cask until my legs almost quit. I've spent happy afternoons in the Churchill Arms, Kensington, London, supping keg Porter as life's rich tapestry of clueless tourists and avuncular locals unravelled before me. I've stood outside the Artillery Arms, on the fringe of the City, loving Discovery with rogues and traders (not mutually exclusive). Great pubs, with great mates; great times enhanced exponentially by great beers.

Fuller's is the taste of London, wherever you happen to be drinking it.

Why try? To remind you that brewers of size can still brew tasty beer.

What to look for? Style-defining ESB and the gorgeous-however-it's-dispensed London Porter.

Where to buy? Bottles in major supermarkets, countless pubs across London and the south and one of my favourite haunts, the Old Joint Stock in Birmingham. >

Some breweries make their name on the strength of two beers - one light, one dark - that become a toper's turn-to whatever the time of year. Others achieve it by a depth and breath borne of imagination, experimentation and collaboration. It took me a few years to realise, but Dark Star have made their name both ways.

Their Sussex goodies used to escape rarely into my Midlands drinking heartland. When - if - they did, it was one of two brews; Hophead or Espresso. And on finding them I would drink deep and long. For they were the fruitiest sub-four-percenter and the most-rounded-choc-and-coffee beers that I could drink. And you know what? They're still the best golden ale and coffee stout on offer, on cask, in the UK.

And there's more. Perhaps it's the pubs that now offer a wider range, perhaps I'm now drinking in better pubs, but the seasonal and special Dark Star beers are becoming a common site round our way. And what beers they are - none of your dodgy re-tweaked seasonals here but styles old, new and re-interpreted; saison, smoked porter, Mai bock, green-hopped IPA. Add in collaboration ales with the likes of Thornbridge and Kernel and it's clear that Dark Star are at the zenith of the contemporary English brewing scene.

Their new website is kick-ass too. And their clothing range is stuff that you may actually want to wear. Even me. Brown hoodie in extra large, please, if anyone's feeling generous.

Why try? The regular beers redefine 'regular beer' and the specials are, er, special.

What to look for? Hophead, Espresso Stout, Summer Meltdown

Where to buy? Consult their beerfinder; not only where they've delivered to but what beers and how many barrels. An outstanding innovation. And there's always the Evening Star in Brighton, birthplace of the brewery in 2001, which I will finally get to visit this year. Honest. >

The first beer I helped to brew. The first blonde ale I truly loved. The best pubs in Nottingham. Castle Rock are responsible for all of these.

The first beer was Large: brewed for a Robert Rankin fan get-together (to be honest, I knew little about the author but a mate of mine organised the brewday and knew I was keen to get involved). I can remember being covered in malt and I can remember the first four pints of Elsie Mo in the bar after. Just.

The first blonde was Trammie Dodger, a special for Nottingham Beer Festival in 2003, which later morphed into Harvest Pale, CAMRA's Champion Beer in 2010. Nectar. Sheer nectar.

The best pubs; Vat & Fiddle for a swift pre-train pint, Kean's Head for a legendary Scotch egg, Lincolnshire Poacher for the occasional Brewdog cask, Victoria at Beeston for peace & quiet.

Castle Rock beers formed a major part of my cask beer education. The monthly specials still keep me on my toes. And Harvest Pale: I may not think it's quite what it used to be, but you never forget your first time... and everybody changes.

Why try? The best brewery in Nottingham by a landslide.

What to look for? Harvest Pale! And Elsie Mo, the foreshortener of many a lunchtime session.

Where to buy? Nottingham. See the pubs mentioned above. If you see me there, I'll stand you a pint... >