Twenty breweries: introduction

Back in January, the question was asked on Scoopgen as to what the members' favourite twenty UK breweries of the moment were. It's often more difficult than you think to compile such a list; half-a-dozen may be obvious but how do you decide between the rest?

I've revisited my original list from back then with the added proviso that I'd only pick breweries from whom I've drank at least five different beers. Strength in depth, you see.

So, as an exercise in filling up this site with waffle whilst I'm elsewhere doing other stuff - er, I mean as a concise and informative way of profiling my currrent favourite UK breweries - the gory details will start to appear here from tomorrow. Some will be all-too-familiar-but-worthy, some will (hopefully) make you think twice as to why I've included them and some will - possibly - blindside you completely.

Note to sceptics - it's not definitive, it's not a Top 20, it's not sponsored. It's a list of UK brewers from whom, if I organised a beer festival tomorrow, I'd place my orders from.


The pic is of Andrea Pausler - then at Thornbridge, now at Birreria Amarcord - with a dirty big grin on his face as he chucks bucketfuls of hops it to a brew. Don't you just love a happy brewer!