Twenty breweries: Fuller's

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.