Author(s): Jessica Boak

Wine & Drinks

In a barn in Somerset, plans are afoot to ferment a beer-cider hybrid with wild yeast that blows on the wind, while in Yorkshire an almost extinct style of 'salty 'n' sour' wheat beer is being resurrected for the 21st century. Fifty years ago, this would have seemed impossible. Back then the prospects for British beer looked weak, sweet, bland and fizzy, as colossal combines took over the industry, closing local breweries and putting profit before palate. Yet today the number of breweries is at a post-war high, with over a thousand in operation. Whether you drink traditional, CAMRA-approved 'real ale' or prefer a super-strong, fruit-infused, barrel-aged Belgian-style 'saison', you are spoilt for choice. In Brew Britannia acclaimed beer bloggers Boak and Bailey tell the story of a very British fightback. Following a cast of bloody-minded City bankers, hippie microbrewers, style gurus, a Python, and a lot of men in pubs, they reveal how punter power pulled the humble pint back from the brink.