Barrel-ageing beers is not a new thing, but it is getting more and more popular, and has probably never been as inventive.  Adrian Tierney-Jones explores the new wave of ageing beer in wood

Another can spins off the line at Stone Brewing’s new brewery in Berlin. The speed of the whole process is astonishing, a matter of seconds from empty can to filled and sealed. Those amazing hop aromas that Stone Brewing’s IPA is known for are locked in, only to escape as you release the swirling lemon, pine, grapefruit aromas in one of the world’s best IPAs. Cans are the perfect container for this beer. And here’s why.

The History of Beer - Part 1: Origins

Read the first in a remarkable series by author Pete Brown about the history of beer

There’s a lovely story about the origin of beer that’s repeated in many books and magazines, including my own first book.

Brewing is such a complex and wonderful thing, it argues, that it was probably first discovered by accident. Somewhere in the Middle East, some farmer gathered grain in one of the earliest clay pots and left it outside. Soon after, it rained and the grain got wet, and softened. Natural airborne yeasts swooped in, and fermented the warm mush into beer. The hapless farmer tasted the result, and realised they had somehow invented one of the cornerstones of civilization.

The problem, as with so many great stories, is that it’s almost certainly wrong.

There’s a big difference between grain and fruit when it comes to natural fermentation. Fruit is generally

It’s light lagers and ales in summer and dark, warming beers in winter, right? But do we really change how we drink when winter comes? Beer Writer of the Year Adrian Tierney-Jones muses

We explore a snippet of evolutionary history on the most popular craft beer: IPA, and why so many of them can seem unbalanced.

Our Beer Sommelier, Maggie Cubbler discusses her opinion on sexism in beer and it's not buxom women on pump clips.

In an exclusive extract from his best-selling book, The Pub, Beer Writer of the Year Pete Brown looks at the future of the pub, and why it's not all doom and gloom

Journalist and beer sommelier Sophie Atherton dons her hop anorak and tries to avoid considering a world without hops.

Cult beers

I am a cult beer. I am a beer you will scrape and save and queue and turn blue for; I am a beer for which anticipation, impatience, hysteria and fear mix and match within the soul when thought of. I am a beer you will swoon over, fall in love with and give out signals to the universe that this is why you drink beer.

I have many names — Cantillon Zwanze, Dark Lord, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, various manifestations of Bourbon County Stout, Pliny the Younger, Unhuman Cannonball, DIPA v11, Born To Die, Surly Darkness. Maybe once in a while I am also a special release blended and bonded and aged and hounded and brought forth into the world. Tonight as I write I am Wild Beer’s The Blend Summer 2015, gueuze-like in my spritziness, sweet and sour, citrus on the edge of ruin, but bought back to make the palate jump with joy. I was only available last summer and those of you who want to drink me will have to wait until the weather is more benign.

2016 was quite a year for beer... Our Beer Sommelier Maggie Cubbler looks back at the year 2016 in beer in the UK and US, and wonders what next for the 'Craft Beer Revolution'

How to make beer the guest of honour at the table

It's time for beer to take centre stage at the dinner table argues our Beer Sommelier Maggie Cubbler. Here she provides a few tips for a successful dinner party

In this post we celebrate the work of CAMRA and offer a guide to the complex flavours of British real ales