Some of you may know me. Few that do have missed the fact that I like all things ale. I say that specifically as I really have not taken to lagers, those johnny-come-latelies of the zymurgical - based on a yeast isolated only in the late 1830's which ferments at 50 F. It might as well be Koolaid in both its history and taste.

I have 27 beer books by the bedside table. This in now way makes me beer obsessed - others are all over that. Most of them relate to my suspended brewing life - recipe and style books. A few are more technical like the ever fascinating text The Biotechnology of Malting and Brewing by J.S. Hough. I have just picked up a dandy, hardcover copy of Michael Jackson's 1976 The English Pub. Twenty-seven years later he can be found online where his career built on beer is on display. This is nice as many authors of beer books back then died "tragically early" - David Line, Ken Shales. The book covers a lot of ground - from the earliest pubs still in existance, to obscure pub games - rhubarb-thrashing anyone? - to glossy pages of Guinness posters and beer mats.

Funny, suddenly I can think of something I'd rather be doing than typing...