Plenty of "Good" british beers out there and I drink them for taste. If I want to get intoxicated then there is always Cognac or Wine. But the number of breweries in the UK is immense. A lot have been taken into mutiple concerns that do not specialise in beers- just conglomerates that buy for profit- asset strip and then sell off whatever remains so many of the Old noted names no longer exist except in name.

But many good local breweries exist. Our local one is "Harveys" and they mainly do Beer. Not the fizzy alcoholic stuff that seems to prevail amongst the uncultured. Nothing better than walking round to the pub on a hot summers evening- or a cold winter one if it comes to that- and supping on a local brew of your choice straight out of a barrel that is cool but not freezing.

But many years ago- I had a cycling friend- Mike- that brewed his own beer to his own recipe. After a long hot ride we finished up at his house and he said he had a good batch in the shed. I had never tried his beer before and I decided that just to be sociable- I would have a 1/2. (Half pint that is) It was the best beer I had ever tasted but as the other 1/2 had been taken by one of the other riders- I had another full pint. 20 minutes later and I stood up- and sat down very quickly. No idea on the %age but it was strong. No more beer before I cycled home- but one of the others phoned for his wife to collect him

Few years later and Mike Died. His wife asked if his cycling friends would wear cycling gear at the funeral but we decided that we would cycle to the funeral. Cycled back to the house for the reception and as we turned up- we were being stared at by the other male guests. We soon found out why- Mikes wife had dug out the 12 bottles of Mikes own brew that were left and put them on a tray in the kitchen with a big sign saying "Do not touch---Reserved" Those of us that had cycled down got the beer.

We sat on the lawn and as there were only 5 of us- we did not get up again for a couple of hours. Unfortunately- The recipe went with Mike to his grave. The one selfish thing he had ever done in his life.