Beer for a year

The other day, somebody delivered this box to my door.

I opened it.

And this is what was inside.

Beer! Thirteen bottles of the stuff.

I get four of these boxes each year, my Christmas present from Ms Great Wen. They are supplied by a company called MyBreweryTap.com, a new company that specialises in finding obscure real ales from microbreweries in every corner of the country and delivering them to anybody who fancies trying new and different beers. I am a member of the 52 Week Beer Club, which means I get a different bottle for every week of the year. Included in this quarter’s box is an alcoholic ginger beer, and something called Undertaker from Wincle, which must be good for so many reasons.

I am not a heavy drinker and I’m not a CAMRA nerd, but I like a fine ale. So this is perfect.

Ed Turner, the founder, started the company after sampling a brilliant beer in the Lake District and then realising that nobody else in the country could get hold of it, because the means of supply were beyond the tiny brewery’s budget. They now deliver beer from dozens of small breweries, including Clapham’s Sambrook’s. Last year, Ed took me on a tour of Sambrook’s, followed by a tasting session about which I remembered little other than the website of the company, which I then passed on to my missus accompanied by some large and appropriate hints.

So there you go. If you like beer, this is for you. Tonight, I plan to try the Unpronouncable IPA from Crown Brewery, a ‘punchy 7 per cent’ the tasting notes inform me.

Cheers!