Fancy a pint? Is there a more cheering invitation than to accompany your best mate down to the local to sup one of England's finest products? Served at best from a hand-pump drawing the beer up from the cask in which it matures in the pub cellar, no other beverage is so symbolic of our national history.

As a nation of beer-drinkers, most of us have a favourite brew, very often one produced by whichever the nearest local brewery is. Despite the fact that good English ale lost a fair bit of ground commercially in the 1960s, following the introduction of undemanding European lagers, a taste for the finer things in life is returning to the national palate.