An old map (1977) of all the active breweries in the UK, there were only a few dozen and by the eighties, even less, most of the smaller ones being absorbed into large corporates like Courage, Green King and Whitbread etc. The choice of beer styles was severely limited and the mass invasion of cheap fizzy lager from the continent well underway. Luckily things have changed massively now, since the mid twenty teens there has been an explosion of small artisanal breweries up and down the country, at time of writing there are over 4000 of them and the breadth and depth of styles and flavours has evolved beyond all recognition. There are many who find this rapid expansion of choice somewhat threatening, many older beer consumers still hanker after the days of "real-ale" and the CAMERA revolution that happened during the 80's and 90's I'm not one of those people! I look at the current landscape and think how much further (for the better) it can go, give me variety any day of the week, an unexamined life is a life not worth living in my book!
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