I've been blessed with living near St Albans (the home of CAMRA) these past 30 years so have been spoilt for choice in drinking "real" beers. As an ex-Northerner, I can tell you that this "northern beer is best" myth is a lot of bollox (and probably always was).

Most places I go in the north these days seem to live on top pressure, hence earlier references to John Smith's Smooth, Ruddles (now brewed by a supermarket conglomerate brewer in Abingdon) and, Lord preserve us, that p**s heavily marketed under the name Boddington's.

The best remain;

Adnams (every time, but so rare except around Southwold) London Pride (readily available and reliable) CBB (but watch for similarly named top pressure) Youngs (but mainly served in London pubs, most of which don't give a stuff about condition).

Guinness or Murphy's is my favourite weekend lunchtime brew - usually apres-golf. There is a disturbing trend towards something which looks similar, called Beamish, which is awful.

Many people think because Guinness is black it must be heavy and strong - it is neither, just very smooth, light and refreshing. It is better in Ireland but I believe that is mainly contextual rather than any real difference in taste.

All in all, the brewing industry is in really bad shape as more and more of the old brands become tools in the hands of the marketing men and mundane products seem to be the order of the day. And all of the "foreign" lager is now brewed in the UK under licence so it all now tastes the same.

Enough.

Cheers, Terry.