This may be a blog about lager, but that doesn’t mean I can’t write about anything else if there’s a tiny excuse for it. Take for example the trend towards lighter, clearer and filtered beers that first started appearing at the end of the 19th century from Burton in the UK, in particular. This trend was also seen in continental Europe in lager (dark and Vienna) and the rise of Pilsner as the dominant type.

The king of these pale ales was India Pale Ale – a beer that is veiled by as much myth and mystery as porter. I’m looking forward to a new book about IPA from Pete Brown, who has written two fine beer books: Man Walks into a Pub and Three Sheets to Wind. 

The new book, Hops and Glory has been two years in the making and Pete promises some interesting revelations about the history of IPA. Looking forward to it.

I took Pete around Copenhagen on a beer tour led by Danish journalist Allan Mylius Thomsen when he was researching Three Sheets to the Wind . The idea was that I’d do the translating (it was in Danish), but it was such an interesting tour I did more listening than translating!