Mauritius has a long history of rum production thanks to the abundance of sugar cane that the island produces - all over the world wherever sugar cane is grown, there's rum, and Mauritius is no different.As such the supermarkets are full to the brim with local varities ranging from the insanely cheap...

Having a stash of good beer is one of the perks of being a bit of a beer obsessive. No matter what mood I'm in I'll always have something stowed away at the back of the cupboard ready to be cracked open and enjoyed.Some beers never fail to satisfy. Cantillon Gueuze with its intense tartness and complexity,...

Setup by Andy Mogg and Mark Dredge, the Golden Pints is a chance to give a shout out to the beers and breweries that have impressed this year.These are my personal choices. What are yours?Best UK Draught Beer This is a tough, tough category. But the beer I enjoyed the most on draught this year was...

Smoked beers are something of an acquired taste, particularly those made by the famous German Brewery Schlenkerla, who's output is almost entirely made up of smoked beers (technically their helles lager contains no smoked malt, but as it's brewed on the same kit it still has a smokey edge).The beers...

Leigh from The Good Stuff got in touch a few weeks ago to say he thought we should pool our efforts and post today on the subject of beer with Christmas dinner. I totally agree that beer is being largely ignored by the mainstream food press and that something should be done about it. So here we are,...

If that title seems a little bit cliche then don't blame me. It's courtesy of those troublesome Scottish craft beer punks.With tongue firmly in cheek, Hoppy Christmas is the name BrewDog have given to their 'Christmas Beer'. It tastes about as Christmassy as pad Thai, which is exactly what they were...

One of the beers I brought back from America was Oskar Blues Brewery Old Chub Scotch Ale. It's an American take on a traditional Scottish beer style brewed with peat smoke dried malt. But here's the kicker, no such style ever existed in Scotland. The Americans made it up.Beer simply wasn't brewed...