RAVEL You’ll feel ale ’n hearty on HOPPY

PRETTY Conwy in north Wales is a resort at the mouth of one of the most spectacular river valleys in the UK.

It’s backed by the mountains of Snowdonia and watched over by one of our biggest medieval castles.

The Conwy brewery just outside town isn’t hidebound by tradition, however. It brews hip-and-happening US-style craft beers alongside a selection of real ales. And it offers wannabe beer makers a “brewer for a day” experience where they can shadow the experts on a range of duties. SURELY a brewery in a church must be some kind of sacrilege? Although, mind you, plenty of monks are beermakers.

Anyway, the sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows of MUNICH draws the plaudits at Oktoberfest time, but a prettier Bavarian destination, Bamberg, is best for true lovers of what Germans call “liquid bread”.

This UNESCOpreserved city still has 11 breweries downtown and a further 60 in the villages in the surrounding area. the Jopenkerk in Haarlem bounces off copper vats, not wooden pews.

Where the choir once sang is a long, gleaming bar above which, rather than psalms, is a list of beers with Biblically In days of old, watchmen would patrol the evening before a major brew, asking townsfolk not to pee in the river. In the half-timbered bar at Schlenkerla brewery you can try a unique rauchbier, a smoked beer which tastes strangely like bacon and eggs, and is just as satisfying.

Try to spend a night in nearby Fässla brewery, also a hotel. themed names such as Doubting Thomas and Valley of Darkness. All are served in goblets like communion wine.