BRITAIN IN A BOTTLE

“It’s not that many years since the idea of regarding breweries and distilleries as tourist attractions would have seemed distinctly odd,” admit authors Ted Bruning and Rupert Wheeler, previously of the Good Beer Guide and Whisky Magazine respectively. But my, how things have changed. Now thanks to the development of “informative and comfortable visitor centres and inviting brewery taps” you certainly don’t have to be an enthusiast to regard a guided tour and maybe even lunch at a brewery as

“anything out of the ordinary”.

This new Bradt guide to distilleries, breweries, vineyards and cider mills covers every region of Britain from Scotland’s

Highlands and Islands to the West

Country. There’s the venerably established, such as Plymouth Gin (England’s oldest distillery with a charter date of 1793) to the downright quirky, such as the Mill House Cider Museum and Dorset Clock Museum which “happened by accident in the 1980s and has been progressing by a series of accidents ever since”!

Twenty-eight “Closeups” sections give insider information on ingredients (such as honey and hops), processes (fermentation) and traditions and folklore to name but a few. Discover the story behind English sparkling wine, for instance, and how, thanks in part to pioneer George Ordish, we realised the many similarities between the south-east and the Champagne region, today beating the French producers at their own game.

Great photographs and well-told stories of founders and producers bring each location to life. There are helpful listings of major wine, beer and spirit festivals and shows, too. Bradt Travel Guides, £16.99;

ISBN: 978-1-784775-91-9