In the winter of 1920, the 25 year-old Masataka Taketsuru, with his new wife Rita in tow, arrived in Campbeltown, a small town on the west coast of Scotland. With the help of Professor Wilson of the Royal Technical College in Glasgow, the young Japanese had been fortunate enough to secure an invitation to undergo practical training in pot still whisky manufacture at the Hazelburn Distillery, then the largest of the Campbeltown distilleries. Under the guidance of chief technician Peter Margach Innes, Taketsuru was able to delve into all aspects of whisky manufacture. Four months later, he had completed this report. Taketsuru would go on to establish his own company - Nikka Whisky. Today Nikka's whiskies are known the world over, and frequently win awards.

These days beer could not be more popular. New craft breweries open by the week; most pubs routinely serve several draught real ales; supermarkets stock an astonishing range of the best beers from all over the world, and BrewDog raises millions by crowdfunding. Even Majestic Wines now sells beer.But until now, though people have always written evocatively and passionately about this delicious beverage, no-one has collected all the best beer writing into one volume - even though the same job has often been done for wine.Now the award-winning beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones has put that right, with this endlessly entertaining anthology, packaged as a beautiful small-format hardback perfect for the gift market. In it you'll find great writing celebrating good ale from A.E. Housman and Ernest Hemingway to Inspector Morse, Ian Rankin and Ice Cold in Alex, as well as the best beer writers of today like Peter Brown and Evan Rail, and the funniest, most delicious celebrations of beer in fiction and poetry.