Beer Day Britain 2016

I wrote this for the local paper, the Southport Visiter; most of the info came from the Beer Day website. Personally, I don't need a specific Beer Day, but I have no objection to this initiative.

Beer Day Britain is on Wednesday 15 June, the date when the Magna Carta was agreed in 1215. Article 35 states: "There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom." To be mentioned in one of the most significant legal documents in our history shows how important ale was in England at that time. It is in fact an early example of a weights and measures policy and while we do not know what the legal measure for beer would have been at that time, it probably was not the pint.

From the 16th century English (and later British) ships spread the taste for beer far and wide. Many styles of beer invented in Britain are now brewed regularly around the world, including pale ale, India pale ale, mild, brown ale, stout, porter, imperial Russian stout, and barley wine.

Visitors to the UK often view pub culture as an important part of our identity and a trip to the pub for beer and typical pub food such as fish & chips is in the top five activities they want to do. Beer is also an important part of our economy; every year, the British Treasury receives £22 billion from the brewing and pub industries.

The idea of Beer Day Britain is for people to drink a beer, ideally in the pub, and celebrate our national drink. Join in by raising a glass and saying "Cheers to Beer" at 7pm on 15 June. To find out more about Beer Day Britain, click here.