Beer Holiday Read - Hops and Glory

When a beer nerd goes on holiday they need something to read. This year I bought Hops and Glory by Pete Brown on holidays to read and was glad I did. I spent a while reading it in the sun on the beach in Scotland. Bizarrely we had sun enough for sitting on the beach in Scotland.

The book is the story of his search for the original India Pale Ale beer. The history of India Pale Ale is tied up with Britain's imperial past and the East India company and Pete gives a very entertaining account of the history with some great characters appearing. I for one hope the word rake comes back into fashion after this book. This isn't just a story of the history of the beer. Pete in a mad moment decides to take a barrel of his own IPA to India. This is harder than you'd think and he ends up on various types of ships to get to India. The best part of his travels comes when he sails across the Atlantic in a tall ship. I won't give too much away but suffice to say there are some trials along the way.

I'm a fan of travel stories and this is one of the good ones. You get history and travel and a very affable humorous narrator. Recommended.