It must be something in the Lakeland water. More than 20 small brewers are now operating in Cumbria as the beer business booms. And none thrives better than Hawkshead Brewery.

The original brewery was set up by former BBC World Service correspondent Alex Brodie in 2002, as he sought to end many years roving the globe’s trouble spots interviewing both statesmen and guerrillas. He opened his modest seven-barrel brew length plant at the head of the glorious Esthwaite Water and kicked off with this great session beer.

A pale, hoppy and fruity beer it’s brewed with Slovenian Styrian hops to give a distinctive aroma and a long dry and bitter finish.

It went so well that Alex still couldn’t stay put. Since 2006 he and his team have brewed on a tailor made 20 barrel kit at Staveley, near Kendal, with a very healthy 100 barrels a week capacity. So now it’s just the beer doing the roving - reaching even the Harkers beer terrorists.

One of the classic brewers of pale ale, Timothy Taylor is an independent family-owned company established in 1858 at Keighley, West Yorkshire. Landlord, often called the Prince of Beers, is a four-times winner of the Champion Beer of Britain, and has won more awards nationally than any other beer. Instantly recognisable, a dry bitter finish complements the fruity hop character of this fully flavoured and well balanced beer.

A Brunning and Price signature beer, it has a permanent listing at the Dysart Arms, Glasfryn, the Pant Yr Ochain, the Corn Mill, Pen-y-Bryn, the Combermere and the Fox.

It is a very odd beer to condition, and the brewery themselves recommend kicking the barrel about a bit – if you don’t, it has a tendency to blow its top when tapped (great fun when training new cellar staff).

Fans of Flowers Original swear by it, but it’s an increasingly rare find. Traditional copper coloured English ale with a creamy head it delivers a fruity aroma with a touch of caramel. Then, a sweetish malty mouthful followed with gentle bitter notes.

Easy drinking it’s also a great match for traditional British grub such as pies and game casseroles - as befits a brew that made its debut in 1831 when Flower & Sons opened in Stratford-upon-Avon.

For 130 years it served the Bard’s hometown well. But then, enter stage left the mighty Whitbread. Seven years later the curtain fell. Since then Flowers has been a wandering minstrel as, victim of the merger freefall It’s now owned by InBev, the world’s largest brewer. Drink it while you can at the Pant yr Ochain.

Twelve beer enthusiasts from around the company worked with Tony Allen of Phoenix Brewery developing our own cask ale over a period of seven months. This version - brew No. 8 - was the one we were finally happy to put our name to. It was an arduous process, but we were prepared to make the personal sacrifice for the good of the cause.

Brewed using East Kent Golding hops with a touch of American Mount Hood hops for aroma, this has been fermented using a Timothy Taylor derived yeast. Tony used predominantly Maris Otter malts with a small amount of Crystal to give colour and body, and the water is sourced from Ullswater as it is particularly pure and soft.

This beer has a gentle and pleasant aroma with a fine dark gold/amber colour and a good creamy head that clings down the glass. Taste wise, this has a malty, fruity sweetness and a long, rounded but refreshingly dry finish.

Ossett Brewery was opened in 1998 at the rear of the Brewers Pride public house in Ossett, West Yorkshire, by an ex head brewer of Tetleys. We recently discovered Silver King when the aforementioned Bob Lawson (who as far as we knew wasn’t even a household name in his own home), rang us up to say he had this wonderful beer that was scooping awards across the North East. We were his first venture across the Pennines, and Silver King has subsequently proved to be an instant hit in Chester. It is a lager-style beer with a crisp dry flavour and citrus fruity aroma, particularly well suited to the summer months.

“Homer no function beer well without” - Homer Simpson

This golden pale ale started life as a summer special but is now a firm regular from the idiosyncratically named Purple Moose brewery- best ask brewer Lawrence Washington about that.

Lawrence first practised his art creating formidable home brews in Cheltenham for several years. But as a volunteer worker with the Festiniog Railway, he recognised the opening for some decent beer in the Principality and so, in 2005, decided to fire up at Porthmadog.

He quickly got up a head of steam, with Snowdonia Ale winning gold in its class and the overall champion title at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) West Beer Competition 2006.

Pale and crystal malts are united with Pioneer, Styrian Goldings and, unusually, the Polish Lubelski hop to deliver a crisp, gently citrus beer that 'flies out' at the Glasfryn- a pub where the lighter coloured brews always go down well.

Stout is a style of beer developed from the original porter but a bit stronger- hence ‘stout porter’ and then simply 'stout'.

It became internationally famous after a certain Irish brewer spotted a gap in the market when the drinking classes of late Victorian England turned to lighter coloured ales.

This award winning brew is from one of the UK’s most successful independent breweries founded by brothers Keith and Dave Bott at Stoke-on-Trent, in 1985. They named it in honour of the ill-fated vessel’s local born skipper. And, yes, their beers have gone down well.

Titanic Stout is no exception. Maris Otter pale malt, wheat malt and roasted barley team up with three English hops to produce a big, generous beverage with a heart and soul. It delivers coffee, liquorice, roasted malt and toast on the nose with dark fruits and a long bitterness on the tongue. Harkers’ seadogs think it well worth going overboard for. Mmm, let the band play on.

We return to rural Shropshire for a tasty brew from this seriously historic Bishop’s Castle brewery. Brewing here can be traced right back to 1642, when the bumptious but ill-fated King Charles 1st - desperate to fund his civil war - issued a licence for the site. It didn’t help him escape the chop.

But more than 350 years later it is helping slake thirsts at the Fox and the Armoury - where regulars have been known to lose their heads over this lovely straw coloured ale. Brewed with Marris Otter Pale Ale malt and Fuggles hops XXX has a light malt sweetness with a gentle hoppiness and honey finish.

Unlike the tragic Charlie, the brewery is a great survivor. In 1890 owner John Roberts added a ‘state of the art’ red brick Victorian Tower and in 1976 - still tied to the Three Tuns pub business - it was identified by Camra as one of only four remaining brew pubs in the entire country.

However, by 2002 it was in such a state that the owners planned to hive the brewery off from the pub and convert to a house. Brewing moved temporarily to Hobson. Then in 2003, the John Roberts Brewing company came to the rescue to breathe new life into the place. Good job that Charles couldn’t do the same.