Love it or hate it

It's said that there's something special about the water in these parts. It makes good beer, and brewing ale in the town where I now live began in the early 1600s. The village where I grew up was home to Miss Joule, last of the John Joule & Sons brewing dynasty - the stuff of legends (that's her and the beer). And thanks to its proximity to the Trent & Mersey Canal, by the mid-19th century the Joules brand was savoured as far afield as Europe, the United States and even Australia.

For the nostalgic amongst you, the area was also home to Bass Charrington, M&B, Banks's, Ind Coope, Bents, Bindley & Co, Allsopp & Sons, Marstons, Old Wolverhampton Breweries, Wolverhampton & Dudley, Thomas Salt...most of those names now eclipsed by multi-national, far less evocative brands (Coors anyone?)

And, of course, the nearby town of Burton-upon-Trent is famous for its brewing by-product - namely Marmite. First produced in 1902, the familiar glass jar echoes the french cooking pot after which it's named. Since its 100th anniversary in 2002, several special edition Marmites have been produced. The most recent is Marmite XO (extra old), which is supposed to be matured for four times longer for the 'most dedicated of Marmite lovers'.

So it was clearly a well-chosen birthday present for yours truly. The only problem - what to do when I have to go back to the regular variety? Use four times as much?

And since you ask, the best way to eat Marmite is on toast, smothered with crunchy peanut butter. The second best way is on my mother's home made white bread with mature Lancashire cheese (or if you insist, boring Cheddar) and plain crisps.

And there's no need to get too despondent about the demise of the Staffordshire brewing industry, I'm glad to report that it's alive and well...positively thriving in fact. We've seen a host of micro breweries start up in the last few years and I heartily recommend Slaters Ales, Lymestone and my favourite, Titanic.

Cheers

A