Beer, sausage and melting icebergs.

There are many countries in the world with a powerful brewing provenance. Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, and, of course, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. These 'old world' brewing super-powers are now being challenged by 'new world' beers which, in many ways, rely on the lifestyle associated with the beer rather than the beer itself to sell. I suppose you could say these beers promote the sizzle rather than the sausage.

Of course, that is not always the case. There are some wonderfully complex beers now being brewed all over the world: Australia, Korea, Japan, South Africa, Cuba, to name but a few. These 'weird beers' as I once heard them described have to travel a long way to get here, and often fail to deliver the promise of their exotic domicile. One exception to this, however, is a brown ale I tasted from Greenland. Yes, Greenland. Inland icebergs are melted to get water which is then used to brew the beer. Not sure of the green credentials of this Greenland ale, but it is a wonderful story nonetheless.