I'm Steve, the webmaster. I live in Wirral which is a peninsula between the rivers Mersey and Dee in the north of England. That may not mean much to those of you in far-away lands, although if I said 'Tiger Woods, 'Open 2006' and 'Hoylake' some of you may be interested to know that the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake is on the Deeside of Wirral.

This blog won't just be about Thomas Hardy's Ale. I'm the Charman of the Wirral branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and also have a keen interest in Belgian beers. It was the Belgian beer lovers' passion of ageing beers which re-kindled my interest in Hardy's Ale.

I've actually got bottles of Achel Blonde, St. Bernardus 8 and St. Feuiilen Triple cooling nicely in the fridge which I'm about to enjoy. I'll be discussing Belgium and its beers at length in future blogs. Next time I'll tell you about a small micro-brewery a few miles away from me which is thriving despite the recession.

Time for those beers.

Cheers,

Steve.