A Step-by-step Guide to Drinking Beer

Lets start with an Aperitif.
And I'd suggest, DEUS, at £11.15 from Waitrose. According to Ponsonby, "Its an Ale wrapped in a Champagne bottle with a cork in its neck. Eleven point five percent sheer magic!" Indeed, it holds honey spices that fit comfortably with nibbles. Yet, real ale itself is becoming cheaper, and there is no better than smooth bottled conditioned O'Hanlons Goodwill Bitter. And the perfect Christmas companion has to be Young's Christmas Pudding Ale.

Now for starters, but keep the beer tight.
For £1.55 at Waitrose or Tesco's, try Kasteel Cru. A champagne yeast fermented wonder, this 5.2 per cent delicacy is a light lager, giving soft bready flavours and goes well with smoked salmon or lighter foods.

Maincourse, and time for medium strength ales.
Wychcraft is right to dine with, at £1.49 from all supermarkets and at 4.5%. Or, lose control completely with Anchor Christmas Ale from San Francisco. Lose control because they make a different recipe every year, so there no way of tell what you'll get. But do expect exciting flavours like ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon or clove.

Desert time.
And Guinness stout is perfect for plum pudding, as stout's roasted sweetness acts as a great bedrock for the sweeter rich, dried flavours of the pudding. And Wychwood's Hobgoblin is a wonderful chocolaty ale for afters.

If you ever sample chocolate after dinner....
Finish with a porter; a dark, malty number named after London's river porters who quaffed it. Or take stout for you chocy nibbling- these work best because of they're toasty flavours. Or, there is Fuller's Vuintage Ale at 8.5 per cent, an outstanding barely wine! Anyone who knows a connoisseur will know they keep stock dating back years to compare the ageing, and why not, as this one is sweet with malt and tangy with hops - brewed once every year and vintage dated.

And so to bed!
To get you settled for the night, take Hook Norton Twelve Days from rural Oxfordshire; a dark and orange mix. Also good Dundee cake on the twelfth night of Christmas.

And that it, for now. Jonathan Shaw guide to beer drinking.