Jonny Garrett is a multi-award-winning author, filmmaker, and co-founder of The Craft Beer Channel, internationally recognised as a leading authority on craft beer and pub culture, and twice named British Beer Writer of the Year.

 

When did you first discover your passion for beer?

“It really began because I didn’t enjoy the cheap lagers everyone drinks throughout their teens. I started drinking Guinness and, once I started working in pubs, discovered the richer flavours and wider variation with cask ale. In my early 20s I then ended up living next to Camden Brewery when the craft beer revolution was kicking off, and there was no turning back…”

What inspired your latest book, The Meaning of Beer (which won the Drink Book of the Year at the Fortnum & Mason Awards 2025)?

“The main motivation for writing the book was to have a response when people say to me any variation of “it’s just beer”. People don’t understand that from around 11,000BC right up to the 1800s, beer was a vital foodstuff. Some theories state that we only left our nomadic lives behind to grow grains to make beer and bread. But then one day I learned the story of how the fridge was invented in a German lager cellar, and I realised that beer’s influence continues even in the modern world. That was the moment I realised there was a whole book to be written about the way that beer has changed the world.”

What’s the weirdest beer you’ve ever tasted?

“Today lots of people sneer at the idea of fruit beers and unusual flavours, but actually we’ve been adding seemingly odd things to beer for millenia. The Ancient Egyptians used pomegranate and dates, the Sumerians used honey before them. So it takes a lot for me to go “come on guys, that’s really weird”. That said, the beetroot saison I had once was a bit odd, as was the mint stout I tried in America. It was like I’d brushed my teeth then had a beer, which are two occasions really not meant to be combined. The oddest one has to be a Norwegian stout that had frozen pizza added. You couldn’t taste it, thankfully.”

You wrote, co-presented, directed, edited and produced an award-winning feature length documentary about the British IPA scene. What is it about IPA, and its place in British beer culture, that continues to capture your interest?

“Much like the history of lager, the story of IPA brings in so many fascinating elements of human history – whether its agricultural revolution, trade, politics, colonialism or cuisine. In the 18th and 19th centuries is changed the fate of the UK, inspiring railways, supplying the East India Company and changing our brewing scene. Then about 150 years later it’s reinvented by the Americans then brought over here to change our drinking culture once again. As a style it is still evolving at lightning speed, so there’s always new things to learn and discover, and it feels like there’s not only lots of history still to learn, but lots still to be written.”

 

Buy Jonathan’s latest book: The Meaning of Beer
Visit Jonathan’s website: jonnygarrett.co.uk
Follow Jonathan on Instagram: @craftbeerchannel
Follow Jonathan on X: @beerchannel