There has been a huge growth in craft ales across the UK and Ireland and Northern Ireland has certainly followed this trend. Perhaps Hilden Brewery in Lambeg was the first one to tread this path locally but there has been a great expansion of activity in recent years. This talk will cover the theory and practice of ale brewing as well as tasting some of the divergent products on the market. The speaker has always believed that chemistry is a practical subject and what better way of demonstrating this than by this very early example of practical biotechnology.