NAME: Matt Johnson 

OCCUPATION: Brewer at Leith microbrewery Pilot Beer

ONLINE: Rate Beer / Twitter

BROOKLYN LAGER

Dangerously close to being overexposed, but Brooklyn Lager is the epitome of drinkability. It's got all the qualities you'd expect from a lager; crisp, dry, refreshing etc, but with that added hop hit on the nose and a deliciously moreish malt base that keeps you coming back for more. A perfectly balanced, no fuss beer.
 
DOGFISH HEAD - RED & WHITE

I was given a bottle of this from a friend as a wedding present. It's a 10% abv ale brewed with coriander and orange peel with Pinot Noir juice added, then aged in oak barrels. Sweet, bitter, oaky, spicy. A very special beer indeed.
 
GIN & TONIC

Maybe we're being a bit literal but if we were stranded on a desert island, as the sun started to dip we'd want a cold G&T. A decent citrussy gin though, like Martin Miller's, with a nice wedge of lime. The lack of any real sweetness is refreshing and dangerously easy drinking. Juniper and quinine are quite the combo - good for malaria prevention too, which would be important on a desert island. Got to think of the practicalities. If you don't like a G&T there's probably something wrong with you.
 
PILOT - BLØND UNFINED

OK, OK, it could be frowned upon to include one of our own beers but we're particularly proud of this one and there'd be something wrong if we didn't love our own beer, no? It was the first beer we made where we really nailed getting the huge fruity hop aromas we were aiming for and it just tastes marvellous - it's been described as 'like a fruit crush'.

Blønd is a real pain to brew because 50% of the grain bill is oats, which make for a really slow run off. The flip side is, they give an incredible mouthfeel for a 4% beer and a slightly sour, blackcurrant/raspberry twang that really works well with the huge tropical fruit character of the Galaxy and Amarillo hops. We hate making it but love drinking it.
 
VIMTO

It's fruit flavoured, apparently. Which fruit? Who knows? Who cares? Pat wanted Vimto on the list. Pat's from Salford. Vimto's also from Salford. No bias then.