And the Barnsley born author quickly declared Acorn's cask-conditioned ales to be 'fantastic'.

Along with Acorn's trophy winning regulars - Barnsley Bitter, Barnsley Gold, Old Moor Porter and Summer Pale- Pete sampled two special IPA (India Pale Ale) brews - Cascade and Liberty.

Each month this year Acorn is rolling out an American single hopped IPA named after US hops.

Liberty was brewed to mark five successful years since the brewery launched on American Independence Day 2003.

It will be followed by Crystal in August, Willamette in September, Centennial in October, Ahtanum in November and Nuggett in December.

London based Pete Brown, who still has strong family ties in Barnsley, has produced several books on beer including 'Three Sheets to the Wind' and 'Man Walks into Pub'.

He recently undertook a three month sea trip to India, following the old trade routes, carrying a barrel of IPA to see how it survived the journey.

This is the subject of his next book.

Pete said: "Until only a few years ago British beer was very much the same, now what is exciting is that there is a style of beer to suit everyone even people who might in the past have said they 'don't like beer'.

"Acorn is producing some fantastic beers that provide a great choice of cask ales and their IPA range is particularly exciting and shows what can be done by using exactly the same ingredients but by just changing the hop.

"With this understanding of hops and how they work it will be very exciting to see what Acorn will do in the future."

Owner and head brewer Dave Hughes said: "July 4 was a very special milestone for us this year and it seemed very appropriate to mark our birthday with 'Liberty' IPA beer. Pete Brown is a renowned specialist on the IPA beer style so we invited him along to road test our brews.
"The US ales provide a novel beer experience each month and we have made big effort to source hops for an interesting variety."