But many of the nation’s most historic, biggest and best-loved breweries have closed over the years.
This retro photo gallery captures life at more than a dozen of those lost breweries around the UK, from Scotland to England’s south coast, where some of the country’s most popular tipples were once made.
It shows employees hard at work inside those breweries, skimming yeast, rolling barrels and, most importantly, taste-testing the end product.
This trip down memory lane also features the much-loved old dray horses, and the centuries-old initation ceremony called ‘trussing the cooper’, in which workers completing their apprenticeship were rolled around the brewery in a barrel containing beer and wood shavings.
Three of the lost breweries pictured were at one time the largest in the world, churning out hundreds of millions of pints a year.
Some closed many years ago and have been demolished but others were lost much more recently and are awaiting redevelopment.
Several of the beers made at these breweries were among the most popular in the UK during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Some are still made elsewhere, but others are no longer available.
Did you work at one of the breweries, or do you know anyone who did, and how many of the beers made there have you sampled over the years?
If you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, you might like our look back at high street stores which used to be huge but have now closed or are struggling.
9. Caledonian Brewery
Beer drinkers help themselves to a pint at the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) festival at Edinburgh's Caledonian Brewery in May 1985. The Caledonian Brewery closed in 2022 after 153 years, aving been established in 1869. Heineken agreed a deal to continue making Caledonian's main brands - Deuchars, Coast to Coast and Maltsmiths - at Dunbar's Belhaven brewery. | TSPL
10. Truman's Brewery
Truman's Brewery was founded in around 1666, originally as Black Eagle Brewery, in East London. In 1873, after buying Philips Brewery in Burton, it became the largest brewery in the world. The brewery closed in 1989, though the brand has since been revived. This photo shows barrels of beer being loaded onto a truck at Truman's Brewery in 1959. | Getty Images Photo: Evening Standard
11. Whitbread
Coopers making barrels at Whitbread Brewery, in the City of London, in November 1953. Whitbread was founded as a brewery in 1742, and by 1780 had become the world's largest brewery. The firm sold its breweries to Interbrew in 2001 and today specialises in hospitality, with brands including Premier Inn hotels and Beefeater restaurants. The old Whitbread Brewery on Chiswell Street is now a conference and events venue. | Getty Images Photo: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive
12. Bass
Crates of Bass beer piled high at the brewery in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, in the mid-1960s. The original Bass Brewery was founded in 1777, and by 1877 it had become the world's largest brewery, producing one million barrels a year. Bass Pale Ale was at one time the highest-selling beer in the UK. Brewing ceased at the original Bass brewery in 2005, but Bass is still brewed at a different site in Burton, and Molson Coors now makes Carling and other beers at a modern brewery beside the original one. | Getty Images Photo: Eileen Deste/Heritage Images