SPRING is here, and the Manchester Evening News brings you a round up of beer news and you can enjoy it from the comfort of your armchair without the risk of bumping into a big, bearded bloke in a tank-top.

The rude health of our craft cask ale brewers has never been better. Beyond the long-established fab four of Holt's, Hyde's, Lees and Robinson's the Manchester area has a clutch of innovative micro-breweries worth raising a glass to.

The Saddleworth Brewery, based at the Church Inn, Uppermill, is hardly a newcomer. Julian Taylor may have diversified into selling private burial plots alongside his picturesque pub but, after eight years, he still brews an immortal ale or two.

Now he has acquired 14 Lloyd Street (Monk's Bar in a previous life) he has - hooray - a city centre outet, though, be warned, it flies out of the pumps.

Julian's Shaftbender is a flavoursome, powerful (5.4 per cent) black porter/stout/bitter, but I prefer the exuberant, refreshing hoppiness of Hop Smacker. Watch out next week for the arrival of Honey Smacker, the same formula but with English honey added in the process.

``Somebody told me I'd brought Saddleworth to the city,'' says Julian, who names his seasonal beers after his children, daughter Robin, Reuben and Ayrton - the latter has strawberry added to the mix!

RURAL Suffolk is a world away from Saddleworth, but it's home to a similarly quirky small beer empire, whose distinctive bottles can be found in Booths and specialist beer outlets. The brewery is based in a medieval manor house near Bungay using a water source that is 700 years old.

I first drank St Peter's beers in draught form in their London outlet Jerusalem Tavern - a 1720s building that really looks and feels it - but most of us will encounter them in their trademark flask-shaped oval bottles, faithful copies of one produced in Philadelphia in 1770.

Enough history. The beers are well worth seeking out. My favourites are Best Bitter, brimming over Goldings aroma hop flavours (3.7) and the pure-tasting Organic Best Bitter, slightly stronger and fruitier, but the Golden Ale and Cream Stout are also toothsome examples of these styles. The Lemon and Ginger Ale is not to my taste, but at least they are challenging, never bland.

THE same could be said of two organic Corsican beers that have come my way. Pietra is a six per cent amber-coloured, hoppy brew with a nutty taste. No wonder. It's flavoured with chestnuts brought down from the mountain forests by donkey. Its stablemate (the beer, I mean), Colomba is a lovely, lemony five per cent wheat beer with a long aftertaste. The blurb said it was flavoured with a selection of herbs and wild flowers from the island's maquis. Amazingly you can scent them. Highly recommended. Details of stockists from www.corsicanbeers.com

TO celebrate St George's Day, enterprising Middleton brewers John Willie Lees have produced Dragon's Fire - described as a rich, ruby cask ale with an excellent, malty finish and a delicious hop spiciness. It is available at most Lees' pubs until the end of the month.

STOCKPORT brewers Robinson's are launching a new autumn ale for late spring! Coopers Bell will be available at all Robinson's tied house, as well as the free trade, throughout May and June. This bitter four per cent ale has a distinctive malty character complemented by a pleasant hop aroma derived from the addition of choicest hops late in the brewing process, say the brewery.

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