I seem to have become increasingly interested in US craft beer recently. As per my recent new arrivals post, my last couple of specialist beer shop hauls have been largely US-themed. I’ve also been slowly but steadily working my way through Andy Crouch’s Great American Craft Beer (Book Notes to follow in due course) and I think that’s helped opened my eyes to the sheer size of the US craft scene and the vast amount of choice that’s on offer… if you can get hold of it.

Which is why when Richard Burhouse of MyBreweryTap (@MyBreweryTap) announced the launch of the US 52 Week Beer Club yesterday, it didn’t take me long to decide to sign up.

I did the sums first of course: with the initial delivery charge taking the price to £125.98, it works out at around £2.42 a bottle over the year. Which is slightly more that you would expect to pay for the two or three US imports currently on offer in Tesco, but perhaps slightly less than the independent retailers tend to charge, especially for some of the more interesting brews on their shelves.

And the first quarter’s selection looks pretty darn interesting to me:

• Anchor – Liberty Ale ABV 5.9%
• Brooklyn – East India IPA ABV 6.8%
• Flying Dog – Raging Bitch ABV 8.0%
• Flying Dog – Old Scratch Lager ABV 5.3% [US 52 Week Beer Club you’ll have to be quick: MyBreweryTap are limiting the club to 50 subscriptions in order to guarantee supplies of the more interesting and/or limited brews and I know for a fact that there’s a maximum of 49 available as of 20 minutes ago…