St. Arnoldus: "All manner of beers depending on where I was at the time. In the main though I always went for the stronger beers e.g. Whim Black Christmas which I remember was 6% but the addition of a Gold Label or so made it more palatable."

SM: Could you have imagined yourself drinking Belgian beers then?

St. A: "No. I have always been loyal to my local, so when a few friends started going to Den Engel I stayed firmly where I was I relented one night, went in looked at the draught 'beers and chose the strongest one. It was a bad mistake as it was one of the sour fruit beers, I won't say which one, but the outcome was that I said that I wouldn't be going in there again!"

So what changed your mind?

St. A: "Pressure from my friends to give it another chance as the old landlord of our local was finishing and we were looking for a new pub base."

SM: What do you drink nowadays, and why?

St. A "On returning to Den Engel I looked at the bottled beer list, though I've never been much of a bottled beer drinker as I thought they were all gassy and horrible, but I decided to give it a go. The first one I tried was Gordon's Finest Gold, the 10% took my eye, very pleasant but a bit sweet. I became more adventurous and have tried most of them, the Affligem and Karemliet Tripels and the Rochefort range come to mind. I've settled on Duvel as my regular drink, it's a beautifully ba1anced beer, smooth and rounded and at 8% very easy to drink."

SM: So what do you consider to be the ultimate in the Belgian beers you have tried so far?

St. A: "The ultimate that I have tried? That's a hard one, but. Recently I was lucky enough to obtain some Trappist beer, Westvleteran 12. It's an 11% abv dark brown beer, and my words cannot describe it - you have to drink it!"

SM: Do you think you will ever go back to drinking British beers?

St. A: "No. British beer is not the same as it was. There have been some good ones, but they are not what they were. I feel that the British brewing is more about profit than quality - drop the gravity some more, and there's less tax to pay. The outcome is thin watery tasteless brown liquid. There are a few exceptions, but I guess that in the end even these will go, and there will be no independents left, one huge beer factory making a single beer, sold under fifty different names."

SM: So what do you consider a good night's drinking?

St A: "I love my beer, always will, I'm not one of those who can sit there and make a drink last an hour. In the company of good friends it's good to have a few swift ones to get the evening going. The amount I drink is a well guarded secret. Yes, I like a drink, ask anybody who knows me!"

Steve Mitchell and Potters Bar thank St Arnoldus for his valuable "time".