Huddersfield, however, has been a revelation.  I've been going for years but only really remember the Head of Steam being consistently disappointing, the Rat and Ratchet being vaguely dodgy and the Whitbread brewpub (Old Court) being pretty dire.  Now there are pubs all over selling good cask ales, even the McSpoons is a decent one, the Rat is better than it's been for quite a while, and that's not even getting to the sociable scoopfest which is the Star and the relaxed pubbiness and bottle selection of the Grove.

Surprisingly, though, the pub which impressed me the most in an all-round sense is one which I'd not even been in before this month, the Station (or King's Head, I'm not quite sure why it has two names...!).  Both sides of the bar are festooned in cask engines, around ten in all, and most sell guest beers from brewers of the locality - including Golcar, Empire and the like - and, sometimes, a bit further afield too with a Pictish beer usually on too.   The range of beers varies but generally includes a dark one and something strong-ish so all tastes are accounted for, even non-scooping ones!  I think Taylors are the standard beers but I didn't take a lot of notice so can't confirm this.

This pub wins not purely on it's scoops but on the strength of it's all round character; it's not too poncey yet not too down-at-heel, it serves a pretty decent range of ales with quite a few scoops possible, it has a superb tiled floor (which I know doesn't affect the beer, but I like it) and is right on the station so when, in 2029 or so, they eventually finish rebuilding the station you'll be able to get here without falling over stripey tape and bollards to enjoy the earthy character of a proper pub which just happens to serve a very good changing range of cask ales... if we haven't got prohibition by then.

I visited the Blind Tiger twice during my trip and am very happy to report that, for once, the hype is justified; around 30 beers are on tap (including some absolutely massive scoops) plus two cask ales on pump and maybe a couple more on gravity in addition to 50 or so in bottle, so as you can see there's no shortage of scooping potential.  Okay, so it's on the expensive side even for New York, but there's no pockets in shrouds - or so they say, I've not investigated this further - so I just rolled up my scooping sleeves and got stuck in!

It's one of the few NYC bars (some others are the Hop Devil and the Gate) which offer beers in anything less than a pint, in this case little 10cl-ish sampler glasses, making it possible to clear up the vast range of draught (sorry, draft!) beers without becoming a total state.  I know that this may anger the "measures police" but bollocks to them; if they want to drink full US pints then good luck to 'em, but as there's rarely an indication of strength for the beers available they should be prepared to get vegged!

The food was excellent too; I had what was loosely described as an "open sandwich" but was more like a huge portion of fiery spiced chicken on bread accompanied by a spicy tomato sauce which, for the $8 price tag, was more than adequate in both portion size and quality, so you don't need to starve whilst scooping here!

So, to round up then, the Blind Tiger is a great pub which feels quite English in it's atmosphere with a huge range of draught beers available in taster glasses plus cask ale and good filling food - what more do you need?  It's easy to get to via the New York subway (West 4th street is the closest station) and, as if another bonus was needed, it's in a historic and alternative area of the city with some other decent bars a short walk or train ride away.

Other good pubs visited in May...

New York is literally seething with superb bars serving massive ranges of craft beer and I could write pages (one day I will...) on my findings there.  In the meantime your best bet is to read Alex Hall's superb NYC Beer Demystifyer  which will tell you all you need to know about the pubs and beer of New York; Alex knows the city very well and his knowledge shows in the choice of bars which is exemplary with some very unusual places mentioned... if you're off to NYC, Alex's gen is all you really need.

Saying that, I'll mention a few particular favourites...

• The Diamond in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is an unusual little bar in a rundown ex-industrial area which gleams like the proverbial gemstone where it's beer list is concerned - in fact, Greenpoint is a great area for a bar crawl with a whole host being nearby; the Gutter, Brooklyn brewery, Pencil Factory, Lenora's Way, Barcade, Black Rabbit, Mark bar, Spike Hill and Habitat to name just a few... to put Brooklyn into perspective, I didn't leave Greenpoint and Williamsburg for 2 days and scored 48 beers... yes, it's that good!!!

• The Spuyten Duyvel is an absolute cracker of a bar; yes, many others have bigger tap ranges (the SD purposefully has merely half a dozen to keep the beer as fresh as possible) and others have better interiors (it's plain, maybe even spartan) but not a lot have such well-chosen beers or such a great atmosphere - a cracker and not to be missed.

• Mugs Ale House is yet another Brooklyn bar but this one is more of a scooper's paradise; at least a dozen taps are available plus two cask ales and some filling, tasty food makes for a great all-round pub which actually does feel very "pubby".

• Barcade is a converted garage which has 24 ever-changing taps dispensing brews from far and wide to a youthful audience; it's a strange place with bare concrete decor and rows of garish blinking video machines but somehow it works - maybe it's the beer!

• Moving across to Manhattan, Hop Devil Grill is an absolute must-visit bar with a massive row of taps which, so I'm told, springs the most surprises in town by having extremely exotic brews for sale and, commendably, sells samples as a tasting tray.  Take your passport, though, as some weird bureaucratic rule means they have to verify the age of all drinkers...

• The East Village Tavern is a brand-new bar in this previously dodgy neighbourhood (it's called alphabet city owing to the streets having letters not numbers!) which is setting out it's stall with over a dozen craft beers and a cask ale plus some delicious food - all in all one of my favourite bars in the whole city, and that's saying something!

• The Ginger Man didn't, for me at least, live up to it's massive hype; yes it's in a great location and yes it's big and airy, but the proliferation of taps didn't offer many surprising scoops, staying with more predictable beers IMO, and it's very expensive... although it's still well worth a visit after farting in Trump tower...

I'm very pleased to report that, despite the local problems, the New Oxford has firmly established itself on the scooper's circuit with a combination of a wide range of excellently kept scoops and sheer hard work by Tim and his partner, and I look forwards to many years of visiting this pub which I walked past for many a year on my way to the Crescent, thinking that it would be great to have a scooping pub half-way there... well now there is, and long may it remain so.

We visited  in early April and the choice of beers on this, an ordinary Saturday, was amazing with around a dozen cask ales on sale of which I required five!  We found time for a couple of rounds of Belgian scoops too before leaving for the Marble Arch, having spent the first two hours of our Manchester crawl in there... it's not very often that a pub of this magnitude comes along and so may I offer Tim and co every success and here's to many more scoops in the New Oxford!

Other good pubs visited in April...

April wasn't my best month for good pubs, not having been abroad, but we did visit Manchester and so I must mention the excellence of the Marble Arch which comes a very close second to the New Oxford; the own brews are still mainly delicious, despite the organic ingredient shortage which has prompted some beers to go non-organic, and the range of guest ales was as good as anywhere in the city bar the New Oxford.  The Smithfield has lost Jenny, it's long serving licensee, but continues in the same vein under new management and I suppose we'll see what happens there over the next few months.

In Worcester, the Dragon continues to stock an impressive range of guest ales, the Postal Order Wetherspoons is still above average, and it seems that more Marston's pubs are now offering the seasonal and specials such as the recent Jenning's Amber Ale.

I've been meaning to visit this bar for a very long time, but owing to four years having passed since my last Prague visit (was it really that long?  It felt as if I'd never been away...) I'd not had the chance until the rather spontaneous trip with old scooping mate Dean last month.

The bar is situated on an anonymous road east of the centre yet easily reached - as it almost everywhere in town - by tram and metro.  The first impression is of the insufferably cute little brewplant in the window which I'm told can be used by customers to brew their own beer and, apparently, also makes the occasional brew for the bar too.  Inside, the pub is nothing spectacular, just a white room lined with bottles and beer paraphernalia, yet it oozes beer culture despite being a mere few years old... fridges hold well over a hundred bottled beers to drink there or take away (for it's a shop, too) although the bar is arguably the most interesting part with it's six taps known only by number and, above the bar, six sheets of paper indicating what beer each of them is dispensing.

As I've said, this is extremely rare in the Czech republic, but here they really push the boat out; as well as generally having a Pivovarský Dům beer available (on our visit a very strange Tokaj concoction) the others can be literally anything from Czech and even beyond... this place is truly an altar to beer culture and thus noses ahead of the other very worthy entries for the month on "scoop factor" and enthusiasm for different beers alone - not a bad thing, I'm sure you'll agree!

Other excellent bars visited on our whirlwind Praha rampage were U Medvídků - especially the cunningly hidden X-Beer bar - where we enjoyed some superb Old Gott in almost total seclusion from the bustling beer hall downstairs, and U Bulovky Richter Pub, an absolute classic of a local's bar, with a very prominent brewery looking just like something you'd walk into on a tour of Vienna, where we enjoyed some delicious food plus some of the best beer we had in the city.  The new Sousedský pivovar Bašta brewpub impressed me greatly with it's almost Rheinland air and cutesy little brewplant (again making some top beer) although it's still a little new and I'd like to return in a year or so to see how it's bedding in.

On the bar front an absolute cracker was Hrom do Police, the only bar in Praha to serve the rare Polička beers, and a great little cellar bar it was too with a very convivial atmosphere and a full six beers to choose from, two being kvasnicové (yeasty) brews, which were very nice indeed and all for very reasonable prices considering it's not a million miles from the centre of Prague.  Another bar which we really enjoyed was Prvni Pivni Tramway out at the end of tram route 11 at Spořilov; this bar looks like (and probably is) the old crew hut but inside it's a little strange with various cosy rooms including one where a fake tram has been constructed for patrons to sit in... all very surreal, but the main reason to come here is for the "4th tap" which houses a permanently changing guest beer from anywhere in the country; thanks to Evan Rail's Czech beer guide for this one.

There's no food available but that's not a problem with the team's new business, Bir&Fud, literally across the street serving up some excellent pizzas and suchlike plus, amazingly, up to nine Italian beers on tap and all different than in the pub!  These included a whole load more Del Borgo brews including the experimental Ke-to Reporter infused with Kentucky tobacco leaves (I'm not making this up, honest!) and a beer from the micro Drago Della Selva with added chestnuts!

So, to sum up, just get yourself to Ma che siete venuti a fà and experience the temples to great beer that are the Football Pub and Bir&Fud - you'll have to go a long, long way to find places that good.