Beer and blogging

Now there’s a combination! Even better, it’s a combination that will be featuring right here, when the winner of a travel-writing competition organised by brewers SABMiller, in association with The Independent, begins posting in early March.

Lorena Di Nola, who grew up in southern Italy and now lives in the south of London, won our competition at the end of the last year with two fantastic essay entries. Her prize is a month-long trip around Europe taking in all the countries where SABMiller has breweries, including Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania. So, she’ll be taking in all the sights and enjoying a beer or two along the way!

“A journey to explore beer culture throughout Europe is a way of getting to know how people socialise, how they date, their sense of humour, their music and their food,” says Di Nola. “All reservations have been made, although checking Romanian websites to find out if guesthouses in remote villages have wireless has been the most complicated exercise since deciphering the Rosetta Stone!”

Di Nola’s first blog will appear on 2 March, and then twice-weekly until the end of the month. Keep an eye out for them and make sure you add your comments and suggestions as she makes her way around Europe: if you know of a particularly good place to go in Krakow, for example, let her know!