Martyn Cornell is one of the world’s foremost beer historians, widely recognized for his deep and engaging explorations into the roots and evolution of British beer styles. With more than four decades of writing experience—spanning newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms across the UK, Middle East, and Far East—Martyn has earned a global reputation for his meticulously researched and richly told stories about beer.
He began writing about beer in 1980 and has since become a leading authority on the topic, particularly the history of British brewing. He is the author of
Beer: The Story of the Pint (2003), a landmark work that helped rekindle interest in the origins of English beer, and
Amber Gold & Black: The History of Britain’s Great Beer Styles (2010), widely regarded as a definitive text on the subject.
Martyn’s interest in beer was perhaps destined from birth—he was born on the site of the former Upper Flask pub in Hampstead, North London, and went to school in a former coaching inn once visited by Samuel Pepys. His first pint, enjoyed as a teenager in a Kentish pub garden, opened his palate to the boldness of hops and launched a lifelong journey that has taken him from Norwegian taprooms to Brazilian beer halls and everywhere in between.
Outside the beer world, Martyn is a devoted family man, music lover, and die-hard supporter of Queens Park Rangers Football Club. But it’s his love of beer—what he once coined “zythophilia”—that has led him to become a founding member of the British Guild of Beer Writers, where he has earned eight Guild awards, including Beer Writer of the Year and Beer Blogger of the Year.
Martyn continues to chronicle the stories of beer and brewing through his popular blog,
Zythophile, and remains an essential voice in the global beer conversation.
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