The National Brewing Library (NBL), held in the multi-award-winning John Henry Brookes Building (JHBB), is open to amateur or professional researchers and students at Oxford Brookes University. The collection, mainly English language, aims to be the primary and most comprehensive source of information on the scientific, technological, historical and social aspects of the evolution of brewing in the UK.

This year we are celebrating 20 years of holding the NBL at Oxford Brookes with an exhibition and lecture event. On Wed 23/11/22 well- respected UK beer writers and academics will give talks on diverse topics about the evolution of modern brewing, brewing awards and the return of women to the brewing industry (‘brewsters’).

Professor Katherine Smart and Brookes Library service (including the Director Dr Helen Workman) were instrumental in starting the National Brewing Library at Oxford Brookes twenty years ago. Academics Dr Victoria Ellis-Vowles and Dr Agnieszka Rydzik have done pioneering work on the re-emergence of ‘Brewsters’ (female brewers) working in contemporary micro-brewing. Adrian Tierney-Jones is an award-winning UK based journalist and writer on beer, pubs, food and travel.