I make no apology for recommending, for the second column running, a beer from Thornbridge Brewery in Derbyshire - for this is likely to be the most fascinating beer you will drink this year.

Fonio takes its name from a type of grain that has been grown in parts of West Africa for 5,000 years but has only recently been discovered in Europe and the United States.

Its use in brewing links it with the countries of the Old World of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Sumeria where beer was made some 3,000 years BC or possibly earlier using both barley and wheat.

Fonio is drought-resistant and can grow in nutrient-poor soil. It supports soil regeneration without fertilisers and pesticides and is a vital source of income for small farms that are predominantly run by women.

Fonio was discovered by Garrett Oliver, brew master at Brooklyn Brewery in New York City. He met a Senagalese chef, Pierre Thiam, who was using Fonio in his recipes and Garrett thought he could adapt it for brewing.

Garrett is an African American and is proud of his ancestry. He points out that the origins of beer-making are in Africa not Europe.

"Fonio has all the properties you would want in a grain for brewing," he says. "It has the ability to grow in a less than ideal environment on the edge of the desert.

"It was ignored by the colonial powers and didn’t need agri-chemicals to grow. It’s now harvested by machines and it can become the major crop it should be.

"We will have to deal with climate change and how we source our ingredients and Fonio ties into that."

Garrett has joined forces with brewers around the world to make beers using Fonio.

They include Russian River in the U.S., Maison Kazao in Senegal, Omnipollo in Sweden, Jing-A in China, Carlsberg in Denmark, Thornbridge in Britain and even mighty Guinness in Ireland.

The versions include West Coast IPA, lager, Belgian Blonde, stout and, in the case of Thornbridge, cask-conditioned and bottle-conditioned ale.

Jim Harrison, the founder of Thornbridge in Bakewell, says: "Cask ale is uniquely suited to showing Fonio’s fruity and spritzy character. The flavours can be quite delicate but the beauty of cask beer is that you can feel the flavour coming through."

Garrett Oliver went to Thornbridge to brew the beer with head brewer Rob Lovatt. Garrett says: "What excites me is the opportunity to bring British brewing tradition together with an ancient African grain and create something that’s really new."

Part of the proceeds from Fonio will be given to scholarships in the U.S. for people from African American or indigenous American backgrounds who would like to work in the brewing industry.

The 4.5 per cent beer brewed by Thornbridge is available on draught in pubs supplied by the brewery. As the bottled version contains live yeast it will be similar to the cask beer.

It has an aroma of lemon and lime fruit with herbal and spicy hops. Tart fruit, spicy hops and honeyed malt dominate the palate while hops grow on the finish but are balanced by rich malt and tangy fruit.

It’s a delicious and refreshing beer. It’s available online from www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk at £3 per 500ml bottle or £18 for six bottles.

It’s not to be missed!