Beer with Food week runs between April 2 and 8 and will promote the pleasure of supping a good ale with your meals.

Spearheading the launch this week, Bury St Edmunds-based brewery Greene King stressed the importance of beer and of bringing it to the dining table.

Justin Adams, Managing Director of Greene King Brewing Company, said: "Beer is our national drink. It's part of our heritage and deserves to be an important part of our gastronomic future as well as our nutritional past.

"It has been part of the staple diet in Britain for centuries but, in recent times, it has been all but knocked off the table by wine.

"This has left a whole generation unaware of the joys of real beer with quality food – scandalous, given that beer is just as good as wine, if not better, with many dishes."

The aim of the week is to introduce new audiences to beer and to reinvigorate interest.

This is the second year that Beer With Food week has run and Greene King and the Morning Advertiser are joined by Cains from Liverpool and Black Sheep from Yorkshire, two innovative craft brewers.

At the Apple Tree in Clerkenwell this week, a range of cask and bottled beers were offered alongside a range of savoury dishes to be sampled by an expert panel, which included John Bexon, Greene King head brewer, Tim Hampson, beer and food writer for Good Food Live and the Sky Pub channel and Kamini Dickie, a trained beer taster who judges in international beer competitions.

During the week, pubs up and down the country will offer special beer and food menus, run themed events and conduct food and beer tasting.

To coincide with the event, Greene King is unveiling its new glasses which have been designed to tease out the best in a brew.

The new half pint glasses have gold lettering saying Celebrate Real Beer and are an elegant stemmed glass.

Beer Factfile

Beer contains fibre, antioxidants and vitamins

Beer is a source of vitamin B and folic acid

Beer contains no fat or cholesterol

Beer is Britain's national drink