Real Ale for Real TastebudsOct 10 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Spirits and Beers
The Bottom Line England's best beers are the least travelled. Here's what locals know about good beer and what ales ya!
Toss out the Bass! Forget about Watneys! Don't hand me that Whitbread! Flush that nasty old Boddingtons! None of these so-called English ales are even remotely palatable when compared to the real champion beers of England -- the traditional cask-conditioned ales that earned England its right to be named among the great brewing nations of the world. Ask me what there is to know about English beers and I'll tell you straight up -- real ale. Keep those two words in mind, and you know all you have to know when seeking out England's best beers! The problem with big-brand ales is the same problem that I (and most zealous beer drinkers) have with American industrial lagers. The flavors are blanded downward to the lowest possible common denominator so that they have as little character as is humanly possible. They are very heavily processed concoctions -- pasteurization, sub micron filtration, TQC -- these are the kinds of things that spell death to any kind of quality food product. In England, big industrial brewers started off with good ales, but over the years they have processed as much character out of them as possible. They filter out the yeast, they kill any remaining yeast with high temperature pasteurization, they pump huge volumes of carbon dioxide into the beers making them fizzy and gassy, and they chill the bejeezus out of everything in an attempt to become the English equivalent of Budweiser. Yeech! Who wants that?? (Probably the same people who buy Velveeta brand imitation cheese-colored wax substance.) All Englishmen (and women) who have genuine taste buds in their mouths drink real ales. Real ales can be beers of many different styles (though most are bitters), they come from a range of breweries, but what they have in common is that they are living, evolving beers. They are unfiltered, and they undergo a small secondary fermentation in the cask (you might call it a keg, but there is a difference -- casks breathe). This means that the potential palette of flavors that a beer can convey is vastly increased. With real ales, the flavor and appearance of a beer is not just a product of the brewery, but it is influenced by the skill of the pub owner who serves the beer. This is a wonderful thing for people who love food and drink. It means that a Dobson Best Bitter served at one pub can taste quite different from a Dobson Best Bitter served at another. What a wonderful world to have such a concept! Before I delve into a guide to the best English beers, let me first salute the publicans who make real ale such a treat to drink... Cheers! The Pubs... A pub is not just a bar and a publican is not just a bartender. A good pub is warm and cozy and serves good food, good beer, and good cheer. In a real traditional pub, the pub's owner (let's call him the publican) needs to be skilled in the handling of cask ales. He needs to know how long to age a cask to bring it to its fullest possible quality. He needs to know when to vent gas from the cask by driving spiles into the bung. He needs to know how to let the casks rest, and he needs to understand temperature control so that the casks don't get too warm, lest they develop too many fruity off flavors. A good publican is an artist and a craftsman, and his job has an integral effect on how the customers pint of ale is going to look and taste. Beyond the artistry of cellarmanship, the publican also makes other decisions that affect how the beer will be perceived. He can fit his beer engines (the rough equivalent of what we call a beer tap) with different types of spouts that affect how much air is pumped into the beer at serving time. Many publicans fit their beer engines with a device called a sparkler that essentially sprays the beer into the glass. This puts more air into the beer and creates a frothier head. A good publican is a real artist whose work affects how your glass of beer will look and taste. His work is similar to that of a top-flight chef who decides not only how to cook your food, but what garnishes to put on the plate and how to serve it. In America, anybody can be a bartender -- no experience necessary. In England, few people know how to be publicans, and the pub makes all the difference in the world. The catch is that you need to know which pubs have skilled publicans and which hire the rejects from American bartender schools. Fortunately for the thirsty traveler, an organization known as CAMRA (www.camra.org.uk) is there to help. They've already done the comparison shopping for you and can tell you what pubs know what they are doing and which ones don't. They know which places serve good food and good cheer in a homey atmosphere, and which ones are mere bars. If you go to England and you want to find the real pubs serving real ales, you must get a copy of the Good Beer Guide, which CAMRA publishes annually. Use it as your bible to finding good pubs and you won't go wrong. A Pint of Real Ale... Before I delve too deeply into the murky subject of styles, let's clear up a couple of misconceptions about real ale. First of all, english beers aren't served "warm", they are served at "cellar temperature", which is cool but not cold. Cold temperatures numb your tastebuds and if you truly like the flavor of beer, you probably already know better than to serve beer at icy cold temperatures. The next misconception is that english beers are flat. They're not. They are carbonated, but to a much lower volume of carbon dioxide than is used in typical American or continental lagers. When the beers are served, they are often infused with air via the beer engine (tap system), especially when the engine is fitted with a device known as a "sparkler" which whips up a frothy head on the beer. Another misconception is that english beers are strong. That's just plain false. In fact, most are lower in alcohol than typical American lagers. That's good because English pubs serve beer in full imperial pint measures -- that comes out to 20 ounces if you're keeping track. You probably don't want a real strong beer if you're quaffing 20 ounces at a pop. Yes, real ales are different from American light lager beers -- but that is part of the reason why they are special, and part of the reason why they taste better than American light lagers even when they are actually the lighter beers. Now, on to the styles! The Styles... As I mentioned before, real ale is more of a concept and practice than it is any particular "style" of beer. Real ales can be light or they can be heavy. They can be pale in color, or very dark. Most are quaffable, some are better sipped. Here are short descriptions of the most common types of beer that you'll find served as real ales: Bitter: by far the most common style of beer in England, bitter is a light bodied pale ale with a flavor profile that's dominated by hops. Most English breweries use East Kent Goldings hops, or similar traditional English varieties. These hops are known for having a somewhat earthy and peppery signature, however, some bitters have subdued hop aromas and you may not smell much of anything when you pass the glass under your nose. All bitters will be balanced toward hop flavor and some brands may have a sharp edge to the bitterness that is contributed by minerals in the brewing water -- but others may be softer (this is because bitter is brewed everywhere in England and local water chemistry affects local brands in different ways). The beer will often be a tawny or almost amber color. Many bitters are very light-bodied (9 Plato, or 1035 OG), low-alcohol beers (3-1/2% is typical) that can be easily consumed in quantities. When a brewery has several bitters in its brand lineup, the weakest is usually called the "ordinary bitter", the mid-range the "best bitter", and the strongest the "ESB" or "extra special bitter". The ESBs are often normal gravity (12 Plato, or about 1050 OG) beers, but can sometimes be as high as 14 Plato. Mild: Mild is the counterpoint to bitter. Mild is darker in color (usually a brown or copper color, but it may be very dark with ruby red highlights). Mild is sweet and soft, but never cloying or syrupy. The style is still very much a quaffing beer intended to be consumed in volume. Like bitter, a mild is typically light-bodied at about 1035 OG and 3-1/2% alcohol. Drink up! Porter: You don't find very many porters in most pubs, but they do still exist and I'll note a few examples in the next section. Porters are usually quite dark -- almost black. The flavor is almost always balanced with some roasted dark malt flavors that are reminiscent of coffee or dark chocolate. In England, the porters are often lighter than those made by U.S. craft brewers. Old Ale: Quite a few real ale brewers produce old ale, at least seasonally. Generally, old ale is fairly big -- approaching barleywine strength with a decidedly sweet malt flavor. Bigness is a generalization though -- there are also several English brewers making very light bodied old ales (like Adnams, which is weaker than the bitters made at many breweries). The crux of an old ale is the word "old" -- the characteristic of an old ale is that it is aged. How that aging is done and for how long is very much subject to brewer preference. Some of these beers are quaffable and hardly worth bothering with (like the aforementioned Adnams) while most are excellent and a handful downright sublime (like Gales Prize Old Ale) with extremely complex flavor profiles that may include a milieau of yeast by-products as well as flavor components produced by aging the beer in wood. Other Styles: You may occassionally find other styles of beer being served as real ales, but I think I've touched on all of the important ones. Some English beer styles, such as barleywine, brown ale, and stout, are not often found as real ales. Let's Try the Beers... Most of England's best beers don't make it outside the country. Sure there are a couple of bottled brands worth drinking, but by and large, if you want a good pint of real ale, you have no choice but to visit England. When you do, here are some of the beers worth looking for... Adnams (Suffolk) Very light, low alcohol ales (most around 3-4% alcohol). Although CAMRA folks seem to like Adnams Old Ale, I can't for the life of me figure out why. The stuff is woefully light and ordinary. I do like their Mild, which is also very light, but with some color and nice soft malt flavors. Arkells (Wiltshire) Arkells 2B and 3B are both bitters with 3B slightly stronger. There is also a big brother to these brews called Kingsdown Ale which is a normal gravity (12 Plato) brew that I'd classify as an ESB. Banks (W. Midlands) Brews a couple of milds, including Hanson's Mild. Bateman (Lincolnshire) The dark mild is extremely well regarded with its dark color and sweet malty flavor. Brakspear (Oxfordshire) Look for the Henley Ales handle in pubs. Range of styles including a mild, bitter, old ale, and ESB. One of the older traditional breweries, having been producing real ales for more than 300 years. Eldridge Pope (Dorset) Famous as the brewers of Thomas Hardy Ale, one of the strongest and rarest brews in the world, the brewery also produces a range of real ale bitters of considerably more moderate strength as well as a light bodied porter. Many U.S. beer connoisseurs like to store bottles of Thomas Hardy Ale and compare vintage years in much the same way as wine connoisseurs may do vertical tastings of a particular wine. Fullers (London) Fullers is one of the few breweries on this list who are likely to brew beers you might be able to find in your local liquor store in the U.S. In England, you are most likely to find their Chiswick Bitter, which is a former Champion Beer of Britain. I prefer their maltier and slightly toffee-like London Pride. Fullers 1845 is a live, bottle-conditioned real ale and it is imported to the U.S., so keep an eye open for this gem! Gales (Hampshire) In addition to a wide range of bitters available on hand pump in England, this brewery produces a magnificently complex old ale called Gales Prize Old Ale. It is a bottle conditioned real ale that clocks in at a huge 9% alcohol and is loaded with plum and sherry flavors. The beer is imported to the U.S. but is usually sold only at the very finest beer retailers. Gibbs Mew (Wiltshire) The brewery makes a wide range of cask-conditioned bitters as well as the bolder, maltier flavored Bishops Tipple which, while labeled as a barleywine, is barely stronger than what we Americans would call a normal gravity brew. Greene King (Suffolk) If you've watched Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter series on the Discovery Channel, you've seen this brewery. They are famous (at least to Jackson fans) as the brewers of an old ale that gets its complexity from the careful blending of different batches of ale, some aged in old wooden vats that harbor a range of complex microflora and that contribute a mileau of subtle flavors to the beer. Locals may not be aware of that claim to fame since over 90% of the brewery's production is cask-conditioned bitter ales, though the lineup also includes a mild, a very bland and underhopped IPA, and the somewhat complex Abbot Ale. Hall and Woodhouse (Dorset) Known by its brand "Badger", the brewery does straight up cask-conditioned bitter ales. Nothin' else! Harveys (E. Sussex) Sold throughout Sussex and Kent, the brewery does a range of bitters, a very wimpy and light-bodied Old Ale (similar to Adnams Old Ale), and a very soft gentle Mild Ale that clocks in at a low 3% alcohol. They also do various seasonal specialties, the best of which is their hearty Christmas Ale, which is a very sweet, very malt, complex barleywine with about 9% alcohol....Yikes! I'll take one of those... Hook Norton (Oxfordshire) Like the Youngs Brewery in London, Hook Norton is a brewery that stresses tradition and time-honored technique. The brewery produces a mild ale, a best bitter, and an ESB. Sarah Hughes (W. Midlands) Sarah Hughes is a much smaller and younger brewery than most of those that I'm mentioning, but I just can't bear to keep it off the list because it is one of my favorite English breweries due completely to their sublime Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild -- in my opinion, the best mild in England with its wonderful complex sweet malt flavor. This is a beer I wish I could drink every day! King and Barnes (W. Sussex) Produces a range of cask-conditioned bitter ales as well as a mild and a very light bodied Old Ale. Marstons (Staffordshire) A lot of people seem to have a love affair with Marstons Pedigree, but I wasn't overly enamored of it. Pedigree strikes me as a good, but not exceptional, best bitter. I was much more impressed with the brewery's Owd Roger, a brew with some power and malt and sweet complexity. Morland (Oxfordshire) One of England's oldest breweries, dating back to 1711, the brewery produces a range of cask-conditioned ales, the best of which is Old Speckled Hen, a normal gravity ale thats got some sweet crystal malt flavors to augment the predominantly bitter hops flavor profile. Morrells (Oxford) The brewery produces a range of cask-conditioned bitter ales. Ringwood (Hampshire) I just have to mention this fairly young brewery because it's brewhouse served as a model for so many young U.S. brewpubs and microbreweries, some of which also use Ringwood's distinctive yeast which is known to produce higher diacetyl levels than most other ale yeasts (that means beers made with this yeast might have some buttery aromas or flavors). Ringwood's best beer is Old Thumper, a moderately big malty old ale. At about 14 Plato I don't consider Old Thumper especially huge, but the beer is quite smooth and malty to my taste and an edge of diacetyl contributes to the round mouthfeel...Mmmmm! Robinsons (Cheshire) Known mostly for their Hartleys XB (a cask-conditioned best bitter), I think Old Tom is the brewery's best product. Old Tom is a very big, hearty, malty, sweet tasting old ale. Shepherd Neame (Kent) Rumored to be the oldest brewery in England, the brewers produce a range of cask conditioned ales as well as a porter and an IPA. In the U.S., Shepherd Neame's Bishops Finger is widely available and is a good example of a bottle-conditioned ESB. Samuel Smith (Yorkshire) This is a traditional old brewery that operates a unique fermentation system known as the "Yorkshire Squares" fermenter. The beer is fermented on stone and aged in wooden casks. While cask-conditioned bitters are sold in the U.K., American beer drinkers know the brewery for its range of bottled beers, including a Nut Brown Ale, an Imperial Stout, and an IPA -- however, I do not believe any of these are real ales. If you ever see the brewery's Sovereign Bitter, avoid it, unless you like gassy, bland beer. Timothy Taylor (Yorkshire) These are some of the best quality bitters you can buy. If you're in England, try to sample some of the Timothy Taylor beers, especially Landlord, which is a best bitter that won Champion Beer of Britain in 1994. Ushers of Trowbridge (Wilthsire) I was fortunate to be able to tour this brewery a couple years ago and sample all of their products on premises in their delightfully cozy tap room. The house brews included a light and innocuous ordinary bitter and a much more distinctive best bitter called Founders Ale. The brewery also does a range of seasonal beers, most of which are brewed using adjunct grains like oats or rye. The best of the seasonal beers is called 1824 Particular, and it is sold from late fall to early spring. This brewery is also known for producing the last example of a low alcohol sweet dark mild ale (Mann's Brown Ale), but don't bother looking for it -- it's not exported. Wadworth (Wiltshire) I think every pub in Bath sells Wadworth's 6X, which is fine by me since it's a delicious best bitter with a smooth malt body and a dry floral hop signature. The brewery also produces an amazingly wimpy and lifeless cask-conditioned IPA called Henry's Original, and they do a range of seasonal beers, all of which seem to be essentially identical bitters -- only the name is changed to protect the innocent. Wards (Yorkshire) Wards produces several low-end ordinary bitter ales which, while cask-conditioned and alive, are not particularly noteworthy. The one exception in their lineup is a dark mild ale, which while low gravity, is sweet and a bit malty. Youngs (London) If I had to pick just one English brewer to satisfy my thirsts for eternity, it would have to be Youngs. They respect brewing tradition, and I respect them for doing so. Moreso, I respect the wonderful range of great ales that they produce. Youngs Oatmeal Stout is one of the smoothest most subtle and sublime stouts the beer world knows, and more soft and velvety than a cheap Elvis portrait. Fortunately, some of the Youngs beers are available in the U.S., although not as traditional cask-conditioned real ales, which is where their true magic lies. Other Breweries and Beers Worth Seeking... Real ales are also produced at some of the great independent breweries of Scotland or Wales. Some of the best of these include Caledonian, Brains, Felinfoel, Maclay, Traquair, and Vaux. One beer to watch for in the U.S. is Fraoch which is brewed by Scotsman Bruce Williams using heather as a sort of hops replacement (supposedly this was an historical practice among the Picts). The first time I tasted Fraoch, I was a bit underwhelmed because the beer basically tastes like a light-bodied pale ale, which are a dime a dozen, but then you start noticing the subtle way the floral aromas and flavors start to dance across your palate... There is a large number of smaller, younger, independent brewers throughout England. Some of these have been open 10 years or less. There are also several brewpubs throughout the country. "Firkins" is a large chain of brewpubs -- they all have names like "Swan and Firkin", "Hound and Firkin", etc. The only one I've ever been to is located right behind the Olympia -- don't remember which one that is. When we were in London, we stopped in at one brewpub called the Orange Brewery. The beers were authentic and as fresh as they could possibly be. The place is also cool because you can look down onto the brewery right under the pub. Fancy a Pint? All this talk about real ales and independent breweries and great pubs is making me thirsty! Well, lucky you! The off season is here for inexpensive airfares and a trip to England can be far more affordable than you may think -- from most east coast U.S. cities you can travel to England cheaper than you can to California, and the beer's better! See you at the pub!  |
| Read all comments (5)|Write your own comment |
