English Beer: The Real Deal
Jul 29 '02
The Bottom Line If you thought English beers were warm and flat or you don’t know what’s really real about real ale, then you really should read a little more about English beer.
Well I just got back from England two days ago and as well as recovering from the time difference, I’m also still recovering from an over indulgence of English ale. Demographics and social behavior may have changed a little over the years, but English pub life while dwindling in numbers is still a thoroughly enjoyable and tempting experience.
It’s four years now since I took the permanent hop across the pond, and my beer tastes have shifted dramatically. Back at the fresh age of 26, I was just as likely to be tempted by one of the cheap European lagers or (cough) Budweiser (end cough) as I was by a pint of Real Cask Conditioned Ale. The truth was that I didn’t really know what cask conditioned ale was, other than a lot of hard work for the bartender, while my knowledge of beer styles stretched little further than Bitter, Lager, Guinness or Newcastle. I was now going back to my homeland with a vastly improved knowledge and a yearning for these beers that I’d quaffed on many occasions but knew nothing about.
English Beer is Served Warm and Flat
“American beer is served too cold and overcarbonated.” OK, I had to say the opposite but much of this has to do with the differing climates. English weather being what it is, nobody has ever heard of a frosted glass, while you’re unlikely to pass a freeway billboard boasting “coldest beer in town”.
English ales are in fact served at cellar temperature, which in my experience is usually cold enough. There is a trend at the moment to serve these ales a little cooler, but not to the extent of American light beers. The problem with overchilling a beer is that it hides much of the flavor, which is fine for a flavorless beer, but not for an English Real Ale. The same is true of wine; would you really stick a bottle of Opus One Cabernet in the freezer for an hour before drinking it?
As for the matter of the English beers being flat, this is discussed further under the explanation of real ale.
Beer Styles in England are a little Limited
When you’re served an American microbrew, you’re usually drinking a beer style that was born in England, or the wider British Isles. But while the Pale Ales (more commonly referred to as Bitter in England) are still extremely popular and you may come across a few ESB’s and IPA’s some of the more specialist beer styles are very rare.
Great classic styles such as porters, oatmeal stouts, imperial stouts and barley wines are almost unheard of, and the few brewers that still make them have only done so because of a demand in the US market. Ask any Englishman to name a few brown ales and he’ll probably get no further than Newcastle, and the same question on stouts will no doubt be recognized as Guinness, and to the more informed Beamish and Murphy’s (none of which are English).
All in all there’s much less diversity of style on the English market than here in the USA. Fortunately English brewers have been a little more experimental in the years since my departure and are starting to reeducate the consumer (and no doubt themselves).
Ales account for about 50% of the UK market, while the other half of course is accounted for by lagers. Virtually all lagers in England are overseas brands, maybe imported, but usually brewed locally under license. Unfortunately we’re not talking about the great Bohemian pilsners or German varieties that are becoming increasingly recognizable to the American consumer, but lesser quality brands such as Carlsberg, Heineken, Kronenbourg, and Foster’s, while you’ll be pleased to hear that Bud is available in near every bar. One of the better brands that I was pleased to see has made progress is Stella Artois, no doubt due to its gigantic corporate ownership.
So what does that leave when we talk about English Beer? Well for the most part we’re talking about Bitter, which is the more common English name for Pale Ale. Bitter also covers the stronger, premium ESB’s or the more heavily hopped IPA’s. Sounds simple doesn’t it, and usually an Englishman will just walk into a pub and simply ask for “a pint of lager” or “a pint of bitter.”
The Beauty of English Ale is that it’s Real Ale
Well, our access to various styles of ale may be a little a limited, but at least our ales are real. No I’m not being big-headed or unnecessarily patriotic. Real ale is a specific kind of beer that’s almost exclusive to the British Isles.
Simply put, real ale is ale that is allowed a second fermentation in the cask. For those that haven’t been to England before, you’ve probably seen Real Ale in the movies; it’s the one that takes the bartender 4 strenuous pulls on that foot long tap handle.
The secondary fermentation takes place in the cask because of an added yeast strain, so you really won’t find beer that’s much fresher. Beer writer Michael Jackson, will often wax lyrical about the delights of fruit complexity achieved from a cask of real ale. As a subsequent result the beer also benefits from a natural carbonation (mixing the natural sugars in the beer with yeast creates carbon dioxide). Pretty much all US beers are artificially injected with carbon dioxide, while this trend also gained popularity in England for a while. While the end result may not be something as fizzy and gassy as a pint of American pale ale, the carbonation is there, albeit to a lesser extent. Real Ale does in fact pride itself on its smoothness.
While real ale does achieve the ultimate flavor and a complexity not achieved by any other method, it can also be something of a handful. Real ale leaves the brewery at an immature stage and is allowed time to complete its fermentation in the barrel. The trick is that the serving establishment has to be trained in the handling of cask conditioned ale, as it is their responsibility to determine when the beer has reached its ideal state and is ready to be tapped.
A Pint of Smooth
It’s probably not surprising then that artificial carbonation became a popular alternative. An attempt to replicate the real ale texture came with the now hugely popular smooth ales that use nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide. Most US drinkers would have seen the effects of nitrogen in a pint of Guinness while it also accounts for most British/Irish ales sold over here on tap and in cans (e.g. Boddington’s, Tetley’s, Belhaven, Caffrey’s). The truth is however that nitrogen takes away much of the beer’s flavor, most notably the hops. Now you can visit most English locals and choose between the cask version or the smooth version of the same brew. Some establishments that don’t serve real ale, may have look-alike pumps, but if the bartender doesn’t pull the lever repeatedly, it’s not real ale.
An Evolving Market
Much as England was the creator of the global economy and is now in the sad state of copying its economic policies from the Americans, the same can also be said about its brewers. I’m being cynical of course, but many English brewers have seen a new lease of life from the American microbrew revolution. I read a recent article by Michael Jackson congratulating CAMRA (a British organization that campaigns for brewers and sellers of real ale) for inspiring the US microbrew revolution, but it really seems to me that in recent years it is the American market that is inspiring British brewers.
I have no industry statistics for comparison, but as an observer there certainly seems to be a wider availability of independent brews, while the brewers of these beers have also seen opportunities for diversifying their product lines. The classic example would be Yorkshire brewer Samuel Smith, which started brewing Oatmeal Stouts, Imperial Stouts and Taddy Porters solely for the US market. Now English drinkers are either hearing about this or have seen these specialty brews while on vacation and are demanding the same on their home market. Much credit of course should also go to CAMRA who have gone to great lengths to educate beer consumers. Now specialist beers are receiving much bigger grocery store shelf allocation.
A now outdated statistic told me that 80% of American beer is drunk in the home, whereas 80% of English beer is drunk in the pub. I don’t know the figures today but the English are increasingly drinking at home and this is a further influence on the demand for specialty beers.
So how can you learn more about English ale?
You’re unlikely to find a cask of real ale in your local bar; in fact most English bitters are the nitrogen infused versions. You’ll find some excellent bottle conditioned versions in good grocery stores. In the same way as Real Ale is allowed a second fermentation in the cask, bottle conditioned beers contain a yeast sediment that allow a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Fuller’s 1845 Bottle Conditioned Ale is probably the best example I’ve found here.
For more classic English ales check out the widely available offerings from Fuller’s, Young’s, and Samuel Smith, while Theakston’s Old Peculier is also worth a mention. You’ll find information on many of these beers on epinions.
http://www.epinions.com/fddk-Beers-All-England
Of course the only real way to learn more about English Beer is to take a trip to England. I’ve been told by many Americans about how great the British pub life is and I couldn’t agree more. I sampled about 50 English cask ales while on vacation and wasn’t once disappointed.
Alternatively, you could wait until andaryl becomes a millionaire and opens up his own chain of “Real Ale Authentic English Pubs” across the United States.
Please take a little time to read Mark Stevens excellent take on this subject:
http://www.epinions.com/content_2237571204
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