"A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure." Czech Proverb
Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".
What Makes a Great Pint of Real Ale?
Finding a good pint of real ale is not always easy. Here are a few pointers to make life a little bit easier in finding a satisfying pint.
1) Having too many beers on draught can be a bad sign. This leads to beers that are not fresh due to some of the less popular beers being on tap for too long. Unless the pub is known for good ale. It would be advisable to stick to the well-known beers that would presumably sell quicker. Thus guarantying a fresher pint.
2) Always watch how the beer is poured. Serving real ale takes time. The swan neck hand pump works on gravity and has a piston inside. It takes a few moments for the piston to fill up after each pull. If you don't wait, air gets into the system. It leads to a poor head and adds oxygen into the beer which spoils the flavour of the beer. Brewers go to great lengths not to add oxygen to their beer as it leads to infection and beer spoilage.
3) The appearance of real ale should be clear unless stated to be a cloudy wheat beer. Also make sure there are no foreign bodies in the beer (if there are it could mean they don't clean their lines). In most cases the beer should also have a good head. A good tip is if you stick your finger in the head. There should be a nice amount of the head stuck to your finger. There are some regions where they do not like much head on the beer. A great beer will almost have a shine to it due to the crystal clarity.
4) As with wine, the aroma of the beer is also key. It can tell you a lot about the beer before tasting it. It can tell you quite simply if a beer is bad. If you detect vinegar or T.C.P.'s take the beer back as it's "off". You are looking for floral, fruity and resinous notes from hops. From the malt you should detect nutty, malty and caramel notes.
5) When you finally taste the beer you are looking for "beery" qualities. A good beer will have what we call a "start, middle and end". A good brewer picks his/her ingredients so that there is story to the beer. Generally you get the malt flavours coming through first. You may get a smoky flavour and some sweetness. As the beer passes over the tongue the bitterness of the hops will come through. Finally you will get a warming feeling and sometimes a little sharpness from the carbonation. Flavours you are not looking for are metallic and sulphury.
6) As you are savouring your ale. It will warm up as it is in your hands and from the ambient temperature of the surroundings. The flavour of the beer may change accordingly. I
1) Having too many beers on draught can be a bad sign. This leads to beers that are not fresh due to some of the less popular beers being on tap for too long. Unless the pub is known for good ale. It would be advisable to stick to the well-known beers that would presumably sell quicker. Thus guarantying a fresher pint.
2) Always watch how the beer is poured. Serving real ale takes time. The swan neck hand pump works on gravity and has a piston inside. It takes a few moments for the piston to fill up after each pull. If you don't wait, air gets into the system. It leads to a poor head and adds oxygen into the beer which spoils the flavour of the beer. Brewers go to great lengths not to add oxygen to their beer as it leads to infection and beer spoilage.
3) The appearance of real ale should be clear unless stated to be a cloudy wheat beer. Also make sure there are no foreign bodies in the beer (if there are it could mean they don't clean their lines). In most cases the beer should also have a good head. A good tip is if you stick your finger in the head. There should be a nice amount of the head stuck to your finger. There are some regions where they do not like much head on the beer. A great beer will almost have a shine to it due to the crystal clarity.
4) As with wine, the aroma of the beer is also key. It can tell you a lot about the beer before tasting it. It can tell you quite simply if a beer is bad. If you detect vinegar or T.C.P.'s take the beer back as it's "off". You are looking for floral, fruity and resinous notes from hops. From the malt you should detect nutty, malty and caramel notes.
5) When you finally taste the beer you are looking for "beery" qualities. A good beer will have what we call a "start, middle and end". A good brewer picks his/her ingredients so that there is story to the beer. Generally you get the malt flavours coming through first. You may get a smoky flavour and some sweetness. As the beer passes over the tongue the bitterness of the hops will come through. Finally you will get a warming feeling and sometimes a little sharpness from the carbonation. Flavours you are not looking for are metallic and sulphury.
6) As you are savouring your ale. It will warm up as it is in your hands and from the ambient temperature of the surroundings. The flavour of the beer may change accordingly. I
Real Reading on Amazon
The Real Ale Pub Guide
Amazon Price: $22.94 (as of 10/11/2008)
Brew Your Own Real Ale at Home (CAMRA Guides)
Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)
Real Ales for the Home Brewer
Amazon Price: $23.50 (as of 10/11/2008)
Brew Your Own British Real Ale
Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)
Good Bottled Beer Guide: The CAMRA Guide to Real Ale in a Bottle
Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 10/11/2008)
Real Flickr Photos
DPP_0154
DPP_0152
DPP_0150
DPP_0141
DPP_0147
DPP_0153
DPP_0151
DPP_0145
DPP_0142
DPP_0146
Real Blog Posts from Google
Real Ale Links
- Camra Headquarters
- CAMRA campaigns for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights. We are an independent, voluntary organisation with over 85,000 members and have been described as the most successful consumer group in Europe. CAMRA promotes good-quality real ale and pubs, as well as acting as the consumer's champion in relation to the UK and European beer and drinks industry.
- Buy real ale / beer online at realale.com
- One stop shopping online and at our store for bottle conditioned real ale Real Ale - bottle conditioned ales
- Beermad: the world's largest real ale database
- The aim of Beermad is to document the wonderful range of real ales produced by the brewers of the British Isles. The database contains details of every beer known to have been produced since 1976. Inevitably over the years, many beers will have been brewed and never heard of since, but Beermad tries to list all those for which information has been found. With an average of something like 300 new beers being added every month, the Beermad database is growing fast, with 35043 beers from 1584 producers currently listed.
- Quality Ales, real ale guide and beer rankings
- The UK's number one real ale & beer ranking Website. Thousands of beers reviewed, and rated.
- Real Ale - http://www.cask-ale.co.uk
- Cask Ale (Alex Hall's Home Page)
- Living Beer
- The online bottled-conditioned beer merchant that delivers beers produced by independent UK breweries to your home
- DIRECTORY OF UK REAL ALE BREWERIES
- The aim of this site is to present the visitor with a resource that hopefully presents the most up to date list of UK based Real Ale Breweries available on the Internet.
A Glossary of Common Beer Types
Ale: A beer brewed with a top-fermenting yeast. It used to refer to a beer made without hops but this is not the case now.
Bitter: A highly hopped beer and the most common type of draught ale. Bitters can range from below 3.5% up to 5% ABV.
Brown ale: A bottled, lightly hopped and sweetish mild ale. Usually lower in gravity though there are exceptions.
Heavy: A Scottish and North East term for a medium strength beer usually light in colour!
IPA: India Pale Ale. Strictly speaking a high strength pale ale for export but the term is commonly used for light bitter ales.
Lager: A British term for a continental beer made with a bottom fermenting yeast using different malt and hops than most bitters. They undergo a long secondary fermentation at a low temperature. Most British lagers are weak, inferior versions of their mainland Europe namesakes.
Light ale: A low gravity bottled ale. Scottish light ales are usually dark coloured!
Mild: A lightly hopped beer, often dark in colour and usually (but not always)low in gravity
Old ales: See Winter ales.
Pale ale: A medium gravity bottled ale. The term is used in the South West to refer to low gravity draught ales.
Porter: A dark and sweetish but well hopped beer.
60/-, 70/-, 80/-, 90/-: 60 shilling, 70 shilling, 80 shilling, 90 shilling ale, all terms for Scottish beers. They equate, very roughly, to mild, light, heavy and strong.
Stout: Usually very dark, heavy and well hopped beer. Dry tasting with a creamy head. Though the term is no longer used, Milk Stout is thought to have been so named because it contained lactose, a sugar derived from milk. As lactose cannot be fermented by yeast, the sugar stays in the beer.
Wheat beer: A beer originating from Bavaria where it is known as Weizen. The wheat is added to the mash and results in a refreshing summer drink. Both pale and dark versions are available, some are brewed to be drunk hazy, some brewed to be drunk clear.
Winter ale: Usually a high gravity and full-flavoured beer sold during the winter months. The name is now synonymous with Old ale.
Bitter: A highly hopped beer and the most common type of draught ale. Bitters can range from below 3.5% up to 5% ABV.
Brown ale: A bottled, lightly hopped and sweetish mild ale. Usually lower in gravity though there are exceptions.
Heavy: A Scottish and North East term for a medium strength beer usually light in colour!
IPA: India Pale Ale. Strictly speaking a high strength pale ale for export but the term is commonly used for light bitter ales.
Lager: A British term for a continental beer made with a bottom fermenting yeast using different malt and hops than most bitters. They undergo a long secondary fermentation at a low temperature. Most British lagers are weak, inferior versions of their mainland Europe namesakes.
Light ale: A low gravity bottled ale. Scottish light ales are usually dark coloured!
Mild: A lightly hopped beer, often dark in colour and usually (but not always)low in gravity
Old ales: See Winter ales.
Pale ale: A medium gravity bottled ale. The term is used in the South West to refer to low gravity draught ales.
Porter: A dark and sweetish but well hopped beer.
60/-, 70/-, 80/-, 90/-: 60 shilling, 70 shilling, 80 shilling, 90 shilling ale, all terms for Scottish beers. They equate, very roughly, to mild, light, heavy and strong.
Stout: Usually very dark, heavy and well hopped beer. Dry tasting with a creamy head. Though the term is no longer used, Milk Stout is thought to have been so named because it contained lactose, a sugar derived from milk. As lactose cannot be fermented by yeast, the sugar stays in the beer.
Wheat beer: A beer originating from Bavaria where it is known as Weizen. The wheat is added to the mash and results in a refreshing summer drink. Both pale and dark versions are available, some are brewed to be drunk hazy, some brewed to be drunk clear.
Winter ale: Usually a high gravity and full-flavoured beer sold during the winter months. The name is now synonymous with Old ale.
Real Stuff on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Real Ale Brewery Links
This is a list of some of my favourite real ale breweries. By no means comprehensive as there are so many excellent breweries now producing quality real ales. For more extensive brewery listings take a look at the real ale link list above which features some very good resources.
- Hook Norton Brewery
- Hook Norton Brewery remains one of only 32 independent family-run breweries; and you won't find a finer example of a Victorian tower brewery anywhere.
- Hop Back Brewery : Buy Real Ale Online
- Hop Back Brewery : Buy Real Ale Online - GFB,Crop Circle,Summer Lightning,Taiphoon,Entire Stout,Odyssey,Mixed Bottle Cases,Merchandise,Pickled Santa,
- Oakham Ales - Multi award winning real ale brewery
- Oakham Ales is a multi award winning real ale brewery based in Peterborough, UK. Their award winning beers include J.H.B, White Dwarf, Bishops Farewell and many more.
- Everards Brewery
- Everards Brewery - creators of the renowned Tiger Best Bitter, Beacon Bitter and Original, brewed in Leicestershire, East Midlands.
- Beers and Ales from Mauldons Brewery
- Mauldons Brewery - award winning Ales and Beers from this Suffolk based micro-brewery. Includes seasonal ales programme and how to buy direct from the brewery.
- Millstone Brewery Ltd - A Traditional brewery crafting well rounded Beers, Real Ale and Bitter.
- With an eight-barrel plant Millstone Brewery craft traditional well-rounded beers and real ales, using traditional malts and hops
- Black Sheep Brewery, Masham North Yorkshire
- The Black Sheep Brewery is based in Masham, North Yorkshire, where you can take a brewery tour, have a meal in the Bistro and purchase souvenirs from the shop. You can also buy online.
- Woodforde's Champion Real Ales and Beers from Nelson's County of Norfolk
- Woodforde's Broadland Brewery and Real Ale and Beer from Norfolk
- Adnams
- At Adnams we brew traditional cask beer, and we've been doing so since 1872. We use only the finest ingredients to create fresh quality beer, and you can taste it in every pint.
New Guestbook
Like this lens? Want to share your feedback, or just give a thumbs up? Be the first to submit a blurb!
Featured Lenses
-
Recipes Using Real Ale
-
This lens brings you some of my favourite ways to use Real Ale in cooking. From the hearty steak and ale pie to homemade mustards there is something to suit everyone.
The Real Ale Blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand by
