Beer Style: English Bitter, Mild, and Pale Ale
Crooked River Brewing Co. Settler’s Ale ESB clone
This English style extra special bitter gets the American hop treatment with a big boost of Cascade.
Wells and Young’s Ltd: Young’s Special London Ale clone
Young’s Special London Ale is a well-balanced, bottle conditioned premium bitter brewed with 100% British ingredients.
Bass & Co’s Pale Ale clone
Michael Jackson claims that Bass uses a single addition of Challenger and Northdown hops. This is an attempt to clone the bottle version found in the United States.
Merriman Old Fart clone
Sadly, Merriman’s Brewery in Leeds is apparently no longer brewing. The information that I have for this beer is: OG: 1.050. Malt bill: Halcyon pale malt, crystal malt, wheat malt, pale chocolate malt, roast barley. Hops: Liberty, Progress. IBU: 32. When one has no information about malt bill proportions, the only option is to guess. However, we are aware of the usual style guideline ranges for using specialty grains, so we can use these as a starting point.
Oakhill Brewery’s Yeoman Strong Ale clone
The Oakhill Brewery in Somerset closed down when the owner retired. This beer has obviously been renamed during its history and the information that I have for it is: OG: 1.049–1.050. Malt bill: 91.5% Triumph or Halcyon pale malt, 8.5% crystal malt. Hops: Bramling Cross, Challenger, Fuggles, Goldings. In this case, we have malt bill proportions, but no IBU, so again we have to guess. However, style guidelines are a good guide to expected ballpark IBU.
Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
by the numbers OG: 1.048–1.060 (11.9–14.7 °P) FG: 1.010–1.016 (2.6–4.1 °P) SRM: 6–18 IBU: 30–50 ABV: 4.6–6.2% Extra special bitter, often referred to as English pale ale or strong bitter (ESB is
Ordinary Bitter
Jamil Zainasheff provides readers with a recipe to make a classic English Ordinary Bitter.
British Pale Mild
Jamil Zainasheff provides readers with a recipe for a classic British Pale Mild. These are generally less hoppy when compared to an Ordinary Bitter.
British Dark Mild Ale
Jamil Zainasheff provides readers with a recipe for a British Dark Mild. This British session ale is known for its low hop character when compared to bitters and pale ales with a lot more toasted malt presence in the dark milds. Often served via cask in its native land.
Best Bitter
Noted English beer writer Martyn Cornell described bitter as the “iconic pint” that is the “country’s favourite drink” in his excellent book, Amber, Gold & Black. That was certainly my impression the
British Golden Ale
by the numbers OG: 1.038–1.053 FG:1.006–1.012 SRM:2-6 IBU:20–45 ABV:3.8–5.0% Of all the places with a long brewing tradition, Great Britain has probably seen more changes over the years due to wars, government
Make Award-Winning Session Beers
One of the trends of the past few years that I’ve welcomed is the rediscovery of lower-alcohol craft beers. Perhaps it’s a reaction to the “imperial everything” trend or just consumers becoming
