Beer Style: English Bitter, Mild, and Pale Ale
English Bitter
Using good quality UK malts and hops really makes a difference with this beer. Yeast choice can affect the flavor of the beer considerably – experiment with available English Ale strains to find one you like. Drink this beer while it is young and fresh.
— recipe author Scott Simpson
Mild Ale
Five hundred years ago, almost all British beers existed as both stale and mild ales. From its earliest use through the 18th Century, the term “mild” referred to an entire class of ales. These beers were much bigger than today’s mild (perhaps 20 °P or more) and they were served young and sweet with residual malt sugars. Any beer could be called mild as long as it lacked the sourness of aged beers, such as stale or stock ale.
British Nineteenth-Century Best Bitter
Recipe author Horst Dornbusch’s more modern recreation of a historical Best Bitter from the 1800s.
Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
Is it the crystal malt? The English hops? What makes a great ESB? Find out how to put the special in your bitter.
Ordinary Bitter
Ordinary bitter is neither ordinary nor bitter – our new Style columnist will discuss the best way to brew this British session ale at home.
5 British Ale Clone Recipes
We got the scoop on five classic British ales and serve them up like bangers and mash. Try our clone recipes for Bass & Co.’ Pale Ale, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, Newcastle Brown Ale, Young’s Special London and Fuller’s London Porter.
Mild Ale: It’s Not Dead Yet!
Mild ale was once the most popular brew in England. Recently, however, its popularity has hit rock bottom. Is it time for a comeback? Plus: Five mild recipes
Stonehenge Stein Beer
When you wish for new brewing gear, do you ever wish for metamorphic rocks? You might after seeing this recipe. Here’s a recipe for steinbier — a beer whose wort is heated by hot stones.
The 10 Easiest Beer Styles
It’s Brew Your Own’s Tenth Anniversary and we’re kicking off a year-long series of articles with our list of the 10 most approachable beer styles.
Brewing English-Style Bitter: Tips from the Pros
Two "ordinary" brewers discuss the best in their bitters.
Make a Can’t Fail Pale Ale
You know it. You love it. Now the guy who wrote the book on pale ale will tell you how to brew it. Includes recipes for a classic English pale ale, a classic American pale ale and the author’s favorite brewpub pale ale. Plus: Homebrew-inspired adaptations that push the limits of the style.
Yarrow Pale Ale (YPA)
This recipe for a YPA came to me one summer afternoon after mowing the lawn. Yarrow, thyme, and savory have spilled out of my wife’s herb garden to become part of the lawn in one place, and they inevitably get mowed along with the dandelions and weeds. The aroma was amazing, and so is the beer.
