South Bay, Los Angeles County, California

By Jim Wilson

My wife and I took a long anticipated vacation to Britain in 2000. We were in country for 16 days in May. She wanted to see gardens and castles; I wanted to act like I was on location and drink Real Ale. We both succeeded.

The first week we were really tourists, taking a bus ride from London to Hampton Court, Stonehenge, Salsbury, Bath, The Cotswolds, Stratford, Llangollen Wales, Windemere in the Lake District, Lockerbie, Edinburgh, Abbotsford House (Sir Walter Scott's home), Hadden on the Wall, York, Belvoir Castle, Cambridge and back to London. Then we rode a train to Birmingham to visit an old friend in the West Midlands for 5 days and came back to London. Breakfasts were always in the hotel and never once included beer. How rude! Lunches were always in whatever convenient local we could find (with about 80,000 pubs in Britain, there was always one convenient). We usually took a break about 4-5pm for another pint and then had about half our dinners in pubs and the rest in some restaurant where beer wasn't the first thing on the menu (that really took some searching on Ethie's part).

To prepare for this extended pub-crawl, I read about Real Ale, English Bitter, Pale Ale and IPA on line and in magazine articles. I focused on these styles because I don't care much for mild and have been able to try enough porter and stout here to already appreciate them. I wanted to read CAMRA's Good Beer Guide, but wasn't able to find it before we left. I did buy Protz's Real Ale Almanac in England and from a brewer's perspective, found it very useful because it focuses on what instead of where. I tried to take a few notes on each beer's overall impression so that I could retain some information. On the whole, it was a great tasting adventure and I learned a lot from the locals about the charm and allure of Real Ale and a few other things, too

When we started, I'd just go in a pub and 1. See if they had Real Ale and 2. Drink it if it was a brand I hadn't yet tasted. Most pubs qualified for #1 unless they were temporarily out and with nearly a 1000 different Real Ales duplication wasn't a problem as we kept on the move. But, after a few days, my notes were repeating themselves. Just Another Boring Real Ale appeared over and over. Not bad, mind you, just not very exciting. JABRA's were usually warmer than 55 or flatter than average or low in taste complexity. I never did have an undrinkable pint, but one in Edinburgh came close. About this time, I met a local in Llangollen, Wales and he asked me what I thought of hand pumped ale. When I told him it's good, if sometimes boring, he suggested a new tactic. Since Real Ale has a half life of just a few days after the keg is tapped, I should ask the Publician what is the most popular brand in his pub and how long the current keg has been on tap. And, then, only drink fresh ale. Viola! Now I was getting tastier beer and, as a side benefit, I got to go into a lot more Pubs to look for new brands. Yippee!

Below is a list of the real ales, with a couple of interlopers, that I tried on this trip, and a brief reflection about their overall impression. The list is in pretty much the order I tasted them. Location was an important part in my perceptions and there are some notes about where I had the various beers. Some pubs, the older ones especially, were darker and more rustic than others. That helped my tasting because there seemed to be fewer distractions in the older rooms. I really liked the eccentricity and variety of pub names. In general, beer was more expensive than at home, varying from 1.6-2.5 L per pint. My recollection is that this converted to $2.80-$4.40. The fact that we're talking about Imperial pints is just too confusing to deal with.

In general, most Bitters had similar appearance, aroma, flavor and body. If some characteristic was different from the style guide I tried to make a note of it. I'm sure if I could judge a number of them at the same time the subtle differences would be more noticeable.

For your reference:

4. BRITISH BITTER
A. Ordinary Bitter
Originally a draft ale served very fresh under low pressure and at cool temperatures. Medium gold to medium copper-brown. Low gravity, low alcohol levels, and low carbonation make this an easy drinking beer. The body of this beer tends to be thin, even watery. Medium to high bitterness tends to dominate over the malt character, which is usually low. May or may not have hop flavor, aroma, diacetyl, and fruitiness.

A wonderful odyssey, I can't wait to go back.

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