The Best British Beers

Being originally from England, I grew up watching my Dad make homebrews of great British beer, got to drink it down at the local pub when I was 12 years old (they don't worry too much about legal age in the UK) and, by the time I was in college definitely knew my beers. Anyone not British will tell you British beer is served warm. Well, sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. But a warmer beer does hold its flavor a lot better than a freezing cold beer, and that's probably why most Brits still choose British beer over the American version. As my Dad has often said about American lager, "It's like gnat's piss" (translation, weak tasting and light colored).

British beers come in four different varieties - Ale, Lager, Bitter and Cider.

Ale - British Ale has light ales, pale ales, dark ales and stout. These four varieties of ale taste completely different.

The pale ales and light ales have fewer hops and usually come in bottles. Dark ale is very popular in northern England, where I'm from, and it's also bottled, a little heavier and sweeter than the pale and light ales. Real ale is brewed traditionally and is always stored in casks (wooden beer barrels). The real ale brewers in England are a bit like the microbreweries in the United States in that they are usually independent brewers and quite small operations. Stout is a heavy, thicker beer - the most famous in the world, of course, being Guinness.

The best ales, in my opinion, are these:

Pale Ales and Light Ales - Bass Ale or Timothy Taylor

Dark Ales - Black Cat Mild or Newcastle Brown, (which is what my Dad drinks)

Real Ale - Theakston's Old Peculier, or Bank's Original

Stout - Guinness (I'm borrowing this - I'm sure the Irish don't want to be classified as 'British' but you can't name the best stout without saying 'Guinness'.)

Lager - this is now the most popular beer drunk in England. Lager is basically what American beers like Budweiser, Coors etc. are. Light beers, smooth taste, a little sweet and a higher carbonation than ales. Lager can be bought either in bottles or on draught.

The best lagers are these:

Carling Black Label, Tennants Lager, or Samuel Smith