I have a few extra minutes before I need to be on the Eurostar to Belgium (yes, the chunnel), so I thought I'd put up my thoughts on what the Brits call ale. If you tried one of these in the States you'd probably think the keg had skunked or that the bottles had been sitting out in the sun for a few days. On the other hand, there is some good variety and, though it seems cliche, the ales go quite well with pub grub like fish and chips or meat pies.
In the 6 days I spent in London I visited no fewer than 9 pubs and tried at least a dozen different British Ales. The big three brewers are Fullers, Young's, and Greene King, and each has a variety of brews. "Bitter" is their most common offering, like Fullers London Pride or Greene's London Glory, and, although the name would suggest otherwise, is the most mild. After that you get Special Bitter and Extra Special Bitter (ESB), and IPA at the high end of hops. Don't be mislead - you will never get anything even close to what we call IPA in America. These beers are all served mildly cold, and are usually hand pumped. That means what carbonation there is is natural, but weak.
My two favourites were Fullers Organic Honeydew, with it's light sweetness, and St. Edmunds Golden, which has much brighter hop flavour than most of the others. The bottom line is that you have to give these beers a chance, preferably in their native environment, but if you were raised on American craft there just isn't much to get excited about. Tonight in Belgium I'm staying at a Hostel that has a bar, so I imagine there will be quite a bit more!
Sorry no pictures of beer; I already packed my camera.
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