Is anyone on here into Real Ales?

Whilst Landlord is the best-known beer from the Timothy Taylor stable (and has won more awards than any other UK beer), their Best Bitter (4%) and Golden Best (3.5%) are also excellent beers.

Steve D

Whatever it is, it is not real ale - kaffir lime leaf, galangal, lemongrass and lime skins!

Real (English) beer has water, malted barley and hops and yeast - end of.

I presume those fans of Tim Taylor's Landlord know about who its most famous fan is? Madonna.

She said it was her favourite beer when on the Jonathan Ross show. Apparently Tim Taylor's don't spend much (if anything) on advertising, but got an endorsement worth thousands (more?) for free.

I heard that a friend rang the head of the brewery to say switch on the Madonna interview now, and he was blown away.

Try a quick Google search for Madonna and Tim Taylor.

I'm with Derry on this one.

Thai Bo might be a good drink (no I haven't  tried it, maybe next time in London) but you'll never convince me or many others it is a real ale, in the CAMRA sense. As Derry says the wrong ingredients. 

Just opened a bottle of T.E.A.(Traditional English Ale) from Hogs Back Brewery.

Well CAMRA and I must agree to disagree. Their "other ingredients are sometimes used" does not strike me as ringing endorsement of such adulterants...

Nothing much in Edmonton, unless you go for the bottle. My favourites are Old Peculiar, Bishops Finger and Castle Eden.

Tim

Of course CAMRA might be running out of contenders, if like Euro Car of the Year, they can only win once.

I see your point Ian, but I'll not buy Asparagus flavoured cider or what ever new and "exciting" flavours the manufactures are coming up with for our supposedly jaded palates.

As I have already said traditional english real ale has 4 basic ingredients. If you want fuit or herbs or spice or any combination of such in a fermented malted barley fluid - be my guest - but do not call it real ale.

Such abominations are common on the continent and there they should remain.

p.s. the phrase Speciality Beer of Britain says it all really.

Hi all.

Not wishing to appear pedantic, but real ale is not really made any more. Ale was a sweet unhopped drink, similar to mead, which was later bittered, using the likes of hemlock, heather, peel, spices and the like. Hops were introduced, by immigrant Belgians in the south east in the 18th and 19th century.

What we call real ale now, should technically be called real beer! 

Kind regards

Guy

I'm opening a little microbrewery and pizza restaurant in Hackney Wick next month called Crate. Come say hello if you happen to be passing!

Guy  .....   err ???  OK OK pedantic point made,  but its been called ale for quite a while now,  so I guess its a keeper.  Truth is old the beer & ale meanings are lost in time,  but who cares,  they can call it anything they like as far as I am concerned provided they don't change the taste & the pleasure & the huge local & regional variations. 

I had one of the finest pints of Old Hookey yesterday lunchtime

Only problem I was driving, so only ONE was possible.  

BTW  Hook Norton Brewery use the "Ale" word on the label but they advertise it as "A beautifully balanced beer, fruity by nature, with a well-rounded body and the suggestive echo of Crystal Malt"  

Alternatively, in Graham Wheeler's book "Home Brewing - The Camra Guide" he makes the point that beer is almost certainly a corruption of the Norse bjorr which in old english was beor. This predates hops in beer by about a thousand years.

Whatever so long as we understand each other.

What did the Pharaoh's good drink guide call it in 5000 BC? 

In the days when I had such locals, I used to like:

Owd Roger

Bishops Tipple

Fullers London Pride

Double Dragon (Glynclyddach Brewery)

Varsity

Flowers

Wadworths 6X

The best ale of all was served onboard RN Ships - CSB - Courage Sparkling Bitter.

Hi 

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Many if not all of the beers mentioned would not pass the water, malt, hops and yeast, purity laws. All of the above will contain, some, if not all of these ingredients. Calcium Sulphate (gypsum), Calcium Chloride, a blend of sulphuric/hydrochloric acid, Epsom salts, salt, a polysaccaride fining, ground up swim bladders of a south east asian catfish, isomerised hop extract, yeast vitamins, in the form of dehydrated marmite, zinc chloride, phosphoric acid,ascorbic acid etc etc.

Only german lagers adhere to water,malt, hops and yeast Reinheitsgabot law. Even though, to help yeast reproduction, put a solid block if zinc in the fermenter!

Personally I enjoy many beers on their merit and enjoy the variety and creativity of our brewers, be they light dark, porter, stout etc

Regards 

Guy

Guy ever thought of getting a job in promotion? 

Will you be doing a ploughmans pizza?

Stu.

You can prove that?

If german beer contains water, it will have loads of minerals as all water does.

Zinc? Yeast needs no help to propogate and why would anyone use zinc to do it. The marvel of yeast is that as it ferments it grows and you use the extra yeast to brew the next batch and so on.

I used, and commercial breweries use, the same yeast for years and no zinc is in sight or on site.

adnams

Hi Derry

Yeast does indeed need zinc. During the malting process protein is broken down into amino acids, which yeast uses to increase its cell wall size to enable it to bud and therefore propogate. Zinc is the only catalyst to do this, in the presence of oxygen available at the begining of the fermentation. Once the oxygen is used up, the yeast then begins to ferment, producing alcohol, and depending on temperature, various esters, which add the fruity notes people have mentioned. 

As folk have mentioned there, there are fantastic regional variations in beer. A lot of that is due to the water. Hard water areas lead to drier, hoppier beers, such as Burton Pale Ales, soft water tends to give beer a more rounded, malty drinks, as the presence of calcium helps hop extract.

Now water comes from all over the place, and is treated so it is potable, sterile has flouride etc, so nearly all breweries have to treat water to make it suitable for brewing.

Calcium needs to be present in water to allow yeast to bond to finings, which is known as the lock and key effect, which settle out in the cask, leaving bright clear beer to our delight.

I have had to train two German brewmiesters in the subject of finings as they dont use them, they simply filter their beer. They advised me about zinc blocks, I have no reason not to believe them.

Sorry lots get back on subject.

Titanic Stout

Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby

Sherperd Neame 1696 ( think the numbers right!)

Kindest regards

Guy