England Beer Enthusiast – Your Guide Part 1
England Beer Enthusiast – Your Guide Part 1
My last travel was one of the most inspiring experience to date, visiting England and completely immersing in their culture was truly an emotional ride which I felt was worth documenting for the rest of the world. Though I have written on the pub scene in England, I feel like the need to dedicate a few pages simply to the English beers.
It’s hard to distinguish between the pub and beer experience, but I felt a dedicated guide on English beers had to be done. So if you plan on visiting England anytime soon, my blogs would certainly help you in figuring how to go about experiencing the splendor of English beers.
England Beer Enthusiast: Bitter
The bitter pale ale is much more than just a style of beer, it holds much more significance than one might understand at one glance. The name bitter represents a whole family of beers popularized in the 19th century England. All of these beers are golden to copper in color, with a toasty or caramel maltish flavor along with the presence of strong and earthy English hops.
Three different distinctions exist in the world of bitter: ordinary bitter, special bitter and strong bitter. The strength is the primary difference between all three types – standard being the weakest of the batch with 3% alcohol in volume. Special bitter is relatively stronger with 4%, while the strong bitter is usually pushing towards 6% ABV.
England Beer Enthusiast: India Pale Ale
The IPA has become a nesting ground for beer historians. Not a single beer on the planet has such a strong historical background, while some even claim it was invented for the British troops serving in the British colony of India.
The India Pale Ale has significantly evolved over the years, with many American craft beers developing numerous variants of the hoppy drink. Though there is a stark difference between English and American brewed IPA. Most English India Pale Ale are bordering between medium amber to golden in color, but bear little semblance to its American version which are dominated with hop and citrus.
England Beer Enthusiast: Brown- Mild Ale
Most American drinkers are quite familiar with the Americanized India Pale Ale. However, the mild ale is still restricted to England. During the 18th century milds was a strong drink but this was changed during the 19th century wartime needs, thus setting a precedent for the modern brown ales. Milds currently reside between 3 to 4.5% ABV range.
The term mild refers to the freshness of the drink rather than its strength. These malty drinks have little hop if any and a fruity yeast flavor bordering towards buttery and toasty nut and caramel, with a bit of fruitiness. Those hoping to try it for the first time should expect a decent amount of flavor packed in a small bottle.
England Beer Enthusiast: Strong Scotch Ale
We all know and love Scotland for their Scotch Whiskeys, but the Scottish beer deserves just as much love and recognition. Wee Heavy is the most commonly available Scottish styled beers in the US. These strong ales pack some strong malt, while the flavor has some fruity sweetness, along with a caramelized and thickly dense body. Though some less strong versions of this beer also exists, these have a similar taste but are much lighter in body and alcohol.
England is certainly known for being one the countries of the world and it certainly holds on to that title! Be sure to check back for part II of this awesome take on England Beer Enthusiast!
