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Bitter is a British term for a type of beer or pale ale. The expression first appears in the UK in the early 19th century as part of the development and spread of pale ale. Image File history File links Bitter-example. ...
Image File history File links Bitter-example. ...
A selection of bottled beers A selection of cask beers Beer is the worlds oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage. ...
Pale ale is a name given to beers using pale malts which are top fermented. ...
Pale ale is a name given to beers using pale malts which are top fermented. ...
Brief history
Pale ale was a term used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke had been first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn't until around 1703 that the term pale ale was first used. By 1784 adverts were appearing in the Calcutta Gazette for "light and excellent" pale ale. By 1830 onward the expressions bitter and pale ale were synonymous. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild. By the mid to late 20th century, while brewers were still labeling bottled beers as pale ale, they had begun identifying cask beers as bitter. While the two terms are still used interchangeably in the UK, the preference is for the term bitter to be used for both bottled and cask beer, and use of the term pale ale has declined. Malted barley Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate and then quickly dried before the plant develops. ...
Coke is a solid carbonaceous residue derived from low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. ...
Founded by William Augustus Hickey, The Hickeys Bengal Gazette or the Calcutta General Advertiser was the first English language newspaper, and indeed the first printed newspaper, to be published in the Indian sub-continent. ...
Porter is a style of beer in the ale family - developed in the 18th century which has a dark colour, originally from the use of highly dried brown malt, a roast malt aroma and hop bitterness. ...
Mild Ale is one of the oldest styles of beer from England, and originally meant a young or immature ale. ...
Style Bitter belongs in the pale ale style grouping, though bitter does have a greater variety of strength, flavour and appearance than mainstream pale ale. A bitter can be very dark and roasty, approaching a stout, or be very golden and delicate like a golden summer ale. It can also go under 3% abv as with Boys Bitter and as high as 7% with some premium or strong bitters. During the early to mid 20th century there were some regional preferences noted which may still be detected in the beers of some of the more established breweries. In Cornwall, Wales, North England and Scotland the preference was for sweeter, less hopped beer. In other areas, particularly Southeast England, the preference was for hoppy beers. A pint of stout Stout is a family of dark beers made using roasted malts or roast barley. ...
Regional brewery is a term used in the UK to decribe a long established brewery that supplied beer to tied pubs in a fixed geographical location such as South Wales, The Midlands or the Isle of Man. ...
Sub-types of bitter British brewers have several loose names for variations in beer strength, such as IPA, best bitter, special bitter, extra special bitter, and premium bitter. There is no agreed and defined difference between an ordinary and a best bitter other than one particular brewery's best bitter will usually be stronger than its ordinary. And two groups of drinkers may mark differently the point at which a best bitter becomes a premium bitter. Hop levels will vary within each sub group, though there is a tendency for the hops in the session bitter group to be more noticeable.
Drinkers tend to loosely group the beers into:
Session or ordinary bitter Strength up to 4% abv. The majority of British beers with the name IPA will be found in this group, such as Greene King IPA, Flowers IPA, Wadworth Henrys Original IPA, etc. Though bearing the name IPA these session bitters are not strong or hoppy.
Best or regular bitter Strength between 4.1% and 4.7% abv. This is the most common strength of bitter in Britain.
Premium or strong bitter Strength of 4.8% abv and over. Also known as extra special bitter, or ESB.
Light ale Light ale is a crisply carbonated, low hopped, low abv bottled bitter that is mainly used as a mix with another beer, but is sometimes used as a low alcohol beer.
Bitter outside Britain The term bitter by itself is little used in the United States. The term pale ale or ESB is more commonly used. Where bitter is used it indicates a pale ale of low abv brewed using as many British ingredients as possible. In Australia, bitter is used for several popular Australian lagers such as Victoria Bitter. VB Stubbie A can of Victoria Bitter (VB) Victoria Bitter, or VB, as it is commonly called, has the highest market share of all beer sold in Australia, both on tap and packaged. ...
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