Beer

Forget what you have read about warm British beer. It is a myth. Real beer is stored in cellars where the temperature was and still is carefully controlled.

There are two breweries close to where I used to live, Donnington and Hook Norton. Both breweries provide superlative beer in a few varieties. These beers are designed to be supped quietly in a small room, large open fire, and with no hint of plastic or ‘faux’ in sight. You can, if you want, have a bar snack, but nothing that takes too much time away from the beer.

Not all pubs are created equal. Here is a short beginners guide..

http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/travel/pubs.shtml

You don’t want to make a ‘Shandy’ out of any real beer, nor do you want to disgrace the brew with paper umbrellas, plastic maraschino cherries and crushed ice. Do this with the less classy gas pumped keg beers or the fancy imported designer beers if you are intent on spoiling the brew..

So what does a classic British pint look like? Well, I was born a Midlander, and beer looked like this. It does in the south of the country too. To pick it up, you put four fingers through the handle (you can see it just to the right on the glass), and then you position your finger ends and thumb comfortably into the dimples on the glass.

What you don’t want to do is hold it like you would a milk jug. It is far too easy to waste it into your lap or on the carpet.

During a sortie to the North of where I lived, (Ossett Yorkshire actually), a pint came in a conical glass. Earlier types had a ‘blown’ ring towards the top which helped stop the glass slipping through inattentive hands. This is fairly typical of what is used for lager beers, cider and Snakebites, a combination of lager and cider in the same glass.

OK, so this is my quick guide to ‘warm’ beer and some of the places where you can try it out. There are real ale breweries across the country, and all of them are worth a visit, believe me.

If ever you are a visitor to the UK, I can guarantee that when you arrive back home, you will remember the sunny Sunday afternoon you sat outside a country pub with a glass of Britain’s finest, and you will wish that you were back there, re-enacting your very first taste of the best beer in the world.

A note on Scrumpy..

This is a drink made primarily in England’s West Country. It is essentially fermented apples, nothing added, and is made in quite small quantities. Cloudy in appearance, it can be killer stuff. If ever you have seen horses stagger around after they have eaten a few rotting apples off the ground, you will have a good idea what it will do to you.

You can find it in some West Country pubs, but the best place to get it is direct from the producers. They will be happy to show you how it is made, the tours are always short, fermenting apples in a container with another container in close proximity to catch the finished product, and you can try before you buy.

Cider is a derivative of Scrumpy, way more refined, always carbonated, and way less alcoholic.