pubs.com is not a good beer guide....

we’ll leave that to the experts like the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA See ‘Other Sites’). However it is logical that a guide to traditional pubs should support traditional beers. The terms beer and ale have become synonymous, but once beer differed from ale because it contained hops. Arguably our 'button' for beers should say real ale, but in the future we may include beers such as Hogaarden, which is not a real ale but a live blonde beer. You see the dilemma? Where real ale is sold we show it but cannot guarantee its quality.

The Great Divide

Today beers roughly divide into real ales and keg beers. Both use water, malted barley and yeast and follow similar processes in the early stages of brewing, until the ‘primary fermentation’ has finished. It is at this stage the two diverge.

Keg Beers

Keg beers are killed. All biological activity is halted by filtering and pasteurising. This results in a clear, sterile beer which is predictable and controlled. It is packed into pressurised kegs and is ready for delivery. At the pub, the beer is forced out of the keg by carbon dioxide gas from cylinders in the cellar, this gas gives keg beer it’s fizziness, it then passes through chillers before being dispensed into the glass.
The advantage of keg beer is that it is consistent and reliable, has a longer storage life and is cheaper to produce. It does not require delicate handling or expertise in the pub cellar, apart from basic hygiene.

The overriding disadvantage is the taste. Filtering, pasteurising, carbonating and chilling can produce, thin, gassy, characterless beer. On balance all the advantages tend to favour production rather than consumption.

Real Ale - real taste

Real ale is allowed to continue fermenting in a conditioning tank. Nothing is removed or killed. After a few days it is put into casks. At this stage new ingredients may be added to improve the body or to add flavour. Finings, a fish derivative, is added to settle the yeast particles to the bottom of the cask. However the beer is still 'live' and continues to ferment and mature. When the cask reaches the pub, it must be kept at a constant temperature and be allowed to settle. When ready, it is drawn by hand or electric pump or simply poured from a tap on the cask. Real ale is not fizzy but has a natural sparkle.

The joy of real ale is the taste. Each has a body and character of it’s own. There’s a huge variety, from light bright thirst quenchers to dark and heavy winter ales. The main disadvantage of real ale is that it is not as durable as keg beers. Bad handling, poor cellarmanship and slow turn-over can effect the quality of real ale. It becomes stale quickly.
Many of the large brewing companies still produce good real ales, but the variety they produce has been dwindling in recent years. There are dozens of independent brewers producing hundreds of different real ales to suit every taste, so be adventurous.

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