This cannot be done in 2,000 characters or less!
�Real� or Cask Ale is one of the great products the UK has to offer, and one of the most denigrated and undersold. Despite the best efforts of organisations such as CAMRA, it is considered among many as �uncool�.
The variety of ale available is enormous and those that run it down are like those who say �I don�t like curry�. There are so many to try (and I�m still trying them!) that is impossible to say that you don�t like them all.
The reason most of the large �PubCos� do not like it is because it is (as I�m, sure you�ve found out) a bit temperamental and requires careful handling. A snippet from �Harvey�s� (a Sussex Brewer) website:
�Cask Ale is also known as cask conditioned beer or real ale. It is not pasteurised, it is very much alive; the brewer's yeast is still active - conditioning the beer from a fining bed (or lees) at the bottom of the cask. This conditioning takes the form of natural carbonation which has a much more subtle stimulation of the taste sensors than the artificially added gases used to dispense keg beers from pressurised containers.
At its best, Cask Ale is the champagne of beers and requires diligent cellar craftsmanship. This, the skill of the British publican, is one of the key elements defining the quality of the British pub. In bars the world over, no matter how good they may be, the absence of cask ale tends to be the reason they are simply not pubs.�
The �beer� the large companies provide as fodder for their not-so-discerning customers is chemical fizz which would not be drunk unless it were ice cold (have you ever tasted warm Carlsberg?).
Have a ferret round some of the older brewers� websites for more info.