Anyone Suggest Examples Of Bitter

[DC_FC]

As the title says, I am after examples of bitter. I have always assumed John Smiths was a bitter, had I assumed correctly or not ?

On sainsburys website it says the Green labelled can of JS is a Yorkshire Smooth ale yet the item is called Extra Smooth Bitter.

So is an ale just a type of bitter then ?

Thanks for any responses

[tonyav]

Watney Red Barrel?

Ahhgggg, proper rubbish that stuff was.
I remember when I first started going abroad for hols ( Spain ), that Watney's Red Barrel seemed to be the only English beer you could get.

[jourdain2]

Almost anything from Black Sheep Brewery is good as is our local brew Wold Top (on tap at village pub). Black Sheep is available in supermarkets. Wold Top is spreading.

[tonyav]

Avatar Image Jackdaw33 I drank Bank's when I worked in Bromsgrove.


Did you try the Mild, jd ?.
T'is a good drink.

[Old_Geezer]

But surely when it comes to Red Barrel, men don't say, "the same again". Didn't it have a fistful of flavour ?

[New Judge]

"Ale is just another name for beer."

That is incorrect, Gromit. As I explained earlier, all ales are beers but not all beers are ales (because some beers are lagers). Explanation on the first line of this article:

http://www.beertutor.com/articles/ales_vs_lagers.shtml

and a couple of paragraphs into this one:

http://berghoffbeer.com/blog/ale-vs-beer-is-ale-a-type-of-beer/

[tonyav]

Didn't it have a fistful of flavour ?

Yeah it did, O G. ( not a very good one though ).

Now a 'Double Diamond' that always worked wonders ;-)

[david small]

When I was in the navy we had to dispose of over a dozen kegs of Watney’s Red Barrel. We did by ramming a screwdriver into the keg valve and sprayed the lot into the sea. A beer fight ensued, great fun. Not sure what the fish thought of it.

[Jackdaw33]

I liked Ansell's mild. The reason was that the landlord, because it was a draught beer, used to pour all the dregs, be it bitter, lager or cider, back into the barrel.

[Jackdaw33]

When I think about it there were some really crap beers around in the late 60s/early 70s. Whitbread Trophy, anyone? Just about all you could get in the NAAFI.

[tonyav]

Ansells, probably the least popular of the big three in my neck of the woods, jd.

The big three were
Banks's
M&B
Ansells.

[Jackdaw33]

I remember M and B. Still preferred Banks' or Ansells though.

[tonyav]

Did you ever try M & B's Highgate Mild, jd. Was very popular where I live.

[Gromit]

// all ales are beers but not all beers are ales (because some beers are lagers). //

I’ll stick to Stout and Porters then.

[Jackdaw33]

Afraid not. There were two pubs right next to where I worked. They were semi-detached, one Ansell's and one M and B, but the Ansell's one was the closest!

[tonyav]

Ah well I get the picture ( the closer the better ), you missed out on a decent pint though jd.

[Hopkirk]

I sort of understood all this, but then I went to live in Scotland for a while.

Instead of asking for a pint of bitter, I had to ask for 70 shilling (although some call if heavy)

[diddlydo]

You can't beat a pint of Adnams in Southwold i.e. where it's brewed. It never tastes quite the same away from home!

[aelmpvw]

this thread has given me a raging thirst ...

[hammerman]

Harvey's best ale. Brewed locally, love it.

[mikey4444]

Due to the success of CAMRA, proper beer is now widely available....new micro breweries are opening every week.