"A Pint of Bitter, Please."

I’m told Drumconrath’s Captain Ferrall English Style Bitter (ABV 3.8%) is a good approximation for what I’ve been looking for. Certainly it’s an agreeable brew, just tried today. The brewery is in Fargo, North Dakota.
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Further exciting Inkling-related beer news:
when I went to the Eagle & Child in Oxford at the end of June, for purely research purposes, I found it had shut. There was an application for a new license in the window. Hopefully reopened now.
 
It hadn't been re-opened in September when I was in Oxford, and the two other pubs on St Giles are also closed too. It's sad times for public houses, but the changes to duty in the last budget called for by CAMRA might help.
 
I know that folks from the USA sometimes find it difficult to comprehend that we in the UK like ‘warm’ beer.

Certainly on a hot day or immediately after sporting activity an ice cold lager can hit the spot. But I find that cold beer dulls the taste buds. To appreciate the true flavour of a beer, for me, it has to be room temperature.
 
the true flavour of a beer, for me, it has to be room temperature.
There's a scientific reason for that

"The warmer temperature lets the beer flavor of malt and sometimes esters to shine through more than if it were served cooler."

"The colder the beer is, the less you taste it (since your taste buds are nice and numb), and the more it’s like drinking a nice refreshing glass of water (or very chilled ice tea or lemonade). The “refreshing” aspect of a cold drink is pretty much all these beers have going for them."
 
There's a scientific reason for that

"The warmer temperature lets the beer flavor of malt and sometimes esters to shine through more than if it were served cooler."

"The colder the beer is, the less you taste it (since your taste buds are nice and numb), and the more it’s like drinking a nice refreshing glass of water (or very chilled ice tea or lemonade). The “refreshing” aspect of a cold drink is pretty much all these beers have going for them."
Yes. There is a place for both chilled beers and not. I think that a decent chilled lager can be distinguished from a nasty one.

The "warm" epithet is a bit misleading and has long been used as a bit of an insult. These ales are served at ambient cellar or room temperature, rather than actually mulled. And very refreshing they are too, on a hot day after a long walk with a decent pub meal, or warming in the darkness of winter when the damp cold penetrates the bones, preferably in a cozy pub with an open fire.
 
Actually, I was reading that drinking a half of light hoppy draught IPA mixed together with a bottle of a much stronger darker beer, or a lambic beer, is an actual "thing"! And there are notes published about what mixes best.

It isn't for me, I'd rather drink the two beers separately, but whatever floats your boat!

Up around Huddersfield, aking for "a pint of mix" gets you a pint that's 50% mild, 50% bitter. Not bad, though less distinctive than just the mild.

Yes. There is a place for both chilled beers and not. I think that a decent chilled lager can be distinguished from a nasty one.

The "warm" epithet is a bit misleading and has long been used as a bit of an insult. These ales are served at ambient cellar or room temperature, rather than actually mulled. And very refreshing they are too, on a hot day after a long walk with a decent pub meal, or warming in the darkness of winter when the damp cold penetrates the bones, preferably in a cozy pub with an open fire.

Room temperature is best for bitter in my book. And it's a beer for lingering over rather than chugging, so you want it to still taste good when its been sitting for half an hour.

I can no longer drink alcohol, so it's a bit annoying that 99% of alcohol-free beer seems to be lager. Though they taste better than the standard British versions of most Continental lagers, which when they get above 0 degrees centigrade make me wonder how they got the cat to sit on the can.
 
can no longer drink alcohol, so it's a bit annoying that 99% of alcohol-free beer seems to be lager. Though they taste better than the standard British versions of most Continental lagers, which when they get above 0 degrees centigrade make me wonder how they got the cat to sit on the can.
There is a brewer in Peckham, south London called the Small Beer Brew Co. that produces a range of different kinds of beers and lagers with 0.5-1.0% ABV. They have Session Pale Ale, India Pale Ale, Steam, Dark Lager as well as Lager. Not to meant to be a shameless plug, but my son-in-law likes their beer and gave me one to try last Friday.

It's a very low-strength first brewed beer, rather than being a real "small beer" (the second brew of the re-boiled mash left-over, and used as table water from medieval times, up until the19th Century, when fresh water supplies were suspect, infected or unsafe).

The problem is that the tax system in the UK charges the same duty on these low ABV strength beers as it does on those that should be called Barley Wines and come in at over 10% ABV. I think many people would drink low ABV beer if it was available more, and for many reasons apart from not wishing to drink and drive, but the price is prohibitive and so the range on offer is low too.

The history of alcohol and tax is inextricably linked together. It's the reason that the English stopped drinking porter, and why the stouts they drink all come from Ireland.
 
Up around Huddersfield, aking for "a pint of mix" gets you a pint that's 50% mild, 50% bitter.
There are a couple of other beer cocktails I've tried in my time
Black and Tan - half a Guinness with half a bitter
Black Velvet - half a Guinness and half a cider (Or Black Suede as we like to call it because a true Black Velvet is Guinness and champagne)
Snakebite - half a cider with half a lager (When a lot younger me and my friends experimented with half a Scrumpy Jack and a bottle of barley wine - oh to be young and foolish and extremely hungover)
 
There are a couple of other beer cocktails I've tried in my time
Black and Tan - half a Guinness with half a bitter
Black Velvet - half a Guinness and half a cider (Or Black Suede as we like to call it because a true Black Velvet is Guinness and champagne)
Snakebite - half a cider with half a lager (When a lot younger me and my friends experimented with half a Scrumpy Jack and a bottle of barley wine - oh to be young and foolish and extremely hungover)
As a barman I used to have to make all those. There was also a lemonade top (which was stronger than a full 1/2 and 1/2 shandy) a cider and black (blackcurrant cordial) and a lager and lime (lime cordial).

Personally, I'm not sure about putting fruit in my beer, although I do like the Plum Porter produced by the Titanic brewery in Stoke-on-Trent.
 
And now for a joke:
The was a very large international beer conference in the states, afterwards some of the CEOs of famous brewers met in the bar for a drink.
I'll have a Budweiser said the head of Budweiser, I'll have a Coors said the head of Coors, I'll have a Pabst said the head of Pabst, and I'll have a Coca Cola said the head of Guinness, one of the others asked him, why are you ordering a Cola instead of a Guinness, because, the Guinness man answered, you guys weren't ordering any beers!
 
There is a brewer in Peckham, south London called the Small Beer Brew Co. that produces a range of different kinds of beers and lagers with 0.5-1.0% ABV.
I have a friend who, after a dicey spell in hospital (caused by some sort of problem with his liver, though it wasn't cirrhosis), was told that if he drank as much as a drop of alcohol, he might have one of three outcomes:
  1. little or no reaction;
  2. another spell in hospital like the first (i.e. not good);
  3. death.
He has, since then, studiously avoided any alcohol, including trace amounts in food.
 
He has, since then, studiously avoided any alcohol, including trace amounts in food.
I'd say that avoiding any alcohol was almost impossible, unless he stops eating any fruit (most especially bananas) or vegetables, yoghurts, or any baked foods, any food extracts, vinegar, soy sauce, so called-soft drinks, or cough medicines. Even if he only ate meat, own own bodies create alcohol!

Many foods contain alcohol
 
The body is a bundle of complex processes and pathways, so a chemical that is dangerous in some places and/or for some purposes will be safe in other places and/or for other purposes (which explains why my friend is still with us, and without further need for hospitalisation, after only avoiding ingested ethanol).

For instance, I'm rather glad that the rather strong gastric acid (in effect, HCl) that does useful work in my stomach is not produced by my tear ducts, my saliva glands, my sweat glands or my kidneys.
 
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