English beer styles
Bitter
Bitter is a broad term applied to a well-hopped pale ale, from about 3.5% to 7% in strength and pale gold to dark mahogany in colour. British brewers have several loose names for variations in beer strength, such as best bitter, special bitter, extra special bitter, and premium bitter. There is no agreed and defined difference between an ordinary and a best bitter other than one particular brewery's best bitter will usually be stronger than its ordinary. Two groups of drinkers may mark differently the point at which a best bitter then becomes a premium bitter. Hop levels will vary within each sub group, though there is a tendency for the hops in the session bitter group to be more noticeable. Drinkers tend to loosely group the beers into:
Session or ordinary bitter Strength up to 4.1% abv. The majority of British beers with the name IPA will be found in this group, such as Greene King IPA, Deuchars IPA, Flowers IPA, Wadworth Henrys Original IPA, etc. These session bitters are not as strong and hoppy as an India Pale Ale would be in the USA although IPAs with modest gravities (below 1040º) have been brewed in Britain since at least the 1920s. This is the most common strength of bitter sold in British pubs. It accounts for 16.9% of pub sales.
Best bitter. Strength between 4.2% and 4.7% abv. In the United Kingdom, Bitter above 4.2% abv accounts for just 2.9% of pub sales.
The disappearance of weaker bitters from some brewer's rosters means "best" bitter is actually the weakest in the range.
Premium bitter Strength of 4.8% abv and over. Also known as extra special bitter, or in the USA, ESB (ESB is a brand name in the UK).
Brown ale
English brown ales range from beers such as Manns Original Brown Ale, which is quite sweet and low in alcohol, to North Eastern brown ale such as Newcastle Brown Ale, Double Maxim and Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale.
Mild
Mild ale is a low-gravity beer with a predominantly malty palate. Modern mild ales are mainly dark coloured with an abv of 3% to 3.6%, though there are lighter hued examples, as well as stronger examples reaching 6% abv and higher. While in modern times the term 'mild' has come to usually denote a weaker brew, the term originally had nothing to do with strength, but rather as a label for beers that were not "vatted" (aged) and hence did not have some of the tart, slighly sour flavor of ales that were subject to long aging.
Once sold in every pub, mild experienced a catastrophic fall in popularity after the 1960s and was in danger of completely disappearing from many parts of the United Kingdom. However, in recent years the explosion of microbreweries has led to a modest renaissance, and an increasing number of mild (sometimes labelled 'Dark') brands are now being brewed. Some breweries are also making more traditional stronger "mild", with its accompanying higher alcohol content.
Old ale
Old ale is a term applied to dark, malty beers above 5% abv, also sometimes called Winter Warmers. Many brewers make high abv old ales for bottling, some of which are bottle-conditioned and can mature for several years. Some of these stronger versions are known as barley wine.
Porter
Porter is a historically significant style, popular from the 18th century, which had almost disappeared by the mid-20th century. It is the ancestor of stout, a style which is now considered typically Irish, despite its origins in London Porter. Some kind of stout, usually from Guinness, Beamish or Murphy's is sold in almost every English pub.
Lager
Despite the traditional English beer being ale, more than half of the current English market is now lager in the Pilsener and Export styles. These lighter coloured, bottom fermented beers first started gaining real popularity in England in the later part of the 20th Century.
Carling, which is owned by the American/Canadian brewing giant Molson Coors Brewing Company is the highest selling beer in England and is mainly brewed in Burton upon Trent. Meanwhile the largest brewery in Britain today, Scottish & Newcastle, which has three main breweries (Manchester, Reading and Tadcaster) brews Britain's second highest selling beer which is the lager Foster's.
Other lagers popular in England include Kronenbourg (which also belongs to Scottish & Newcastle) and Stella Artois (which belongs to the Belgian brewery InBev and in Britain is brewed in South Wales and Samlesbury near Preston).
Indian food is very popular in Britain, and special lagers such as Cobra Beer have been developed to accompany it.