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English Bitter - the Style

Т  English Bitter is one of the most satisfying of styles. To the homebrewer this can be one of the easiest styles of beer to make. Bitter as a style has many different tastes and surprises. Most are usually bittersweet and hoppy. English Bitter gets this from generous supply"s of British noble hops. The hops of which I speak are Challenger, Wye Target, Fuggles and the most prestigious of them all East Kent Golding"s. There are many regional takes on this style as well. One of the more famous was Boddingtons Bitter. This beer was once a staple of the Greater Manchester area before Inbev bought them out. Sadly The Strangways Brewery in Manchester has since been shut down. This was a very good example of an English Bitter that was once respected by me. Another example of this style was Mansfield Bitter. Again sadly the brewery in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire has since closed. It"s no longer a staple of Mansfield where it"s adored across the Midlands. Very few examples of true English Bitter are available in the states. There however are many examples of Pale Ale across the board. English Bitter in included is in the Pale Ale family. There are actually three category"s for English Bitter. Theres Ordinary Bitter with a gravity between 1.035 - 1.040. I like my Ordinary Bitter between 1.038 and 1.040. Usually hopped with 25-35 IBU"s. Then theres Special/Best Bitter with gravity"s between 1.040 - 1.048. Hop IBU"s around 25-40. Also there is Extra Special Bitter or ESB for short. Gravity"s usually between 1.048 - 1.060. This usually gets generous IBU"s around 30-50+. Respectively there almost always malty and bittersweet. Usually the flavours don"t change much between the three examples. The higher gravity beers tend to accentuate the flavorful British malt. Grain wise you want to seek out a very good floor malted British two-row barley. My favorite malts in this case are Thomas Fawcett Marris Otter and Halcyon. This is a family owned malting company in West Yorkshire. Examples of beers made with Thomas Fawcett malts are Theakstons Old Pecuiler, Bass Pale Ale. Just to name a few. Be sure to use good fresh British hops as well. So try making them and make them your own. I think you will be impressed. http://www.thebrewmeister.info

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