Bitter (beer)

Bitter is one of many styles of ale or beer. Historically, the difference between ale and beer is that beer has hops added for flavour and bitterness. Nowadays, few ales do not contain at least some hops, although they may be flavoured with other things, such as fruit. Bitter beer is close in style to pale ale.

Related Topics:
Ale - Beer - Hop - Fruit - Pale ale

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Some of the other more common styles of beer in the UK are mild, stout, porter and strong ale.

Related Topics:
Beer - Mild - Stout - Porter - Strong ale

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In Scotland, the term "heavy" is used for stronger beers, and "light" for weaker beers. In England, the term "light" refers to the colour of the beer.

Related Topics:
Scotland - England

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The main ingredient (other than water) is malted barley, with hops added only to improve the keeping properties and give a distinctive smell and taste.

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Bitter covers a wide variety of taste, aroma and appearance. These include copper, malty, dry and sweet, while some have the aroma of hops. In Northern England the bitter tends to have a creamy collar (sometimes called a head) induced by pulling the beer through a tight sprinkler, whilst in South East England the beer is generally more hoppy and served with a natural head.

Related Topics:
Northern England - South East England

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In Scotland, bitter is commonly referred to as "heavy"; as in "A pint of heavy".

Related Topics:
Scotland - Pint

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Brewers in England include (see also :Category:English breweries):

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• Abbeydale Brewery of Abbeydale, Sheffield
• Adnams
• Arkells
• Banks's
• Beards of Sussex of Herstmonceux
• Brakspear
• Eldridge Pope
• Everards of Narborough, Leicestershire
• Fuller's of Chiswick, London
• Gales Ales
• Greene King of Bury St Edmunds
• Hall and Woodhouse
• Harveys of Lewes, East Sussex.
• Hogs Back Brewery, Surrey
• Holt's of Manchester
• Hydes of Manchester
• Kelham Island Brewery of Sheffield
• Mansfield Brewery
• Marstons
• Shepherd Neame of Faversham, Kent – allegedly Britain's oldest brewery
• Ringwood Brewery
• Robinson's Brewery, Stockport
• Samuel Smith's Old Brewery
• Tetley's
• Theakston's
• Timothy Taylor Brewery, Keighley
• Titanic Brewery of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent
• Whitbread including Brickwoods and many others
• Youngs of Wandsworth, London

A good source of information is The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in the UK, and the beer information page of RateBeer: http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer.asp. Bitter beer is produced in other countries, but is less popular than lager beer or stout beer (an example of which is Guinness).

Related Topics:
CAMRA - Lager - Stout beer - Guinness

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In particular, consumers in the United States show very little demand for bitter beer; advertisements for a brand of lager beer bill the product as a "never bitter beer".

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Several popular Australian lagers are branded "bitter" (notably Victoria Bitter) to the consternation of visiting Britons.

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