Readily Available English Bitter?

You two almost exactly mirror my experience, including the time (37 years for me).

Indeed. Coniston Bluebird is not available around here, but I was able to grab some on a recent trip to the West Coast. Good stuff. I won't dispute the better on cask, better if fresher, but as is, it was pretty darn good (but, it is hardly an ESB @ 4.2%ABV)

 

Have you tried Double Barrel Ale?

Its an excellent lager.

 

Timothy Taylor! Oh my gosh what I'd do for a pint of Golden Best on cask right now.

The homebrew bug hasn't touched me since I got back into beer six years ago, but your recipe above is bite No. 1. I don't mind the few UK imports I can find, but they're so scarce these days, and there is the risk of buying old, stale beer. It may be time to stop whining about how much I want a pint of bitter and cook some already.

 

It was the search for a fresh real ale that got me into homebrewing. In the 1990s I was traveling quite a bit to Great Britain and I fell in love with cask ale (Bitter Ale). I decided that if I wanted to drink these sorts of beers I would need to brew them myself. My first beer was a kit beer from Muntons branded as Traditional Bitter which was augmented with East Kent Golding hops for flavor and aroma. That batch turned out wonderful. I have been homebrewing a batch of Bitter Ale every year since. Needless to say but I brew other beer styles as well.

Cheers!

 

Bier Brewery in Indy have canned their gold medal winning ESB and it's well worth seeking out. It's ESB which means it isn't flying off shelves out here.

Still, nothing I've had holds a candle to Broad Ripple Brew Pub's ESB on cask. I've celebrated many life accomplishments -- adopting my wife's kids, birth of my first little one, job promotions, a new haircut, no excuses needed to go -- with pints from there and will continue to do so until I'm gone. Such a phenomenal beverage and a simple little reminder of what makes beer so magical.

 

Probably won't help the OP much but a local brewery here has a great one:

http://www.conshohockenbrewing.com/ourcore/

I had a conversation with one of their employees recently and sadly the discussion was about how much their IPA outsells this great award winning beer.

 

Yup, Devil's Purse makes a fine ESB, only 5% too. Which is nice because many ESB's, including Fuller's, usually creep towards 6%.

Regarding Tree House...never even heard of that. Sounds good.

I hate Tree House people for the reason you stated though.

This thread has inspired me to buy this. I think it's the one Sam Smith's I've never had. Didn't it used to come in a clear bottle? If so, this may have been what prevented me from buying it in the past.

 

Yes it is a clear bottle. I usually bought a case so it rarely was exposed to light.

 

Yeah. I've seen two stores by me that put out the Sam Smith's. With one of them, I'm sure it's new stock to them (but who knows regarding the distributor). With the other store, it was on the shelf with some different Xmas beers from 2 years ago.

I think cask bitter in England is a (great) cliche in this regard. You hear variations of this story all the time. I guess it will stop being a cliche as the years progress and people start hitting drinking age with all of this "craft" on the shelves. Gotta wonder how this will change people's perspectives.

I went out last night and had three American versions of English bitter. 2 from cask and the third a local. They were all good. Nothing bad, nothing great. None of those three qualify for this, but I gotta say, there is no beer style that offers more unexpected surprises for better and for worse. They can be really "on" or really "off." Sometimes they can taste great despite terrible odds, and other times they are a disaster. The range of experiences for me is incredible. I would think that this is partially due to transport, brewing practices, cask fragility, and personal mood.

 

I don't know about years past, but by me I think this is in brown glass today. Never saw a clear bottle version.

 

“Puddlers Row ESB

WON SILVER AWARD AT WORLD BEER CUP 2016 and 2018

EXTRA SPECIAL BITTER

Puddlers Row ESB is a classic English-style ale with mellow roasted flavor that's rounded out by a toffee-like caramel sweetness. Puddlers Row is well balanced between English malts and European hops.”

I live close to Conshohocken Brewing, and while I am a fan of the Bitter Ale (English Pale Ale) style the level of roast and caramel sweetness in this beer is too prominent for my palate.

More Puddlers Row for you?

Cheers!

P.S. I do drink and enjoy the Type A IPA though. I am part of the ‘problem’ here?

 

Take a drive to Laxton Hollow in little Lexington Ohio. Cask ales only, real English style ESBs:
http://www.laxtonhollow.com/index.html

 

Because of the USA's long history of bourbon being robbed from trains.

 

Saw it in brown bottles yesterday.

Hint, if anyone sees them in clear bottles, they’re old.

 

I've only ever seen brown bottles.

 

Did you notice the date on those brown bottles?

If you were shopping at my local beer retailers I would be willing to bet those brown bottles were old too.

Cheers!

 

I wish I could score some Cain's or Ridgeway. Both very satisfying English Bitters.