Declining bitter.

[Beerwegoagain]

Interesting point peebee makes re naming changes. I would tend to agree. The current trend is for different types of beer to widen the market and renaming to help older styles have wider appeal too. Amber Ale sounds better and gives a better image than 'bitter' which covers a multitude anyway. A lot if new styles are fun to try but do I really want a pint or even a 2nd pint? Sometimes a sip is more than enough.
London Pride however hard to know when to stop with that beauty. 40 pints quietly fermenting away in the garage and an excited impatient brewer dancing from foot to foot next to it...

 

[Davegase]

I'm 63 years old, when I was a lad we wanted to be grown up like our dad's and go down to the pub and have a pint of bitter. Even though it didn't sound very nice ! (Bitter bad sweet nice).
I don't think the younger generation these days see it as very cool to be like dad.
When I started drinking bitter it was much nicer than I expected and didn't taste nearly as bitter as I anticipated.
Amber ale sounds less scary to a new drinker than a pint of bitter.
The answer to the problem from the sales point of view is rebranding.

 

[White Rose Al]

We are sadly losing our session regional ale's. Like many have pointed out, it's great to try the mass array of craft beer but many are simply a single pint event (mango, Tonka, imperials to name but a few).

One of the greatest parts of a British pub visit, is the session ale to sit and talk to people without falling off your chair after an hour

The number of traditional Ale clones at CML/MM/Dark Rock/WHS etc could be our only way to get these drinks if the commercial breweries cease production.

 

[Sadfield]

We are sadly losing our session regional ale's.

Interesting. My experience is the complete opposite, there's at least four cask ale breweries in a four mile radius, that weren't here 15 years ago.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Interesting. My experience is the complete opposite, there's at least four cask ale breweries in a four mile radius, that weren't here 15 years ago.

Agreed. More breweries now than I can ever remember.

 

[White Rose Al]

You are lucky, my pubs (except the Sam Smiths one's) have swapped out traditional ales for lagers.

I guess you have to please the audience

 

[obscure]

Interesting. My experience is the complete opposite, there's at least four cask ale breweries in a four mile radius, that weren't here 15 years ago.

I think a large problem is less the breweries making it as the loss of pubs selling it. 10 years ago there where 6 pubs within easy walking distance all of which sold cask ale now there are three (and one is predominantly a sport pub whose cask ale is limited to a couple of Greene King Beers a second has fairly decent beer but is more of a restaurant than a pub leaving only one which is truly good if you just want a pint.

 

[MickDundee]

Interesting. My experience is the complete opposite, there's at least four cask ale breweries in a four mile radius, that weren't here 15 years ago.

We have a lot of real ale pubs around here. The only “casualty” I can think of is a former CAMRA pub of the year but is actually more focused on doing meals, which has stopped doing cask ales and has replaced their 3 handpumps with kegged Wainwrights and Belhaven Best.

 

[Sadfield]

Perhaps we're ahead in a trend, where traditional tied pubs are closing and new freehouses and bars are opening. There doesn't appear to be much money in purely being a place that's open all day for people popping out for a pint of the same beer. Where as places that offer more for groups to socialise, a greater range of drinks, at a higher quality, look to be doing better.

Almost like a reverting back to old times, from brewery owned Inns to privately owned Alehouses and Taverns. Small beer houses in places vacated by other business. During the pandemic there was even places operating like the old 'Hole in the walls' , where cask beer could be bought for home consumption.

https://thefocus.wales/2013/10/whats-name-pubs-taverns-inns-alehouses/

 

[Beerwegoagain]

Market trends are obviously led by the £ and that's a balance between what people's tastes are as well as what they can actually get. Chicken/egg situation. Thankfully in the Poole / Bournemouth area we have a few brew pubs and nice 'craft' pubs amongst some decent beers from the big brewers.You can always find a good session ale or a fancy 'knock you off your stool silly juice to try, depending your mood.

 

[An Ankoù]

Market trends are obviously led by the £ and that's a balance between what people's tastes are as well as what they can actually get. Chicken/egg situation. Thankfully in the Poole / Bournemouth area we have a few brew pubs and nice 'craft' pubs amongst some decent beers from the big brewers.You can always find a good session ale or a fancy 'knock you off your stool silly juice to try, depending your mood.

Bournemouth and Poole was my old stamping ground. I used to like the Brew house and the Brickies and the ex-serviceman' s club on North Road, I wonder if Mark still runs it.
How much is a pint in a typical pub these days?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Bournemouth and Poole was my old stamping ground. I used to like the Brew house and the Brickies and the ex-serviceman' s club on North Road, I wonder if Mark still runs it.
How much is a pint in a typical pub these days?

1/11 a pint.

 

[Beerwegoagain]

Bournemouth and Poole was my old stamping ground. I used to like the Brew house and the Brickies and the ex-serviceman' s club on North Road, I wonder if Mark still runs it.
How much is a pint in a typical pub these days?

Too much!
Wanders around the £5 mark depending on your choice. I think the North road manager us now in a craft pub on Ashley Rd. Brew House plus Brewhouse & Kitchen brew pubs, Way Outback in Southbourne and Southbourne Ales brewery just round the corner from home. East Dorset CAMRA beer fest at the end of the month. Fabulous choice and I intend to tap visiting brewers for info re homebrew.

 

[chthon]

Too much!
Wanders around the £5 mark depending on your choice. I think the North road manager us now in a craft pub on Ashley Rd. Brew House plus Brewhouse & Kitchen brew pubs, Way Outback in Southbourne and Southbourne Ales brewery just round the corner from home. East Dorset CAMRA beer fest at the end of the month. Fabulous choice and I intend to tap visiting brewers for info re homebrew.

Yeah, when we were in London in the beginning of September, we were startled by the prices, with three we were always around £20, for two pints of beer and a pint of cider. On the other hand, when calculating this to local Belgian (pub) prices (33 cl -> 50 cl, 4,5 EUR), I also get around 21 EUR if we would to order the same amount. However, with 4,5 EUR buys you can equally get either a Leffe or a Rochefort 10. So there is a qualitative difference.

 

[Beerwegoagain]

A fiver for a decent pint from some guys making it 'by hand' because they love doing it and selling it and ran out of space in their garage is one thing. But £5 for dishwater made by accounts with no interest...well it never tastes quite as nice.
True some big brewing produce nice beer, should bad mouth it all, the systems are so well established almost can't fail to make nice beer. But that is now becoming the unhcool beer. A decent Pride is delicious, Badger, Marston's various efforts etc, nice beers but for how much longer? If the trend stays around for a lot longer will we see more favourites decline and be replaced by cherry fizz bomb sherbet IPA sour?

 

[The Baron]

I think you are right about sherbet IPA etc but I think I have said it before its driven by the market and its the young or the Craft beer drinkers who tend to be IPA driven.
Me fears Bitter could go the same way as Mild did in the future

 

[Cheshire Cat]

History[edit]​

The term "bitter" has been used in England to describe pale ale since the early 19th century. Although brewers used the term "pale ale", before the introduction of pump clips, customers in public houses would ask for "bitter" to differentiate it from mild ale; by the end of the 19th century, brewers had begun to use the term as well.

During the 20th century, bitter became the most popular type of draught beer sold in British pubs and has been described as "the national drink of England".[2] In Scotland, bitter is known as either "light" or "heavy" depending on the strength, colour and body.

Bitter is traditionally cask conditioned and either dispensed by gravity through a tap in the cask or by a beer engine at "cellar temperature" of 11° to 14° Celsius (50° to 55° Fahrenheit). The popularity of craft brewing in North America has led to British-style bitter being brewed there since the 1980s.[3]

Style[edit]​

Bitter belongs to the pale ale beer style and can have a great variety of strength, flavour and appearance, from dark amber to a golden summer ale. It can be under 3% abv and as high as 7% with premium or strong bitters. The colour may be controlled by the addition of caramel colouring.[4] It is similar to the India pale ale style of beer, though bitters are less hoppy.

Sub-types of bitter[edit]​

Light aleA low alcohol bitter, often bottled.[5]Session or ordinary bitterStrength up to 4.1% abv. This is the most common strength of bitter sold in British pubs. It accounted for 16.9% of pub sales in 2003.[6]Best or special bitterStrength between 4.2% and 4.7% abv. In the United Kingdom bitter above 4.2% abv accounted for just 2.9% of pub sales in 2003.[6]The disappearance of weaker bitters from some brewers' rosters means "best" bitter is actually the weakest in the range.Premium or strong bitterStrength of 4.8% abv and over.Golden aleGolden or summer ale has an appearance and profile similar to that of a pale lager.[7]

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

During the 20th century, bitter became the most popular type of draught beer sold in British pubs and has been described as "the national drink of England".[2] In Scotland, bitter is known as either "light" or "heavy" depending on the strength, colour and body.

I'm given to understand the correct pronunciation is 'heveh'. Is that the stuff that the pubs near the Carter Bar they call 'diesel' ?

 

[Cwrw666]

"

During the 20th century, bitter became the most popular type of draught beer sold in British pubs and has been described as "the national drink of England".[2] In Scotland, bitter is known as either "light" or "heavy" depending on the strength, colour and body.

Except Scottish beers aren't 'bitter' as I understand it. Separate species altogether.
Never heard of bitter until I moved down south to Leeds from North yorks.

 

[Sadfield]

Except Scottish beers aren't 'bitter' as I understand it. Separate species altogether.

My memory of the Scottish beers, from the likes of McEwans and Caledonian, I'd occasionally see in the very late 80's, early 90's when they were probably still brewed in Scotland, weren't that different.