Full of yeast and promise

C'mon, restaurants, there's much more to beer than Bud - as a Caterer tasting found out. Adrian Tierney-Jones samples some bottle-conditioned British ales.

If you sell British beer in your bar or restaurant, 10 to one it won't be bottle-conditioned. Bottle-conditioned beers are live beers bottled with a yeast sediment so that they continue to mature, and their flavour deepens. It's real ale in a bottle, in other words - an image which still puts off many a bar-manager and restaurateur.

In some ways, you can see their point. Bottle-conditioned ales can be mightily tricksy, and there are a few pitfalls for the unwary. Some drinkers abhor cloudy beer, which can be the result of a poorly poured bottle-conditioned beer. Then there's the problem of temperature. If it's too warm, you're left with an insipid brew that no one wants; too cold, and the flavours are nearly ice-bound and you might as well be drinking Bud.

Sometimes the bottling process itself goes pear-shaped and infections develop, causing off flavours. Some brewers bottle straight from the cask, which can be hit-and-miss. Others filter out old yeast and add fresh yeast, while some "kraüsen" their beer - which means the addition of partially fermented wort, giving the yeast more fermentable sugars to work on.

In short, the more care a brewer takes, the better the beer will be.

Many potential pitfalls can easily be avoided. Pour the bottle with care and it won't be cloudy. Keep it at 10ºC and the flavour will be ripe and tempting. Choose your bottle-conditioned ales wisely and you can offer something really different.

And these are beers which continue to mature in the bottle, developing more rounded and deeper flavours. Indeed, some bottle-conditioned beers - such as Gale's Prize Old Ale and the much-missed Thomas Hardy Ale (now no longer brewed) - can be kept for many years.

The panel

The venue was the White Horse in London's Parsons Green, where landlord/beer sommelier Mark Dorber has a passion for quality beer.

The tasting panel was led by Caterer wine editor Fiona Sims and included Dorber himself; Mark Harris, manager at Green's Restaurant and Oyster Bar in London; Neil Irvine, bar manager at St John's in Smithfield, London; and freelance beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones.

The tasting

The panel tasted 24 bottle-conditioned beers, divided into six categories, starting with the lowest gravities: best bitter; mild and stout; strong bitters; wheat beers; IPAs; strong and old beers. They ranged in price from £12.80 to £19.50 per 12-bottle case, excluding VAT. They were tasted blind.

The verdict

This was an intriguing tasting with quite a few surprises. Harris, from traditional British restaurant Green's, had turned up wanting to find out what bottle-conditioned beers "were all about". A fervent fan of whisky, he said that he went for "off-the-wall flavours; flavours which get people talking". He was very impressed with Ale Mary and Prize Old Ale.

"Could I sell it at Green's?" he wondered. "Possibly. You could drink it with a good Stilton. A lot of the beers could have gone with food. There were a lot of seafood pairings I could do, without resorting to the usual stout-and-oyster clichés."

He found the Shakemantle "fun and interesting" and also liked the Coniston (as did the rest of the panel). "The ginger-beer style of Shakemantle was very unusual," he remarked. "These are beers that provide talking points."

Irvine, bar manager of St John's, which has made its name with Fergus Henderson's visceral approach to modern British food, was "looking for a traditional ale that will go well with our food". However, to his surprise, he ended up being very impressed with the wheat beers. "I found them more accessible to the palate," he said. "I particularly liked Puzzle and Clouded Yellow. But I could also match the older and heavier beers with food."

Dorber, however, was distinctly underwhelmed. "I've not really been impressed," he said. "I found only about six good beers. Unusually, the ones that I'd expect to sing with their hop character, such as Hop Back's Summer Lightning, were not quite right." He felt that the problem was that many of the beers were oxidised, while others seemed to be affected by technical problems at the brewery. "I feel that brewers are not retaining their quality from cask to bottle," he commented.

Eight beers were relegated to the "Also Tasted" category, a fallout factor in excess of 30%.

All the members of the panel agreed that several of the beers had off flavours, and one which is marketed as an English strong ale had a definite taste of Brussels lambic about it - these being beers which usually use wild yeast, a no-go area in British brewing. It was interesting to note that the high scorers were the unusual beers, with spices and herbs added, such as Clouded Yellow. These are beers that everyone thought would go well with food. Coniston's Bluebird Bitter was an especially big hit.

So, to sum up, if you want to stock British bottle-conditioned beers, choose the unusual ones flavoured with spices, or a best bitter that shows a more fruity and zesty hop character, rather than the traditionally resin and earthy hoppiness of English bitter. Well-crafted beers in these categories should get people talking - and, more importantly, drinking.

Food and beer

The general consensus among the panel was that a fair few of these bottle-conditioned beers would go well with food. Just to prove the point, Dorber laid on a beer-fuelled lunch.

We kicked off with a glass of Cantillon's Rosé de Gambrinus - a pale, rose-coloured, Champagne-style raspberry lambic which makes a good aperitif but also went well with a plate of pork sausages and prawns in tempura batter.

A long schooner of a German fest bier from the Schrönam brewery followed, which, at 6.1% abv, was a mite strong for lunch but proved a stately companion to a tangy cheese soufflé.

Sea bass was a perfect match for the aromatic, perfumed, sparkling wheat beer from the Fenland Brewery.

Last up was the powerful Stinking Bishop (a cheese), which paired well with the Madeira-like 1998 Gale's Prize Old Ale and JW Lees Harvest Ale from 1997.

Bottle-conditioned beers - the results

* Best quality
Very good
* Recommended

Best bitter

*
Bluebird Bitter, Coniston, 4.2% abvBrakspear's Brewery Shop 01491 570200

• "Very fresh, with a good balance of hoppy flavours." FS
• "Golden orange bronze in colour with grape/grass hints on the nose, followed by a nice bout of fruits on the palate." NI

*
Pitchfork, RCH, 4.3% abv
Wessex Craft Brewers 01594 544776

• "Vibrant fruit/citrus nose, good complexity; on the palate, slight banana/tropical fruit plus hints of toastiness and a citrus zestiness." - NI
• "Intense nose with an interesting sweetness." MH

*
Live Organic, Brakspear, 4.5% abv
Brakspear's Brewery Shop 01491 570200

• "Lemon and hedgerow, hawthorn and elderflower aromas; berries and cream. Deliciously malty." MD
• "Good, easy drinking with a nice level of bitterness." NI

Mild and stout

*
Festival Mild Ale, Gale's, 4.8% abvGale's Brewery Shop 023 9257 1212

• "Intense banana nose, with a lovely effervescence on the palate and a big and lingering finish." MH
• "Sweet bubblegum palate but rather nice." FS

*
Deep Shaft Stout, Freeminer, 6.2% abvWessex Craft Brewers 01594 544776

• "A thick, constant, coffee-coloured head with coffee and cream on the nose, followed by a rich and bitter palate which includes ginger and cloves. A very long finish with lots of character." NI
• "A creamy mouthful, cut by a penetrating bitterness." MD

Strong bitter

*
Pride of Romsey, Hampshire, 5% abvThe Hampshire Brewery Shop 01794 830529

• "Fresh lemony nose with hints of honey; lively, almost bubblegum hints on the palate, with a little less fruit than the nose promised." NI

Wheat beer

Puzzle Wheat Beer, Salopian, 4.8% abvSalopian Brewing 01743 248414

• "Light, lemony gold colour; a lemony ginger nose with a hint of Jif?; fresh and clean with a gingery bitterness." NI
• "White pepper and ginger ale finish." MD

Clouded Yellow, St Austell, 5% abvSt Austell 01726 74444

• "Banana, exotic fruit and vanilla on the nose; cloves on the palate." MH
• "Banana comes through on the palate; nice acidity; quite interesting." NI

Shakemantle Ginger Ale, Freeminer, 5% abvWessex Craft Brewers 01594 544776

• "Light orangey brown colour; orange, cloves and ginger on nose; nice ginger and spice on palate." NI
• "Huge ginger nose with a lovely frisky ginger character." MD

*
Thunderstorm, Hop Back, 5% abv
Hop Back Brewery 01725 510986

• "Ginger and bananas on palate with an apple crumble finish." FS

IPAs (India Pale Ale style)

Special London Ale, Young's, 6.4% abvYoung's 020 8875 7000

• "A pleasant nose of banana and orange; lingers on the palate with a slight bitterness, plus hints of spiciness." MH
• "Some nice marmalade and toffee notes." NI

*
Worthington's White Shield, Museum Brewing Company, 5.6% abvWorthington's 01283 511000

• "Penetrating bitterness." MD
• "Green and grassy, with some citrus tang on the nose; a nice level of bitterness." NI

*
Empire Pale Ale, Burton Bridge, 7.5% abvWessex Craft Brewers, 01594 544776

• "Good hedgey wood nose; nice, rich bitterness with some slight sweetness to start, followed by an interesting switch to a dry finish." NI

Strong and old

Ale Mary, RCH, 6% abvWessex Craft Brewers 01594 544776

• "Hot cross buns and spiced cinnamon aromas, with ginger on the palate." MH
• "Grape/citrus, almost melon on the nose; an easy-drinking warming beer." NI

**
Prize Old Ale (2000 vintage), Gale's, 9% abvGale's Brewery Shop 023 9257 1212

• "Winey, almost cidery nose; very strong alcohol on palate; an acquired taste." MH
• "Rich, velvety, green apple nose; tangy yet rich on the palate." NI
• "For cold winter nights." FS

*
1845 Celebration Ale, Fuller's, 6.3% abvFuller's 0208 996 2000

• "Hints of coffee and caramel on the nose; coffee flavours and some fruitiness on palate." NI

Also tasted

EcoWarrior, Pitfield, 4.5% abv; Spring Tide, Teignworthy, 4.3% abv; Cornish Knocker, Skinner's, 4.5% abv; Shoreditch Stout, Pitfield, 4% abv; Vintage Henley, Brakspear, 5.5% abv; 49er, Ringwood, 4.9% abv; Hen's Tooth, Greene King, 6.5% abv; Summer Lightning, Hop Back, 5% abv.