Local English style bitter

[kaiserben]

You'd think with the recent addition of hand pumps and/or casks to nearly every craft beer venue that English style bitters would've made a bit of a comeback (but pubs just seem to whack any old beer on the hand pump; like why would you bother putting a double IPA through a cask and hand pump???)

Young Henry's Real Ale.... It is even served at Wetherspooon's Pubs in England and won Best Real Ale at a recent Beer Festival in the UK - talk about coals to Newcastle...

YH's Real Ale is probably the best of the readily available Aus-made bitters around, but for me it's nearly, but not quite there. It's just missing something.

I had an ESB by Brewtal Brewers a while back and it was spectacular. Absolutely perfect to my taste. A bit hard to get a hold of their beers here in Sydney, but reasonably easy for anyone in Brisbane to taste their stuff.

 

[Bribie G]

Problem with real ales in Australia is that in the UK they are designed to be served at cellar temperature from a non-pressurised cask that has been handled at the pub by a cellarman who knows his shyte, and it has to be consumed fairly quickly by a fairly solid fan base.

It's rare that you would find such a pub in Australia outside of a highly concentrated population of beer drinkers (Surry Hills, Glebe, Brunswick etc etc) and an enthusiastic pub landlord. Even in "concentrated" areas such as the Rocks in Sydney . Competent beers are certainly produced (Lord Nelson, Red Oak, etc) but are invariably pressurised and frozen and come out nothing like what you would get over the bar in the UK.

When the odd UK tap beer pops up it's more than likely the pasteurised kegged version (think Old Speckled Hen, Bombardier and the others that used to come over when UK themed pubs were popular before our own craft industry grew up).

Those keg versions were basically what CAMRA was all about and whilst they can be a pleasant drink they are not really real, if you get my drift. Some of them even come over deliberately lightly carbed so they can be drawn through and engine, but they are keg bright beer nonetheless.

Best UK style ale I've had recently was the London IPA brewed by Ross at Bacchus Brewery and bar in Brisbane, served right and from the cask B)

 

[Dips Me Lid]

If you count Auckland as local it's worth a trip to Galbraiths Alehouse, all traditional English styles, Bitter, Mild, Best, ESB and Porter all served low carb, a couple on hand pumps.

They brew on site in a great old building, the brewer was an ex-pat Brit if I remember correctly.

All the beers were excellent, I'd never leave the place if it was my local pub.

 

[Bribie G]

A lot of the old UK brands have been laid to rest.

Thank God for that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n1hQdCdCP8

 

[Tilt]

Dips me lid's hit it on the head. Galbraiths in Auckland does ripping bitter "Bobs" named after the bloke who taught the owner to brew.
Other NZ bitters possibly available close to home in the bottle: Three boys best bitter, townshends
Old house ESB or Emersons bookbinder for an NZ hopped version. All good, all (relatively) local