A pint of bitter please...

In 1983 I was a young intern at the eminently restrained Lloyd's Broker "Hogg, Robinson, Gardner & Mountain Ltd. " lodged on Crutched Friars, London England. The title of this article hearkens back to those salad days... London was hot that year, I recall the envious looks of my co-workers as they marvelled at my lightweight, American made, worsted wool suits. Their eminently respectable British wool was thick and heavy, more like my Citadel Dress Grays than the international uniform of reinsurance and commerce. On the way to the 'tube' or on a Saturday after touring the city, a pint of bitter was just the ticket to wet your whistle and sharpen ones appetite.

The "bitters" in London are served "cooled to cellar temp" not warm, nor icy cold, just cooled. They were "pulled" by hand pump from a cask in the cellar into a delightful and easy grip pint "jar" or a dimpled mug --and were not at all bitter. They were gently carbonated, deliciously malty with a floral hop nose. What they weren't is "bitter." Not sure at all where the name comes from but the style of beer that is the English Bitter is an easy drinking beer that does not overwhelm the palate and does not bloat you with carbonation.

Eric Azimov wrote a great column for today's New York Times (Wed 5/28/08) that goes into more detail and includes tasting notes. Rather than replicate that here I point you in that direction for further and more detailed info on the style and tasting notes.

As we transition from a wet cool spring to a warm summer on the bay shore many of you will reach for a Corona or another pale, fizzy, lager beer. Sometimes with a piece of citrus perched on it other times without. I say "hold the lager mate and give me a pint of bitter. " Great beers are just a short jaunt away...

Our local Vingo here in Atlantic Highlands has a few bitters on hand even as I type this. Consider sampling Fuller's London Pride or Fullers ESB from England or Brooklyn's Pennant Ale from Brooklyn Brewing. while touring the British Isles, also at Vingo are Theakston Brewing's "Old Peculier" (not a typo) a delightful Yorkshire Ale that has profile similar to a true "bitter" and further north to the land of the Kilt and the Claymore are Belhaven's Scotch Ale and Long Trail's Hibernator, nothing like a bitter but a a nice, gently warming, malty, smoky, study in contrasts from the "bitters" of the South.