Four quarters. How they did it

For me, there is almost nothing better than a couple of glasses of good ESB or mild ale in a cozy pub. But writing about British beer styles is difficult. Beer culture in Britain is as much about cask ales and pubs as it is about beer itself. In the book Oxford Companion to Beer Pete Brown describes it as “something that is difficult to bottle, standardize and reproduce.”

In other words, describing only British beer styles is completely insufficient. They also have a history of dramatic variations, making it quite difficult to establish what a "traditional" example of either style looks like.

In addition, there are many myths and half-truths. Do you think it was invented for India? Do you think that mild always contained a tiny amount of alcohol? Do you think porter was invented by a guy named Ralph Harwood? These widespread stories are more myths than historical facts. So let's get started. Interested in learning about British beer styles? We begin.

Photo: David Nutter

When it comes to British beer, "pale ale" isn't really a style of beer. This category is broader. The term is used primarily to refer to a whole family of bitters and IPAs, as well as other types of beer, which we will talk about another time.

Let's start with the bitters. Why this name? After all, many other beer styles are also bitter, so what's the big deal?

The explanation for this is surprisingly simple. With the growing popularity of pale ales in 19th-century Britain, thirsty pub regulars referred to beers with a hoppy, bolder flavor as “bitters,” in contrast to the less hoppy mild ales that dominated the era. Over time, this name stuck.

For better or worse, those vague, unofficial definitions of styles are a thing of the past. There are now three distinct recognized styles within the bitters category: standard or regular bitters; best, special or premium bitter; and extra special or strong bitter, better known as ESB. The main difference between these styles is strength. All of these styles range from golden to copper in color and have a roasted or caramel malt flavor, balanced by a fairly noticeable presence of earthy English hops. The yeast used for fermentation leaves a fruity flavor and, sometimes, a buttery note due to the fermentation product diacetyl (a substance used as a flavoring agent in the production of microwave popcorn).

Standard or regular bitters are the weakest in this category, and their alcohol content ranges from 3% to 4%. The best, specialty or premium bitters are slightly stronger, ranging from 4% to 5%. ESB is typically over 5% ABV and sometimes reaches 6% ABV.

India Pale Ale (IPA)

Photo: Simon Kjaeldgaard-Greising

This is a style close to the previous one with a foggy past - there is hardly a beer whose history is so distorted by myths that bear little resemblance to the truth. The most common one reads: “IPA was invented for British troops in India. Brewers have increased the hop and alcohol content in their pale ale formulations to help keep the beer fresh on its way to the East.”

This legend drives beer historians crazy.

First, it's rare that a particular style of beer is developed strictly for a specific purpose, and the creation of an IPA is a much more complex story than we would like to believe. However, there is no doubt that the style was not invented so that beer could be brought to India. In the 18th century, different types of beer were supplied to India - not only pale ale, but also porters and beers in other styles. IPA probably dates back to the tradition of “October beers” - unusually persistent varieties that arrived in India especially well preserved.

Regardless of its origins, IPA gained popularity in both India and England in connection with the return of soldiers home.

Over the centuries, IPAs have waxed and waned in popularity, but the style has continued to evolve. American craft brewers have borrowed from this style, creating numerous variations on the theme of aggressively hopped ales, each of which goes by the name IPA. These varieties influence the way highly hoppy beers are brewed around the world, including in England. Wherever they are produced, these unconventional beers are often referred to as "American" beers, and bear little resemblance to the balanced, straightforward English IPAs that may or may not have a designated geographical designation.

These days, most modern English IPAs are deep golden to mid-amber in color, with lively aroma of earthy, herbal, and floral English hops. A strong flavor base of roasted or caramel malt and fruity yeast is also noticeable.

This style bears little resemblance to the hop-dominated, citrus-flavored American IPAs that are so popular today. Although varieties of this style yet aggressively hopped, the commonly used English hops are not as fruity and vibrant in flavor. In addition, the taste of malt plays a much larger role in them.

Mild/brown ale

Photo: Michael Tonsmeire

While American beer drinkers are intimately familiar with IPAs and the many styles that descend from this British beer style, few are familiar with the humble style called mild ale.

The term mild did not always refer to a specific style of beer. It was originally used to denote freshness. In a time when most beer was aged before being sold, mild ale was sold as a strong, cheap, fresh pub drink that was meant to be drunk in large quantities.

Today, mild ales typically range from 3.0% to 4.5% ABV, but in the late 19th century the drink was much stronger, often reaching over 6% ABV. It was only at the beginning of the 20th century, when military restrictions led to the need to produce lighter beers, that mild took on its modern form as a low-alcohol beer.

So what is behind the name mild ale today? Although light versions exist, most milds are brown in color and are bottled from barrels. This is a beer with a pronounced malt flavor, a slight hop flavor and a fruity yeast flavor that is closer to creamy in some samples. Expect hints of roasted, caramel, nutty, licorice, raisin or chocolate malt, as well as some fruitiness. This style of beer has a wide variety of flavors.

English brown ales are quite similar in taste and composition to darker versions of mild ales. Brown ales cover a fairly wide range of beers, so some people prefer to separate the style into two categories: southern and northern English brown ales.

Northern English brown ales tend to serve as inspiration for many of the brown ales found on store shelves in the United States. They are also slightly drier and stronger than dark mild ales - they have the same notes of caramel, nuts and dried fruit that malt gives them, but often have less sweetness and slightly more alcohol (about 4.0% to 5.5%). If you've drunk Newcastle Brown Ale, then you've tried northern English brown ale. Unlike milds, brown ales are mostly sold in bottles - cask versions are less common. It is probably due to the convenience of this type of packaging for transportation that brown ale has become a success among US craft brewers, while mild ale remains in relative obscurity.

Porter/stout

Before mild ale took over the British beer monarchy, it was royal porter. It appeared in the 18th century, and the history of its origin is rather vague. You may have heard that this style of beer was created by a brewer named Ralph Harwood, who got tired of mixing several beers of varying ages and flavors in a pub and instead developed his own recipe for this drink. But most historians do not believe in this legend. Yes, beers were indeed mixed in pubs, but porter most likely arose naturally as a variant of its predecessor, known simply as “brown beer.”

As porter gained popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, new branches of the porter family began to emerge, namely strong porter, Baltic porter, and stout porter.

Stout... porter? sometimes it's hard to grasp, but we'll help you.

Stouts appeared as a stronger version of porter. Before "stout" became a beer style, the word was used to refer to a thick or strong drink. The term was applied to all types of beer - much in the same way that beer connoisseurs today use the terms "imperial" or "double". Over time, stout porters became popular enough that the word "porter" could be dropped, and stout began to develop as a distinct style of beer, as did porter.

So, stout and porter were one and the same at first, and then went in different directions. So what is the situation today?

To some extent, we are back to where we started. The fact is that these days there is not much difference between stouts and porters. They're made from nearly the same ingredients (like the dark, roasted grains that give this beer its distinctive dark color) and impart the same nutty, chocolate, and coffee notes. Stouts tend to be stronger in strength and have more of a toasty flavor and bitterness than porters, but there are so many examples that don't fit these generalizations that they're hardly very useful.

British porters are generally divided into three styles: brown, stout and Baltic. In its modern form brown porters tastes similar to a stronger dark mild or brown ale - a beer with a malty flavor, notes of chocolate, caramel and nuts, as well as a roasted aftertaste and bitterness of varying degrees. The strength is usually between 4-6%.

Strong porters a little more... strong. In the past they were sweeter than brown porter, but this is not always the case these days. Strong porters tend to have more of a toasty flavor and bitterness than browns, as well as a slightly higher ABV (4.5% to 7%).

Baltic Porter- the strongest representative of the British porter family. As the name suggests, this beer was created in the Baltic countries, where brewers began producing their own versions of strong imported British porters using lager yeast. The strength of the drink can reach 10%, but its taste is quite balanced - less bitter, with a more pronounced taste of caramel and dark fruits and berries.

There are also a number of sub-styles within the stout category. The softest of them is Irish dry stout, who, as the name suggests, was not born in Britain, but we'll put him on the list anyway. Dry stout is actually a dry style of beer made famous by the legendary . It is distinguished by its low alcohol content (in Guinness it is slightly above 4%, in other varieties - from 3.5% to 5%) and the bitterness of a shot of roasted barley, and is usually sold on bottling with nitrogen infusion, which gives it a dense, steep foam.

Oatmeal stout boiled with oats to give the drink a delicate texture and rich nutty chocolate flavor. Sweetness can vary, but generally an oatmeal stout is sweeter than a dry stout. Its taste is often compared to the taste of coffee with cream.

Since oatmeal stout is brewed with oats, you might be nervous to hear that there is also milk stout. But don't worry: brewers don't throw half-eaten breakfast cereal into the brew vat. Milk stouts are made with . Regular ale yeast is unable to break it down, giving the drink a sweetness and body that softens the roasty bitterness found in other stouts.

The densest and strongest are imperial stouts, also known as Russian imperial stouts. This name was not given to them in vain: it is believed that they were originally brewed in England especially for the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. This is a very strong and aggressive drink. Americans also adopted the style and put their own spin on it, but English examples have a variety of fruity notes combined with malt or hop bitterness, and are characterized by high body and dark color.

Old Ale/English Barleywine

Photo: Dakota Brinkert

While we're on the subject of imperial stout, let's also talk about old ale and barleywine.

These two styles in their current form are very similar in many ways. Both the first and second are strong beer, which is often aged before sale. Old ales are sweet, strong, and have nutty and creamy malt flavors combined with notes of sherry and leather that develop during aging. In some samples, you can find a sour or harsh aftertaste, which is left by wild yeasts and bacteria, often living in the wooden barrels in which this beer is stored.

Barleywine is often densely malty, meaning the brown sugar and leather flavors are balanced by a fairly high alcohol content. Barleywine, which is brewed in America, is high in hops and has an aggressive bitterness, while English versions emphasize malt and are meant to be sipped leisurely by the fireplace.

Irish red ale

Red beer has a long history in Ireland; it has been mentioned in literature since the 9th century. However, the separate style of drink we call Irish red ale developed much later. Many credit the popularization of the beer in its modern form to the Coors Brewing Company, which purchased the existing brewery, renamed it, and re-launched the beer at the time as an Irish red ale called George Killian's. In the 1990s, this beer gained wild popularity and spawned many imitations.

Killian's Red Ale is currently made using a lager strain of yeast, so it is unlikely to be an ale, but most Irish red ales are still made with ale yeast. This is a beer with a caramel malt flavor and a not very pronounced hop character, with a bitterness from roasted barley in the aftertaste and a deep red hue, which is given to it by the malt used in production. Expect a roasted and caramel flavor from this drink with a slight coffee bitterness in the aftertaste.

Strong Scotch Ale

Photo: gservo

Despite the fact that Scots prefer whiskey among alcoholic drinks, we should not forget about Scottish beer.

The most widespread Scottish style of beer is the strong Scotch ale, also known as "wee heavy". This is a full-bodied, strong (6-10%) beer with an amber or reddish-brown color and a serious malt character. You can expect a taste somewhat similar to barleywine - dense and caramel, with fruity notes and sweetness. Some breweries (especially in the United States) have begun to include peat-smoked malt in their Scotch ale recipes, perhaps to replicate the smokiness of some Scotch whiskeys.

There are also less strong varieties of Scottish beer, but they are not widely used in the United States. If you see the word “shilling” on the label, then you are most likely looking at one of these varieties. The taste of this beer will also be pronounced malty, but the body will be less dense and the alcohol content will be lower.

quarter gallon of beer

Alternative descriptions

Unit of volume in England

English unit of volume

Position in fencing

Two pints in England

Quarter Gallon

Quarter scale, interval of 4 scale steps (musical)

Musical interval

A measure of bulk and liquid bodies (usually wine) - a little more than a liter

A measure of the volume of liquid and granular bodies in different countries, usually a little more than a liter

If you subtract one letter from a part of the city, you get the fourth level of the scale

Unit of volume in a number of countries: German beer hall 2.198 l.

Unit of volume in a number of countries: imperial in the UK 1.126 l

Unit of volume in a number of countries: for wine and oil in the USA and England 0.9464 l

Fourth step of the scale

Quarter Gallon

English measure of liquid volume

Two pints

Four steps in music

1/4 gallon

Between third and fifth

Measure of liquid volume in England

Interval of four scale steps

Polish liter

A little more than a liter

Two pints of beer

A measure of volume in some countries, slightly more than a liter

Interval 4 scale steps wide

Musical interval

A measure of volume in some countries (1 quart = 1/4 gallon)

A measure of capacity, volume of liquid and bulk substances in different countries, usually a little more than a liter

Unit of volume in a number of countries: German beer hall 2.198 l

J. measure of liquids, damask mug, eighth or tenth of a bucket. Music the fourth note upward, relative to the first, the middle of the seven sounds that form the ladder. The fourth string (on the violin it is a fifth). Quart, quart, related to quart. A quarter of a quarter, several houses in the city, forming, as it were, one whole, bounded by a circle of streets. The city is divided into parts (ends), and parts into quarters (quarters). Quarterly, related to the quarter. Noun police official, head of it. Quartant m. book in quarter, quarter sheet. Quartet m. music in four voices or four instruments. Quartet, related to the quartet. Quartet player m. composer or participant in a game performed by a quartet. Quarter m. in piquet: four cards in a row of the same suit. Quarter major: Ace, King, Queen, Jack. Quarting gold, alloying one share of gold with three shares of silver (ligature), to test and clean it and bring it into sample: only in this content is silver completely separated from gold by strong vodka. -sya, be quartered. Quartering Wed. duration valid by value verb Quarterdeck m. Morsk. quarter-deck. Quarteron m. fourth generation or third offspring of any crossbreed, such as. black and white, Spanish sheep with simple ones, etc. Quatern m. -on w. in the lotto game, the output of four numbers in one row of card cells

Measure of volume in England

Quarter before fifth

Measure of liquid volume in England

The fourth step of the scale

Orwell is often quoted in stories about English pubs
who was not very original in this matter

the very first pub at the outpost
when we first arrived in London
friends took us straight from Heathrow to drink, eat and smoke
to south Wimbledon closer to the overnight stay
to a pub with a curious name kiss me hardy

According to the legend
Admiral Nelson dying on the battlefield of Trafalgar
said some amazingly smart and beautiful phrase in Latin
and maybe even poetry

but ordinary English sailors stood around
not everyone had secondary vocational diplomas, let alone higher education
and they heard this beautiful Latin phrase and maybe even poetry
How kiss me hardy type kiss me hard
where to kiss, the sailors asked
but Nelson didn’t have time to answer

pub good steak delicious strong ale
I don't remember anything else
but in the morning everyone was alive

the oldest pub in the city
about the fact that this is the oldest pub in London
written in iron on stone at the entrance
in the pub itself there is a list of kings on the wall
who have been drinking and eating here since the fifteenth century

The pub's back terrace looks out onto the Thames
two yards from the balcony there is a gallows right in the river
this is a monument to some events
still relevant to Londoners

it's high tide now
from low to high water in the Thames seven meters
the main river of a small island breathes in unison with the huge ocean

little garbage floats by, and although the water is not spring-clear, it’s clear that the river is alive
A seagull flew by with a fish in its teeth

the most English pub
the first thing that caught my eye
this is because pubs are usually populated by white Englishmen
pub names are usually very old
many are composed on the principle of living and nonliving
type elephant and castle or moon and scrambled eggs

a real pub doesn't have the word on its sign Pub
only name

in the Piccadilly area we saw a sign with a loud statement
real English pub
it turned out that razvodilovo for tourists is very similar to a mediocre Turkish disco
Italians were loudly noisy at the entrance

it's called a normal pub halfway to heaven
or three hounds
or George and Dragon
or Hercules pills
or at least twice gay hussars two

two stories about Hercules pillers.
first
pillers are not what you first thought
these are the columns on which the upper deck is attached
A Hercules This is Nelson's ship

after the end of service life Hercules
the ship was dismantled and a house was built from ship wood
where this pub lives today

True, the bartender’s survey did not confirm the pillers’ story
but what can a woman know about ships, about ship wood?
about pillers and other things fundamental to this world

the second version of the pub name is simpler and more prosaic
and I like her much less
although I know that in Nelson's squadron at Trafalgar
there was no ship with a name Hercules and the first version is completely rotten

second version
the house was built from the wood of all sorts of different ships that had served their purpose
from each they took what was best: pillars and frames and beams and cladding boards

and they called it a pub pillars of Hercules - pills of hercules
in honor of the strait Gibraltar native English land

even the ancient Greeks Gibraltar called pillars of hercules
it was only later that this guy came from Africa jabr al-tariq
and changed the name of the strait to his name
modest guy

What fascinates me personally about this story is
that the British built ships that sailed the seas for fifty years
and this was then - more than two centuries ago -
then houses were built from the wood of these ships
which are still standing and nothing is being done to them

Apparently the expression is good German work
needs to be revised or supplemented

pub from inside outside and nearby
pubs inside are dark wood, stone floors, durable furniture, warm light, magical smells

mixed married couple he is white she is black coffee children
This is a rare picture, but all these pictures are just small pebbles from a kaleidoscope

Grandpa, approaching eighty, sits past the chair after a pint of dark
and the whole pub merrily runs to pick it up and shake it off
grandfather is lifted, consoled, offered another free pint to replace what was spilled on the brookies and the floor

another grandfather leaves the pub
boards a self-propelled carriage for pensioners
four-wheeled scooter similar to a stool with electric drive
speed 7 km per hour - no license required - basket for umbrella and sticks behind the seat
and leaves cheerfully

a packed pub a quarter of an hour before the bell
the noise is so loud that you can’t hear your neighbor

visitors do not fit in the hall and the same number of people
stands at the entrance to a pub and drinks what he bought inside
there is no tradition of drinking store-bought battle booze
in pubs at metro entrances and in underground passages
although beer in a pub is much more expensive than bottled beer

next to pubs where people can't fit
completely empty bars, fast food restaurants are languishing
Italian Pakistani Chinese
We saw this picture many times on Friday evening.
in the pub there is a crowd in front of the pub and an empty bar next to it
Italians especially have no luck for some reason

You can see it clearly in both of these photos>>
the crowd on the sidewalk is the entrance to the pub
to the right of the crowd are bored Italian establishments
either despite the size of the signs or that’s why

pub is a public house
public in the sense of public in the sense of general in the sense of national in the sense of all

and house is a house not in the sense of home sweet home
and a house in the sense of house, that is, a house as a structure, establishment and institution

if home is sweet home it’s like is my castle and strangers are not allowed there
then the pub house is one of the most common forms of social life
English people live at work and in the pub
and at home they only sleep

pubs organize meetings of various communities
here in a pub in Portsmouth george and the dragon For example
meet once a month fish people who are the gods
but they meet regularly

in the pub on upper ground close to victoria station
On October 9, 2007, half of the tables were already reserved
to celebrate new christmas

in the pub, the English are of post-school age and form their worldview
worldview and civic position
through drinking and eating national drinks

The British need a pub not only for drinking and messing around, but also for those occasions
when the crown encroaches on what is sacred or the landlords demand too much
so that there is a place for men to gather to discuss and agree on who to hang on to

what actually happened in English history
repeatedly

the pub is private property
every pub has an owner and as he said so it will be
although in general the rule of community in a pub is simple
live yourself and don’t interfere with others’ lives

about painful issues
Well, what kind of worldview can people have?
drinking beer in transitions between Roman And area of ​​Lukić
straight smoking stinking tobacco there
throwing bottles, cigarette butts, leftovers, food bags

wrote and thought about the word in people

Pubs
If the streets of London are good because they are filled with the most colorful people, then the pubs are interesting
as establishments that are purely English. No one drives outsiders away from there, no one even hints, but these are real pubs
Usually visited by real Englishmen. Others, apparently, do not understand how you can sit in one place,
talk and just drink beer - no food, no songs, no active actions.

Titles: The Green Dragon, Kings Arms, Shepherd & Woodward, White Horse (this is in Oxford),
The King's Head, Gay Hussar (in Soho; what does that mean?).

Orwell famously described the pub, a fundamental institution of English life: “Fanatics could
make an Englishman go through incredible hardships to drink his glass of beer,
while experiencing a latent feeling of something sinful, but could not force
Englishman to give it up."

Orwell is right, but the word “glass” is up to the translator. Beer is drunk in pint glasses,
When asked for half a pint, they raise their eyebrows. There are more men than women, but for a lady, even a foreigner,
They look quite friendly.

In the evening in the pub you have to shout to maintain a conversation: low ceilings, voices and laughter
merge into a continuous hum, but there is no music. The result is a mixture of publicity and privacy:
where everyone is together and everyone is on their own.

direct speech and mini-performance
owner of the white horse pub in oxford:
my pub is the oldest in england
and soon they will make a monument to me at Madame Tussauds
I'm so beautiful I'll stand there like that

and he very similarly depicted a wax figure of himself -
freeze frame pose looking into nowhere light powder

we applauded and of course took another beer

Signs of a real pub
in stereotypes of public consciousness
generated by excessive reading
classical and modern English literature
Dark wood tables;
Victorian heavy fringed curtains;
leather sofas;
mirrors;
stairs leading up or down;
menu: white letters in chalk on a black board;
fabric upholstered walls;
sign (red with green, green with gold, red with green and gold);
a window sill outside to place glasses emptied outside;
bell to announce at half past ten: “Last order!”
and a quarter to eleven: “Finish your beer!”;
on the wall is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth or a photograph of the founder
or a group shot of a local football team or a ship print;
flowers in pots outside above the windows;
ale;
beer.

We testify: everything is in place.

It is impossible to say who brewed the first beer and when. From time immemorial, the Chinese have cooked it from rice, the American Indians from corn, the Celts and Slavs from barley, and the tribes of Western and Central Africa from sorghum. And yet, the Sumerians should be considered the founders of brewing: according to archaeologists, they brewed a drink similar to beer 4,000 years before the beginning of our era.

How they did it

Ancient brewers did it simply: freshly baked bread was crumbled into water and placed in a warm place. After two or three days, the mixture was filtered and the drink was ready. The Sumerians used up to half of their grain reserves to produce it. We drank this drink through a straw, like a cocktail, filtering out the sediment.

In Babylon, women brewed beer at home and sold it by the glass. King Hammurabi (reigned 1792–1750 BC) tried to regulate the activities of such “beer houses”; he was the first to introduce standards for the production and consumption of beer, immortalizing them in the famous “column of laws.” The Babylonian law was harsh: brewers who offered a low-quality product could be drunk to death with their own brew.

From Babylon, beer came to Egypt, where it also became the number one drink. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for meal literally translates to “bread and beer.” The Egyptians brewed a wide variety of varieties, flavoring them with various herbs. As for the Greeks and Romans, they treated beer poorly. There is even a legend that the god of wine Dionysus, angry, left Mesopotamia only because its inhabitants were too attached to him.

The Greeks, however, drank beer, but only as a tonic mixture with the addition of rue and mandrake; Hippocrates even devoted an entire book to this. The Roman consul and scientist Pliny the Younger wrote about 195 types of beer known in Europe. The Romans called beer "Germanic wine." To prepare beer wort, the ancient Germans used oak bark, ash leaves and even ox bile. The first Christian missionaries, who settled in German forests and swamps, began experimenting with more aromatic ingredients - juniper, blueberries, currants. But only in 786 did a certain monk think of using hops as an additive, which gave beer a characteristic bitter taste. In general, for the monks, brewing beer was an extremely pressing issue, because thanks to beer it was possible to withstand long fasts, because “liquid does not break the fast.” Perhaps it was then that the expression “beer is liquid bread” was born. Many monasteries made substantial profits from the beer trade, including the brewery of the Weihenstephan monastery near Freising, founded in 1040, which is today the oldest operating brewery in the world. By the way, Bavaria became a beer power only after the Thirty Years' War: in order not to waste time and effort on restoring lost vineyards (before that, Bavarian wines had European fame), former winegrowers “retrained” as brewers, turning their attention to hop plantations and barley fields.

For a long time, the monks could not explain the nature of brewer’s yeast; it was believed that beer ferments “on its own,” or rather, with the help of “beer witches.” It was only in the first half of the 16th century that two types of brewer’s yeast and, accordingly, beer—top and bottom fermentation—were finally identified. The first ones “come to life” at an air temperature of 18 to 22°C and at the end of the process they rise upward in the fermentation tank, where they are removed. The latter require a low temperature - from 6 to 10 ° C, while they settle in the fermentation tank. Such beer could only be stored in cool cellars and glacial caves, hence its name “lager” (from the German lager “left for storage”). And if top-fermented beer was known to the Anglo-Saxons in the 6th century (ale), then bottom-fermented yeast was “discovered” only many centuries later by the Alpine Bavarians, who did not experience a shortage of ice.

By the middle of the 16th century, European brewers already knew various types of yeast, and they began to select and protect their own colonies of these “beer witches”, keeping recipes in the strictest confidence and passing them on. Brewers in Flanders and Ireland, England and Bohemia, Denmark and Switzerland, Scotland, Finland, Sweden had their own recipes, because beer was brewed in all European countries, where barley and hops grew “instead” of grapes.

How we did it

In Rus', any low-alcohol drink was called beer. Actually, beer, that is, a decoction of fermented grain wort, was called “olui” in Rus'; the Varangians brought it to us. Oluy was of three grades: light, medium and strong, capable of simply knocking you off your feet. In Rus' it was brewed already in the time of Nestor the chronicler; in his works he mentions it several times. The Novgorod scribe books also mention barrels of beer “with hops” (some scientists are of the opinion that beer with hops was first brewed in Rus'). From Russkaya Pravda we know that the payment collector was entitled to a bucket of malt per day; the artisan, in addition to money and provisions, “was entitled to malt so that he could brew beer at home.” Even then, a distinction was made between “white” and “black” beer.

Grand Duke Vasily III put an end to homemade preparations; from now on, beer was sold exclusively in taverns. Boris Godunov “duplicated” this decree, and at the same time introduced a “waste” duty on malt and hops. Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov contributed a lot to the development of domestic brewing. He, for example, forbade the purchase of foreign raw materials, fearing, they say, that foreigners were slandering hops in order to bring a “pestilence” to Rus'.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was more loyal. He made an indulgence for the common people, allowing them to brew beer “for home drinking” several times a year - on patronal holidays and for family celebrations. His son went even further: having opened a “window to Europe,” Peter I invited master brewers from England and Holland to his new capital. Beer became an indispensable attribute of assemblies and celebrations; taverns, tavern clubs and “notable drinking houses” grew and multiplied throughout the capital. Domestic beer gained nationwide popularity at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries; in Moscow alone there were 236 breweries. Excellent beer was brewed in Kaluga and Tver, Samara, Tula and Nizhny Novgorod. But the “beer” center of the country was still Northern Palmyra; it was here in 1795 that Abraham Friedrich Krohn founded the giant Alexander Nevsky plant, whose capacity exceeded 1 million 700 thousand liters of beer per year. Around the same time, Peter Cazalet founded a factory of elite beers.

In 1811, the Kalashnikovsky plant appeared on the embankment of the same name, and in 1863, on Petrovsky Island, the “New Bavaria” brewery appeared. In total, by the 80s of the 19th century, the number of breweries in Russia reached 1,500. On the eve of the First World War, the Moscow Trekhgornoe Partnership took first place in terms of production volume, followed by the St. Petersburg factories “Kalinkinsky” and “Bavaria”.

The First World War and revolution stopped the development of the Russian brewing industry. And only by the 30s, the brewing business, which had already become Soviet, was able to recover from the “ruin.” And in 1936, beer from the Kuibyshev plant (founded by the Austrian Philipp von Vacano back in 1879) received the highest rating at a competition for the best brands of Soviet beer. This brand became “Venskoye”, which was then renamed “Zhigulevskoye”.

Components

To produce good, quality beer, you need at least four components: water, malt, hops and yeast.

Water

The construction of breweries has long begun with the search for springs of impeccable composition, because the softer the water, the better the quality of the beer.

Malt

Typically, beer is made from spring barley (for wheat beer, wheat and barley are taken in half, sometimes in a ratio of 1:3), although in principle other starchy cereals are also suitable.

Before the grain can begin to ferment, it must be converted into malt (i.e., “sweet”)—the first step toward releasing the fermentable sugars. The grains are cleaned and soaked for 12 days in water, after which they are laid out on grates where they germinate. After 4-5 days, the malt begins to develop shoots and long roots. The time when germination stops is determined by the master maltster; he gives the “command” when it is time to load the malt into the dryer. During the drying process, the color of the future beer is determined: light malt for light beer is obtained at a temperature of 50 x 80 ° C, while for dark malt it is exposed to a higher temperature of 100 x 110 ° C (sometimes 3 x 10% caramel malt is added, the starch of which is completely turned into caramelized sugar). After this, the roots and shoots are removed and the malt is aged for another 4-6 weeks before mashing begins.

Hop

Note that hops do not enhance the “hoppy” qualities of beer; they provide it with stability (ability to be stored) and bitterness. Thanks to this bitterness, beer, like no other drink, quenches thirst.

Yeast

The fourth and most “complex” component is yeast (from the old German word for “to raise”). Thanks to them, the beer wort begins to ferment and foam; they break down malt sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Each brewery has its own workshop for growing yeast culture. Large brewing companies are constantly engaged in research to improve yeast fungi, which become a trade secret of the company.

Alchemy of beer

The most important phases of brewing are: mashing the malt, boiling the main wort, fermentation and maturation of the beer.

The ground malt should consist of coarse and fine grains, as well as the finest flour. The ratio of these components, as well as the water used, determines the character of the wort. Each type of beer needs its own proportion; it’s not for nothing that malt mashing is considered a whole science.

The crushed malt and water are mixed in the mash tun. Malt enzymes, “dead” after drying, come to life again, converting starch into sugar. To enhance the process, the malt porridge is slowly heated to 70°C (to the saccharification temperature), then this mass is pumped into a cleaning vat (a large sieve closed at the bottom), where insoluble particles settle to the bottom. Then the sieve opens and clear, light wort leaks through it. The wort enters the brew vat, where it is brought to a boil, after which hops are added to it. The sooner you set it, the more bitter the beer will be; the later, the sweeter it will be. To find the “golden mean”, hops are added in 3 doses. In general, the brewer chooses the volume of hops, the time, and the number of loads; this is his creation. The main wort (malt, water and hops) is boiled for 1.5 x 2.5 hours, then the broth is filtered, allowed to settle and cool. Before adding yeast, the wort is brought to the required temperature: 1822°C for top-fermented beer, 610°C for bottom-fermented beer. After adding yeast to the fermentation tanks, within 24 hours a thick yellowish-white layer of foam forms; the “beer witches” get to work, converting the sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol. This process can take up to 10 days. Then the beer is filtered and there is no trace of those “witches” left in it, to whom it owes its very essence. However, this does not apply to all beers: bottom beer is sometimes left cloudy, which gives it additional flavor nuances.

Young, “green” beer needs to mature for several weeks or even months. Maturation takes place in huge containers, and only wheat beer is bottled immediately. During post-fermentation and ripening, the most important condition is to maintain a low temperature (0°C or even lower) and constant pressure in the containers, for which so-called tongue and groove machines are used. After maturation, the beer is filtered again (with the exception of “unfiltered” varieties) and poured into tanks, barrels, bottles or cans. Bottom-fermented beer is immediately placed in a cold place, while top-fermented beer is first kept in bottles in a warm place for about a week to complete the process of bottle fermentation, and then stored in a cool place for several weeks. Only then is the beer considered ready.

Next, the chilled beer is accumulated in special buffer containers, after which it is bottled either into kegs (large metal containers), which are subsequently connected to bottling machines installed in bars and restaurants, or into glass or plastic bottles, or into tin or aluminum cans.

What are we going to drink?

Top-fermented varieties include all types of ale (Ale), some porters (Porter), as well as various types of wheat beer. In all likelihood, the first ALE was brewed in Britain in the 6th century, by now the main representative of this variety is the Ale itself - a light beer with a fruity flavor, obtained by rapid fermentation in heat, the main type of beer in England and North America. Bitter Ale (bitter ale), sold on tap in England, has a more bitter taste and hop aroma. Its bottled counterpart is often called Pale Ale or Light Ale. Brown Ale, which was part of the diet of British soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars, has a distinct caramel hue. The strongest ale Barley Wine (barley wine) is close to wine in alcohol content (10% or higher). The lightest Mild Ale (soft ale) has a delicate malt aroma and has a low density.

Germany also has its own ale, Altbier, or simply Alt, (old beer) originally from Düsseldorf, as well as Kolsch, a light Cologne beer with a pronounced hop aroma (many Germans consider it the only truly German beer). In Belgium Belgian Ale (Belgian ale), some brands of which outshine even English ales, they also produce Saisons a very refreshing, slightly sour ale of medium strength, with added spices, as well as an extremely tart Trappisten (monastic ale).

As for PORTER, a sweet top-fermented beer with abundant foam, dark brown in color from toasted unmalted barley, it was first brewed in 1720 in London by a certain Ralph Harwood. His enterprise was located near the London market, where there were always many movers who became real connoisseurs of the drink.

A variation of porter is the less sweet Stout (strong), which is sometimes brewed with the addition of oats. There are sweet (Sweet) stouts, as well as dry (Dry) and extra-strong (Exrta Stout).

A variant of a strong stout that has a sweetish burnt currant flavor is Imperial Stout, so named because it was originally prepared in England for the Russian royal court. It is not difficult to distinguish a stout from a porter; porter has a reddish tint, while stout is almost black.

WHEAT BEER is usually light in color. Some of its brands are carbonized (additionally saturated with carbon dioxide) in bottles, which is why the drink is called “bread champagne.” The lightest wheat beer is the Belgian Witbier, made from raw millet rather than malt. In Southern Germany, wheat beer is called Weizen, its initial gravity is 5067% wheat malt. If the label says “Hefe-weizen”, then this is yeast wheat beer (unfiltered), matured in a bottle and having a pronounced sediment. The lightest wheat beer Berliner Weizen, that is, Berlin. It is very foamy and has a sour taste due to fermentation with the participation of lactic acid bacteria. The Germans tend to drink it with diluted raspberry syrup.

Among the types of bottom-fermented (“lager”) beer, the first to be named is PILSENER (Pilsner, Pils), or “Pilsner” beer. Brands of this type of beer are produced according to a traditional recipe compiled by brewers from the Czech city of Pilsen in 1842. This name is often applied to any dry light beer of medium strength. Although the founders of bottom fermentation were still the South Germans. And it is Germany that produces most types of grassroots, “lager” beer. These include Marzen (March) - a strong amber-colored beer, prepared in March and drunk in October; Munchen (Munich) light beer with a lot of malt; Bock (strong dark); Dortmunder (“export”); Doppelbock (double bock) - the strongest Bavarian beer and Rauchbier (smoked) - a "lager" beer with a pronounced smoky flavor, which gives it a malt roasted by burning beech wood.

Of the “lager” types, one cannot fail to mention ICE BEER (icy) light beer, which is cooled almost to freezing before final fermentation; American Malt Liqour (malt liquor) strong light beer; Diet Pils (diet Pilsner) and Non-alcoholic. At first, this type of beer was even called “castrated”, but many breweries managed to achieve considerable profits thanks to it. Some of them, introducing new technologies, generally produce non-alcoholic beer, which tastes practically no different from the real thing. According to German experts, the share of non-alcoholic beers is already 6%, and, apparently, this is far from the limit.

How to drink?

Many people believe that you can drink beer any way you want, even “on the go” from a bottle. This is not true: beer should be drunk slowly and only from a glass. A glass or ceramic mug from 0.3 to 0.6 liters or a tall glass is best suited for this. In this case, the inner walls must be smooth so that the drink can flow smoothly. Ceramics perfectly “hold” the temperature, while glass allows you to evaluate the color, transparency and foam stability of beer. In Bavaria, however, they prefer to drink from metal inlaid mugs; the Germans, apparently, have no reason to doubt the foam stability of their beer.

Beer can be tasted with the “root” of the tongue; this is where the receptors that recognize the taste of bitter are located. This, however, applies only to light varieties: they should leave a slight taste of hop bitterness, which, however, quickly disappears; if the bitterness does not go away, then the beer is most likely of poor quality. Dark beer, on the contrary, has a sweetish aftertaste.

Dark beer can be drunk at room temperature (the British and Irish sometimes specially warm up their stouts). Light varieties are best drunk chilled to 610°C. At the same time, it is not recommended to cool beer in the freezer, since when it is quickly “frozen,” its flavor nuances are lost. It is believed that beer should be drunk “in three sips”: first half of the mug, then half of the remaining one, then the rest. This is only true if beer is drunk without a snack to quench thirst.

Beer soup
(Old German recipe)

0.5 liters of light beer; 0.5 l of milk; 250 ml cream; 1 tbsp. spoon of starch; a pinch of salt; 45 tbsp. spoons of sugar; 100 g raisins; 3 egg yolks; 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

Mix beer, milk and cream. Place a couple of spoons of the mixture in a separate cup and add starch. Add salt, sugar and washed raisins to the milk-beer mixture, pour into a large saucepan and put on fire. Bring to a boil, add the starch mixture, let it boil, remove the pan from the heat. Season the soup with yolks, add sugar and cinnamon. Serve with croutons.
A mug of dark beer is recommended as an aperitif.

Beer punch

3 egg whites; 3 egg yolks; 6 tbsp. spoons of powdered sugar; 1 unpeeled lemon; 1 liter of light beer; a little cinnamon.

Beat the whites with powdered sugar until foamy, and carefully fold in the beaten yolks. Grate the lemon zest, add it to the beer and bring to a boil (do not boil!). Remove from heat and mix with egg mixture.
Pour into tall glasses and sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve hot.
You can offer a biscuit with the punch.

Beer kings

Germany
Almost half of all breweries on Earth are located on the territory of this state, their number exceeds 1,300. About 150 liters of beer per person are drunk here annually (including infants and World War II veterans), but if we take into account only people over 15 years old, then altogether 180 l. The Germans never deny themselves beer, especially during “harvest festivals,” of which there are about 170. The most important of them is Oktoberfest, held in the beer city of Germany, Munich. It began in 1810, when a Bavarian prince organized a beer drinking party on the occasion of his engagement to a Prussian princess. Nowadays, up to 7 million people participate in it annually. According to statistics, during Oktoberfest, about 5 million liters of beer are drunk, 700 thousand chickens and 500 thousand fried sausages are eaten.

Czech
One of the oldest and most famous breweries in this country is “Plzensky Prazdroj” (“Pilsen Spring”), which was founded in the city of the same name back in 1295. The beer from this plant gave its name to a whole class of barley drink. In Paris, on the Boulevard Montparnasse, there is a bar whose drinks list lists 140 brands of beer, and only one says: “The best beer in the world.” This is said about the 12 percent “Prazdroj”. It seems that there are no secrets of Prazdroj, but for some reason such beer is not brewed anywhere else. And yet, in search of this secret, the Americans, for example, were not too lazy to take soil samples from the walls of local fermentations. Perhaps this secret lies in the unchanged production technology, as well as in the water that is taken from artesian wells on the territory of the plant from a depth of 90 m. In addition, the malt is produced in its own malthouses from Czech varieties of barley, and hops are also used exclusively local. Plzensky Prazdroj unites 5 factories, which, controlling a quarter of the entire domestic market, annually produces twice as much beer as other Czech brands Radegast, Prague Brewers, Budvar and Krusovice.

Netherlands
It is home to such venerable distilleries as Heineken, Amstel and Grolsch (whose beers feature a swing-top cap). Along with them, there are many small private breweries in Holland, especially in the provinces of Limburg and Brabant. They offer a huge range of beers that are partly German Dortmund and partly English. Of particular note is Limburg's Arcener Grand Prestige (winter ale), the country's strongest beer, containing 22% main wort.

Belgium
In order to drive a Belgian crazy, you need to lock him in a round room and tell him that there is beer in the corner. Speaking of local beer, the first name to mention is the Stella Artois lager, although there are 130 other breweries in the country. Belgians love unusual beers, such as Lambic, fermented without yeast in the wind, or top-fermented red beer, which is mixed with beer that has been stored in an oak barrel for a year and a half. Bottles sealed in the same way as champagne (Methode champenoise technology) are in constant demand in Belgium. Some varieties are mixed with fruit extracts and fermented with a portion of fresh wort (so-called cherry, raspberry and other beers).

Denmark
Two beer “kings” rule here: “Carlsberg” and “Tuborg”, which, however, have united under one “coat of arms” since 1970: “Brassenes Reunies Carlsberg”. The assortment is wide: Pilsner beer, porter, Munich-style beer. In Denmark alone, 10 different types of beer are produced. Moreover, this plant also produces the lightest type of beer in the world: its alcohol content is no more than 0.5%. In general, the Danes are originals. For example, they like to mix strong porter with champagne, calling this cocktail “Black Velvet,” or with soda and lemon (“Sea Foam”). A characteristic feature of the Tuborg company is the use of the bottle neck for educational purposes: the label pasted on it contains a short text of an educational nature.

Ireland and UK
These countries can eclipse both Germany and the Czech Republic combined in terms of beer range: a wide variety of ales, especially cask ales, tart bitters, strong porters and the dry, bitter Guinness Dublin stout, which has worldwide fame. There are over 70 thousand pubs in Britain, the oldest of which was opened by Roman legionnaires. By the way, anyone who has never been to local pubs may be very surprised - they will most likely be served unchilled beer with virtually no foam. But the British themselves are convinced that this is the only way real ale should be, which is good for quenching thirst. As for stout, it helps you concentrate. Six established corporations, owning 70 major breweries, rule the roost in the British Isles: Bass, Allied Breweries, Whitbread, Wathey, Courage and Scottisch & Newcastle. USA Most American beer is produced by giant companies, in large factories, rather than in microbreweries. 21.5 billion liters of beer are produced here annually, and compared to the Great American Beer Festival, the famous Munich holiday seems a little pale. The largest brewing group in the world is Anheuser-Busch, holding 40% of the national market. Back in 1876, she launched Budweiser on the American market, and 20 years later introduced Michelob, the best American Premium, containing about a quarter of rice in the malt. Another “whale” is the Miller Brewing company, founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. By the end of the 70s of the last century, it took second place in terms of production volume after Anheuser-Busch. Its best-selling brands are Leinie and Life, reduced-calorie beers. The third beer king of America is Adolph Coors.

Russia
Currently, there are over 170 large brewing enterprises in our country. The largest number of them is concentrated in the capital. The Trekhgorny Brewery, founded in 1875 by G.S., is considered the patriarch. Morozov (formerly the Badaev plant), and the Moscow Experimental Beverage Plant, the same age as Trekhgorka, better known as Khamovnichesky. Trekhgorny’s products, created according to ancient Russian recipes, compete with the brands of the best foreign manufacturers: in 1996, at the International Forum “Brewers. Partnership for Progress”, the plant received the “Golden Pint” prize and the “Golden Business” diploma. In recent years, exclusive brands of the Khamovnichesky Plant have enjoyed international recognition: they were awarded gold medals at International Exhibitions in St. Petersburg, Sochi, Moscow, and received an honorary diploma in Strasbourg.

The Ostankino brewery was put into operation in 1949. From the very first days, it has been producing beer using classical technology from selected natural raw materials. The plant has its own malthouse with a capacity of 18 thousand tons per year. Half of the production volume is Zhigulevskoye beer. The Moskvoretsky brewery, equipped with a tunnel pasteurizer and producing a whole “family” of pasteurized “Moskvoretsky” from “Classic” to “Original”, has also received international recognition. The Ochakovsky plant is known for being the first among Russian enterprises to begin supplying beer to the market in tin and plastic packaging.

The largest in Russia is the St. Petersburg brewery "Baltika", which has a unique water purification plant, the only one of its kind in Europe. Today Baltika produces over 24,000 bottles per hour, exporting beer to more than 90 cities in Russia. In addition, in St. Petersburg there are enterprises such as the brewery named after. Stepan Razin, which produces beer under the same name, and the Vienna enterprise, known for such brands as Nevskoe and Peterhof.

In 1975, the Tver Kalininsky plant (now Tver-beer) produced its first beer, becoming one of the first Russian producers of pasteurized beer. Light and dark Afanasia brands, bottled in original stylized bottles, recently received a certificate from the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission of the US Government.

In the same 1975, a brewery began its work in the town of Klin near Moscow. Each variety of Klinsky he produces has a characteristic taste and aroma of hops, from very mild to pronounced.

Of the relatively young brewing enterprises, it should be noted: Yaroslavl "Yarpivo" (producing the brand of the same name), St. Petersburg "BRAVO International" ("Bochkarev") and "Tinkoff" (brand of the same name), "Kaluga Brewing Company" ("Golden Barrel"), " Moscow-Efes" ("Old Miller"), Kazan "Red Vostok" ("Solodov", "Red Vostok"), Ekaterinburg "Patra" (beer of the same name), "Ivan Taranov Breweries" from Novotroitsk, Orenburg region ("Ivan Taranov" , “Doctor Diesel”), Ufa “Amstar” (“Polar Bear”, “Falcon”), “Tomsk Beer” and “Tula Beer”.

→ Guide to London pubs (part 1)

For many who have not yet visited London, this city is associated with Big Ben, rain, red telephone boxes, cabs and double-decker buses. All this, of course, is true, but those who have ever set foot on London soil have a very special place in their hearts for the pubs of London. Tripadvice went on a little tour of London's pubs and is happy to share the results with you!

Story

Pubs are more than just places to have a few beers. For the English, a pub is a meeting place with friends, a place for games and long conversations, a kind of club of interests. The word “pub” itself appeared in the Victorian era, and it came from the abbreviation “public house”, which translated into Russian has a slightly negative sound - “brothel”. However, this name did not have any double meaning - pubs were the only meeting place for residents of their village, town or small area, here they ate and drank, got drunk and fought, fell in love and quarreled, in a word, it was in pubs that all traditional English life took place .

The first pubs on English soil were opened by the Romans more than 2 thousand years ago. Originally food and wine were served here, but the drink of Dionysus was gradually replaced by local ale, the traditional English beer drink.

Pubs often became a kind of “Alehouse”, and ale increasingly replaced regular food from the wooden tables of English taverns. The British have always been able to drink, and largely thanks to ale and pubs.

The development of trade gradually led to the emergence of a huge number of inns (Inn - from English). Pubs with the prefix Inn began to appear on all roads in the country, mainly on London routes. Interestingly, in the 19th century, due to the development of the railway and a decrease in the flow of goods along regular roads, many pubs and taverns had to close permanently.

During the time of Elizabeth the First, when industry, production, factories were just beginning to emerge, when cities began to grow with renewed vigor, taverns began to rapidly open in cities, and above all, in London. Initially, they also served only wine and excellent food, but the traditions of ale and beer took over, and the foamy drink gradually took its place of honor in the capital's pubs.

Throughout their history, pubs were mercilessly subject to taxes to the treasury: either for military needs, or as a ban on a riotous lifestyle in the era of Puritanism, or for some other reason. But since the morale and mood of the working class always played an important role, sometimes the states made serious concessions, and that was when the dawn of life in the pubs occurred.

In the 20th century, a distinctive feature of beer culture was a significant reduction in the number of breweries through mergers and acquisitions. The state made official recommendations that each large brewery should not have the right to operate more than 2,000 pubs, and the total number in the country reached 12,000. But despite increasing commercialization, pubs remain truly unique places to discover and enjoy English culture and in our days.

Titles

Pub names are a completely separate fascinating story. The most interesting thing is that historically they did not exist at all - pubs were decorated with signs on different themes: a crown or a scepter, wild boars, foxes, hares, bunnies and other living creatures. It was from the colorful signs that residents understood that there was a pub here and what it was dedicated to.

The names appeared slowly, and in fact initially said nothing. Well, or they only talked about the location, for example, “Alehouse at market square.” At the same time, old pubs often received historical names that even now are difficult to understand without context.

If you try to determine the most popular pub names, then they will include the Red Lion, King's Head, Queen's Arms. The notorious “Arms” can be translated as “coat of arms”, a phrase very popular during knightly tournaments and battles.

The Red Lion is found most often in England; there are more than 500 pubs with this name, and the lion symbolizes the power and strength of the British Empire.

In addition, there are other popular names: the Crown, Crown and Sceptre, King's Arms, Queen's Head, The Victoria, Prince Albert. , Princess Louise (Princess Louise) and Prince Alfred (Prince Alfred).

We like the site’s names to be more soulful, for example, Royal Oak, Rose and Crown or Six Bells.

Beer

Beer in England, and above all in London, is simply delicious. There are countless types of beer and ale, and we'll introduce you to the most interesting ones.

Let's start with the usual light beer- Lager - as it is often called in England. This option is suitable for those who do not particularly value taste, but more the result. Or for those who don’t like experiments and want to stay on “their own wavelength” even during a London trip.

Often in London they serve "continental" lagers: Stella Artois, Carslberg or Heineken. The only British lager worth trying is Cains Finest, it is brewed using a fairly traditional method.

Interestingly, lager sales in Britain account for 75% of sales of all beers combined.

Dark thick beer- Stout is a real calling card of British beer culture. The most popular variety of stout is, of course, Guiness, the legendary Irish beer. Stout is also called a strong type of porter, a regular dark beer. The most famous and strongest Guinness variety is Extra Superior Porter, you should definitely try it.

El(Ale) is essentially not even beer, but a drink very similar to beer. And it is also divided into thousands of varieties, but we strongly recommend trying red ale - its taste is similar to regular camp, only with a slight bitterness. The most popular variety of red ale is Kilkenny, dark ale is Newcastle Brown Ale.

Cider(Cider) is another type of beer drink that is so popular in British pubs. Typically, cider is a light beer with an apple or pear flavor, and they drink it on hot days, on those days when you don’t particularly feel like drinking a lot, or when girls order it. The most popular brands of cider are Strongbow, Magners and Bulmers - they are available in almost every pub.

Average cost of a pint of beer (0.56 l) in a London pub: 3.00-3.50 British pounds.

Additionally, the must-have beers in London pubs are:

Young's London Gold

Food

Oddly enough, the food in pubs, if not very varied, is at least very filling and tasty. We recommend starting your pub tour early in the morning - Full English Breakfast(Great English Breakfast), consisting of scrambled eggs with bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, beans and two buttered toasts, is a great start to a good London day. In the Bayswater area, such a breakfast cost us £4.99, on the outskirts of London this price can drop to £3.50, in the city center you can pay a good 10 pounds for a truly indescribable pleasure.

During lunch or dinner, we recommend trying the most popular English pub dish - Indian chicken in curry sauce Chicken Tikki Massala. It is this dish, and not the well-known ones Fish & Chips- is currently number one in London. However, Fish & Chips are also popular: depending on the size of the portion and the popularity of the establishment, fried fish with French fries and green peas will cost you from 4 to 8 blood pounds.

In addition, there are a huge number of different sandwiches, but we do not advise you to take them: they are not such filling offers. You can never go wrong with Indian cuisine (namely, anything with meat and curry), so feel free to take it.

11 useful trivia about London pubs

We're just beginning our story about London's pubs, but here are 10 little things you just need to know before you go on a crazy London pub tour.

1. Don't look for pubs by lists or ratings: in London, literally every pub has a story. Only very old and traditional pubs are worth a special trip (we will tell you about this in the next part of the review). Otherwise, go to every door you like!

2. Pubs are often located on street corners, so this is where you'll look for them.

3. Special offers (Today's specials) are usually written on the black board at the entrance: don't forget to read them and don't miss your chance to save a little.

4. During football and rugby broadcasts, it will be almost impossible to find a free table.

5. All orders in pubs go through the counter, so don't wait for waiters. In addition, you will have to pay immediately once you place your order.

6. It is customary to pay a tip, but sometimes it is already included in your bill (up to 12.5%). Otherwise, we advise you to round up the order amount, leaving a tip from 1 to a maximum of 3 pounds.

7. Prices in pubs are reminiscent of prices in Soviet canteens: 3.47 for a pint of beer seems quite a normal price. So check your change when you receive a handful of colorful queen coins.

8. The usual measure of volume in a pub is a pint, which is 0.56 liters. If you don't want to drink a lot, you can order a half pint of beer, most often you will pay exactly half the price of a full glass, so no more than £1.80 for 0.27 liters.

9. There is no smoking in London pubs. If you want to smoke, go outside, there, at the entrance, there are probably already a lot of people who want to “get some fresh air.” Typically, the more people there are at the entrance to a pub, the better the atmosphere.

10. Better watch your belongings in pubs. Don’t take out your phones and don’t put them on the table: even if they aren’t stolen, a fight that starts at any moment or just beer rain in honor of your favorite team’s goal can significantly damage your mobile phone.

11. If you want to eat, then hurry up - the kitchen in pubs is usually only open until 9-10 o'clock. The pubs themselves in London close at 11 pm, the bartender rings a special bell and shouts “Last order”. Order another half pint for the road, what a great excuse!

This was the first part of our guide to London pubs. Stay tuned and we will tell you about the most interesting pubs in the second part!