The Ten Best Bottled British ales
Wednesday 13 September 2006
Related articles
1 Timothy Taylor Landlord £1.99 for 500ml
The beer that has won more awards nationally than any other, and is Madonna's favourite tipple. A classic English pale ale with a zesty, fruity, refreshing bitterness. Lager drinkers who think they don't like "ale" should be prescribed this - they'd never look back.
4.1% ABV, Timothy Taylor, Yorkshire
Supermarkets and off-licences nationwide
2 Waggle Dance £1.59 for 500ml
Named after the jig done by bees to direct the swarm to the nearest pollen stash, Waggle Dance is brewed with a dollop of honey for a smooth, seductive, summery flavour. Don't worry about the sweetness of the honey - it's perfectly balanced with a generous dose of hop bitterness.
5% ABV, Young's, London Supermarkets and off-licences nationwide
3 Summer Lightning £2.05 for 500ml
Winner of more than 70 brewing awards, as the name suggests Summer Lightning is a light, easy drinking ale perfect for long hot days. Eighteen years ago it was brewed for a handful of pubs around Salisbury; now available nationwide.
5% ABV, Hop Back Brewery, Wiltshire www.onlyfinebeer.co.uk; 01245 255 579
4 Bishops Finger £1.95 for 500ml
Full-bodied with complex fruit flavours, Bishops Finger is a cask-conditioned ale brewed to a traditional Kentish recipe. It has a generous, fruity flavour, reminiscent of bananas and pears with citrus overtones.
5.4% ABV, Shepherd Neame
Available from supermarkets and off-licences nationwide
5 Meantime IPA £5.20 for 750ml
India Pale Ale from England ruled the world half way through the 19th century, and it will again if more brewers produce magic like this. Juicy tropical fruit morphs into a tingly, bitter buzz and if you're not careful it goes down far more quickly than is wise for a beer of this strength.
7.5% ABV; Meantime Brewery, Greenwich
www.utobeer.co.uk; 020-7394 8601
6 Golden Valley £14.10 for a case of 12 x 500ml
Voted Champion Beer of Wales, like all Breconshire beers this is brewed using only local ingredients wherever possible. This deep golden beer is soft, fruity and thirst-quenching.
4.2% ABV, Breconshire Brewery, Wales
www.breconshirebrewery.com; 01874 623 731
7 Pedigree £1.60 for 500ml
Around the world brewers artificially "Burtonise" their water, adding minerals to make it taste like it was drawn from the wells in Burton-on-Trent. This is the real thing: the high levels of calcium sulphate give a faint sulphurous aroma, the renowned "Burton snatch". Dry, fruity and malty with a clean finish, this is a great session beer.
4.5% ABV, Marston's, Burton-on-Trent
Supermarkets and off-licences nationwide
8 St Peter's Organic Best Bitter £1.65 for 500ml
Look out for the distinctive Victorian-style chunky green bottles that are unique to the St Peter's broad range of beers. This one is fully organic and commended by the Soil Association; wholesome yet delicate, with a citrusy finish.
4.1% ABV, St. Peter's, Suffolk
www.ocado.co.uk; 08453 991 122
9 Deuchars IPA £1.69 for 500ml
Pale blonde like lager, with a creamy surge like Guinness, this is a different kind of ale. Spicy, fruity and floral, it's beautifully refreshing and remarkably quaffable. One of the best of the new wave of wonderful ales pouring out of Scotland.
4.4% ABV, Caledonian, Edinburgh
Supermarkets and off-licences nationwide
10 London Pride £1.65 for 500ml
It's hard to choose just one beer from Fuller's, but if you had to, it has to be Pride, the brewery's flagship beer, which has seen its sales double in the last five years. A rich, malty flavour balanced by hoppy bitterness, with a fruity finish.
4.7%, Fuller's, London
Supermarkets and off-licences nationwide
Life & Style blogs
Wandsworth tops aspiring young professionals hotspot list
Other popular areas include Didsbury, Clifton in Bristol, central Cambridge and West Bridgford
Christian GPs and the morning after pill: Much needed clarification
Doctors are allowed to have personal beliefs, just as long as these beliefs do not interfere with th...
-
The 10 Best Scotch Whiskies
-
Meet David Karp, the 26-year-old high school dropout worth $275m after selling Tumblr to Yahoo
-
Game on: Xbox 720 and PS4 go head to head with Microsoft set to launch console today
-
Mothers' diets may harm IQs in two-thirds of babies
-
Xbox ONE: 'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its latest console
- 1 Gay couple beaten in park urge MPs to moderate language on gay marriage
- 2 Swedes set up 'ultimate Viking movie'
- 3 After woman sells virginity for $780,000, here are the results of our prostitution survey
- 4 China agrees to impose carbon targets by 2016
- 5 Far-right French historian, 78-year-old Dominique Venner, commits suicide in Notre Dame in protest against gay marriage
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Visit York
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
iJobs Food & Drink
BI Developer
£450 - £500 per annum: Progressive Recruitment: BI Developer (SQL Server 2008,...
Food Technology Teacher
£26400 - £36000 per annum: Randstad Education Maidstone: An Independant school...
Travel Consultant - Career In The Travel Industry!! Full Training Provided!!
£22k-£25k + comm + benefits: Blue Travel Solutions: LOOKING FOR A CAREER IN TH...
Caribbean Specialists !! Excellent Salary!!!
£26k-£29k + excellent comm: Blue Travel Solutions: We have a high-end luxury t...
How to say ‘I’m a sellout’
Why clubs are keen to take a stand





Comments