Anyone still drink Light or Brown ale?

[Deanno1dad]

I don't know if it's a UK geographical Drink.
I occasionally drink Light & Bitter if there's no decent proper ale in a pub,but find a lot of modern establishments do not stock light/brown ale for drinkers.

Was visiting friends at butlins bognor last weekend..asked for a light and bitter as not really into the tetleys smooth on offer..the barmaids look of confusion,she had never heard of light ale.

This got me thinking..Are these bottles on the decline,do we have any serious brown ale or light ale drinkers still,I can recall brown and mild being a very popular drink once.
And are these bottles limited to certain regions of the uk nowadays?

[Toyless]

I thibk the generic light\dark ales have been superseded by more specialised ales in general. Nit many puns offer a good variety of real ales these days. So its not surprising thw barmaid was confused.

[Roger645]

Waitrose stock quite a few light ales but I rarely see it in pubs now. They need the shelf space for various coloured concoctions now!

[Lefty]

I don't mean to hijack your thread but can you educate me as to what light and brown ales are?

Different to real ale?

I occasionally drink John Smiths, Tetleys or Caffreys. What kind of beers are those?

[Deanno1dad]

light ale and brown ale are half pint bottles added to a half pint of bitter in a pint glass to create a full pint.
Both are a bit weaker in strength ,normally about 3.2% abv.

Light ale is lighter in colour with subtle hoppy taste and more fizz...brown ale is more darker and nutty tasting.

[Toyless]

A lot of the light ale sold now id IPA - India Pale Ale.

The John Smiths amd their like of this world are generic bitters.

[RichB]

I was going to add that light ale was originally simply a brewer's bitter in a bottle, from the times when beer was normally in a barrel (of some sort). Bottled beers kept longer than what we now call real ales (back then all ales were real), were easier to transport, plus beer intended for shipping to places like India (for the Raj) had to be of a higher alcohol content.

[ritmo]

if the lyrics to 'Ullo John, Gotta New Motah' are to be beleived Alexei Sayle was partial to a light and bitter. However as the lyrics went on to claim a habit keeping tropical fish in his undercrackers I have to question the veracity of the earlier claim.

[HarryW]

As a lad I used to drink Light and Bitter, my thinking was you got 3/4 pint of best bitter hand drawn and then half pint bottle of light ale to add to it. Simples; 1 1/4 pint for the price of a pint when you only had you paper round money to buy it .

[HarryW]

Still partial to a bottle or pint of IPA, which is as close as you get to light ale now.

[Simpo Two]

By coincidence I had a pint of Ford Prefect Light Ale the other night. As said, lighter and hoppier than bitter. There is probably a defined difference in brewing as well.

[kiteless]

HarryW said:

Still partial to a bottle or pint of IPA, which is as close as you get to light ale now.

Not quite.

Proper IPA (India Pale Ale) should be overtly hoppy and on the strong side (5% ABV minimum). All to do with the original IPA's being exported to India, and the requirement for the beer to "keep" in transit.

Historically, light and brown ales were of a similar ABV (about 3 - 3.5%) but totally differing taste characteristics - as mentioned above. Good, mass produced, examples of the style are Banks Bitter and Banks Mild. Both are about 3.6% ABV and, kept well, are very good (although it's a shame they aren't served through metered air pumps any more). Its also been common practice in the Midlands for decades to order a pint of "Mixed" : half Banks bitter, half mild.

[Simpo Two]

kiteless said:

Its also been common practice in the Midlands for decades to order a pint of "Mixed" : half Banks bitter, half mild.

I remember seeing Mild for sale in Nottingham as a student in the 80s. The local brewer was Shipstones; unless you were used to it it gave you the trots. 'Shippos for Hippos' we called it.

[paulmurr]

Newcastle Brown Ale sends me mental so tend to avoid now. If I'm in a beery mood i'll stick to Deuchars IPA or 80' but, to my eternal shame, i've been drinking cider of late. Not good cider either :-|

[Bob the Planner]

Simpo Two said:

kiteless said:

Its also been common practice in the Midlands for decades to order a pint of "Mixed" : half Banks bitter, half mild.

I remember seeing Mild for sale in Nottingham as a student in the 80s. The local brewer was Shipstones; unless you were used to it it gave you the trots. 'Shippos for Hippos' we called it.

Early 80s, it was known as sh*tstones 'cos as you said it gives you the squits.

[Lucas CAV]

Manns Brown Ale - nice and weak and easy to drink !

[oilydan]

My local (when I go home to the UK) ha an excellent selection of bottles light and dark ales.

I'm a draught drinker and particularly partial to the local brewery's "Harbour Special".

http://tintagelbrewery.com/default.aspx

[retrorider]

Lucas CAV said:

Manns Brown Ale - nice and weak and easy to drink !

^
+1 and very good for an upset stomach...

[ritmo]

Bob the Planner said:

Early 80s, it was known as sh*tstones 'cos as you said it gives you the squits.

It was still known as that when I lived there. Nottingham was the Home of st beer; the opening of the first Batemans pub was a cause of some celebration.