Quench your thirst for brewer’s knowledge with this ultimate guide to ale terminology, brewing art and the best pubs and tours – with a few tongue-tickling names thrown in along the way...

Adnams
Stocked at Marco Pierre White’s Steak & Ale House, this is one of the chef’s favourite ales. The team at Adnams prides itself on brewing authentic beers, each with
its own fresh, unique and vibrant character. You can visit the Southwold brewery to see for yourself how they make Adnams Lighthouse (3.4% ABV), Tally-Ho (7% ABV) and Spindrift (4% ABV). The brewery’s newly revamped system is one of the most modern in the UK. Making more efficient use of raw materials, it uses 30% less gas, cleans itself – and the team claim they’re trying to programme it to make tea too! A tour of the Adnams brewery costs £10 per person, which includes the tour, tastings  and a bottle of beer to take home. Visit www.adnams.co.uk.

Beer
If you get confused by the difference between beer, lager and ale, let us set the facts straight. Beer is a fermented drink made from grains and yeast. While there are many different types of beer, they normally fall into two basic categories: ale and lager. The term ‘lager’ is often interchanged with ‘beer’, which is why some consumers make a distinction between beer and ale, rather than lager and ale. It’s the brewing process that sets the two apart, and where the yeast ferments in each cask. Ales are usually stronger and more forceful in taste because of their relatively fast and warm fermentation (up to about 75°F), where the yeast rises to the top of the brew. Lagers have a longer, colder fermentation process, using a type of yeast that sinks to the bottom. This process removes haze and gives lagers their typically clean, rounded flavour.

Cask Ale Week
From 1 to 9 October, the theme of this year’s Cask Ale Week is Try Before You Buy. Encouraging new and existing drinkers to experience a wide range of cask beers available, pubs across the UK will use the event to tailor-make their own ale-based activities. Beer-loving Brits can expect quiz nights, beer festivals, meet-the-brewer events and food-matching for the nation’s favourite ales.

Dry hopping
Adding hops to the fermenter or keg after the beer has fermented is a technique used to put back the fragile, aromatic oils that are normally lost during the boiling process. The dry hops are allowed to soak in the finished beer for a period of time, from several days to several weeks. Try a pint of Samuel Adams Pale Ale or Sierra Nevada to fully experience the intense burst of hoppy aroma.

Economy
Dave Bailey, founder of the Hardknott Brewery in Cumbria, calculated in January 2011 that the average cost of making a pint of beer, with enough profit to sustain his brewery factored in, was 90p. Most of that goes on labour, equipment, duty and transport. The malt in your pint of ale only costs around 3p, the hops 2p, and power less than 1p.

Full Pint Campaign
Outraged that one in four pints were consistently short-measured by over five per cent of pubs, CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) launched its Full Pint Campaign in 2007. Despite promises made by the Labour Party during the 1997 General Election to protect consumers from short beer measures, 10 years later, nothing had been done and short measures were still costing beer drinkers a whopping £1.3 million a day. Following a high-profile public campaign, CAMRA visited 10 Downing Street in October 2008 to hand in a 23,361-name petition calling for an end to short beer measures in pubs and other licensed premises. Support CAMRA by becoming a member. Visit www.camra.org.uk.

Governor
An ale man through and through, Marco has recently launched his own proper English pint, The Governor. Collaborating with William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees brewery, the Northern duo set to work creating a traditional ale made from wholly British ingredients. ‘We’ve all sat on a bar stool, suffering a warm, cloudy, stale pint,’ notes Marco, who named the malty brew after his dad’s rescued greyhound. Soon to be available through selected pubs across the country, Marco maintains that The Governor is the perfect accompaniment to a classic British menu. Head to The Chequers, East Sussex, to try it – alongside delicious gastronomy from Marco’s Wheeler’s of St James collection. For a sneaky peak at the pub’s menu, check out www.the-chequersinn.co.uk.

Hops
The dried flower consof the female hop plant, hops are added to beer during the fermentation process for aroma and taste, as well as providing the desired level of bitterness.

Inspection
The Cask Marque award scheme is operated by an independent non-profit organisation called the Cask Marque Trust (www.cask-marque.co.uk). Pubs that join the scheme are visited unannounced by an independent assessor twice a year. All cask ales on sale are tested for temperature, appearance, aroma and taste. If they all reach the required Cask Marque Trust standard, then the pub passes and receives a plaque, framed certificate and merchandising material to inform customers of the award-level standard of its beers.

Junction Brewhouse
Situated to the rear of the train station and the National Railway Museum, the City of York’s only brewpub began production in 2010, using a three-barrel plant to produce train-themed ales. Visitors to the Brewhouse can join head brewer, Gareth Larkin, for a tasty pint of Trainspotter (a 3.8% ABV, fruity, old-fashioned bitter), Choo-Choo (a 4.2% ABV, blonde, hoppy number), or First Class (a 4.2% ABV, premium bitter). For more information, visit www.junctionbrewhouse.co.uk.

Kings Arms, West Sussex
Set on the edge of the pretty village of Fernhurst, The Kings Arms is a charming example of a quintessential English country inn. Our guest editor (and ale connoisseur), Marco Pierre White, is the man behind the magic and the bar is stocked with quaffable ales such as Adnams, Black Sheep and Timothy Taylor. There’s a range of delicious lunch, afternoon tea and supper menus, plus an impressive list of wines and Champagnes. Visit www.wheelerskingsarms.com.

Landlord’s Friend
The brewery in the village of Luddendenfoot, West Yorkshire, takes the pub’s name to heart when it labels its cask ales. Whether you want to wet your whistle with a Mr Smith (3.7% ABV), Mr Hough (4.4% ABV) or Frank’s Third Leg (4.1% ABV), the landlord provides a variety of tasty ‘friends’ to choose from.

Malted barley
Barley seed is the base ingredient of beer. Malting soaks and warms the seed to trick it into thinking it’s time to grow. It then halts the process so the seed doesn’t grow, but produces enzymes ready to feed the growth. These enzymes convert starches in the grain into fermentable sugars, which the yeast then turns into alcohol.  

Northern
The image of ale as a Northern drink is, in fact, misplaced. Nearly half (41.8%) of all cask volume is sold in London and the South East. Northern brands such as John Smith’s and Boddingtons are in decline, while the 2010 closure of the Newcastle Brown Ale brewery marked the end of its brewing heritage on Tyneside. What’s more,women
are stealing the limelight from the Northern blokey stereotype of typical ale drinkers. Within one year, the number of women drinkers trying real ale nearly doubled from 16% to 30%, according to a 2010 report.

Open rail
Ever fancied speeding along to the pub by rail instead of walking down the road to your local? Rail Ale Trails offer beer aficionados a chance to experience the scenic delights of the West Country, while sampling traditional real ales in fine rural pubs en route. Choose between the Atlantic Coast, Looe Valley or St Ives Bay lines. All the pubs are within a stone’s throw of their respective railway stations, so finding your way there (and back) couldn’t be easier. Ale voyagers can also collect stamps from each pub, earning them a free souvenir upon return to their starting destination. So soak up the beauty of Devon and Cornwall by train while savouring the delights of traditional real ales and fine rural pubs along the way. For more information, visit www.railaletrail.com.

Perry and cider month
Unlike real ale production, which can happen at any time of the year, real cider and perry can only be made when the fruit is ripe. Harvest time for fruit is roughly from September to November, and production is in full flow by October. To celebrate the harvest activity for the ‘wine of the west’, pubs will be hosting a variety of festivals and events, introducing new perry and ciders to pear and apple enthusiasts.

Quaffale
www.quaffale.org.uk is a not-for-profit website run by and for dedicated ale enthusiasts. Its aim is to provide detailed information on upcoming, updated and future breweries.Joining together to keep fellow ale fanatics in the know, individuals from all over the UK can input information to the site to ensure Brits are quaffing only the very tastiest of ales.  

Real ale
The term ‘real ale’ was coined in the early 1970s by CAMRA, to make it easier for patrons to distinguish between traditional beers and more modern, processed beers. Real ale is a natural, living product, brewed using traditional ingredients and left to mature in the cask (container). The ale is then transfered to another container for a unique process called secondary fermentation, and it is this that makes it special among beers. As it has only a limited shelf life, keeping it at the correct temperature in the pub cellar is crucial for the ale to release its particular flavours and aromas.

Sierra Nevada
In 1979, Ken Grossman began building a small brewery in Chico, California. His goal: to brew exceptional ales and lagers. Today, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is considered a premier craft brewery in the United States. Its pale ale is in high demand all over the world, and has won awards for its full-bodied, delectable hoppiness. Elaine Louie, author of America’s Best Bottled Microbrews (£9.98, Pocket Books), described it as ‘flawless’.

Timothy Taylor
Another one of Marco’s favourites, Timothy Taylor uses spring water that wells up from deep inside the Pennines to produce some of the country’s favourite traditional ales. As the brewery remains within the Taylor family, your pint of Ram Tam (4.3% ABV), Golden Best (3.5% ABV) or Dark Mild (3.5% ABV) will be filled with as much care as the pints brewed in 1858. Visit www.timothytaylor.co.uk.

Understand
Why should we drink ale? 1: Because it supports the little man against multinational corporations. Real ale originates in the craftsmanship of small breweries, unlike the lager imported from huge chemical-ridden plants. 2: Ale has a smaller profit margin than beer, as it has to be thrown away after its shelf life passes. 3: It has eco-credentials. A pint
of ale from a local brewery has a third of the carbon footprint of a bottle of imported lager. 4: It actually tastes of something. Ever wondered why lager is ‘best served cold’? Because the cold anaesthetises your taste buds. Ale is confident in its flavour. 5: Real ale is good for you. It’s heaving with antioxidants, iron and vitamin B.

Vinegar
If your beer smells vaguely damp, stale or of vinegar, but is clear, it has been in the cask too long. Ales that pass their shelf life develop a taste ranging from metallic to sour. Beer in this condition should be returned to the retailer.

Wellarth
Born of six generations of brewing in Wellgarth, Masham, Paul Theakston revamped his family brewing tradition and gave it a new name in 1992: the Black Sheep Brewery. Today, Black Sheep fans, including Marco himself, can enjoy classics such as Golden Sheep (3.9% ABV), Riggwelter (4.9% ABV) and Best Bitter (3.8% ABV). Visit  www.blacksheepbrewery.com.

X-rated beers
Sick of mainstream, generic beers that can sometimes be watery and tasteless? Try BrewDog (www.brewdog.com) for an X-rated beer experience. Martin and James, BrewDog’s 2007 founders, aim to push the boundaries and challenge people’s perceptions about what beer is and how it can be enjoyed. At this ABV, they’re not for the faint-hearted! Try the IPA (India Pale Ale) Sink the Bismarick (41% ABV). Kettle hopped, dry hopped and then freeze hopped for a deep, resinous and spicy aroma, this is IPA amplified. Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32% ABV), meanwhile, is a beer for the dedicated drinker. The Antarctic name symbolises the beer’s epic 14-month maturation before it is frozen, then frozen again, then frozen a third time to crank the alcohol volume off the scale.

Yeast
Brewer’s yeast is a type of fungus that grows both with or without oxygen in the process of fermentation. During this process, the yeast cells take in simple sugars like glucose and maltose, and produce carbon dioxide and alcohol as waste.

Zingerbeer
Head to Birling in Kent and you’ll find the delectable Zingerbeer (4.1% ABV), a refreshing light ale with hints of ginger for that ‘zing’ factor.

 Images: Getty