What Is Real Ale?

By John Rowling

Real Ale is living beer. That simple definition comes straight from literature published by CAMRA UK. Note that there are no qualifiers regarding adjuncts, Reinheitsgebot, etc. Carol and I recently made a trip to England and checked out the "Real Ale" scene there. I thought it might be worthwhile to see where CAMRA Victoria and CAMRA UK might agree or disagree over the definition of Real Ale.

According to the CAMRA literature, Real Ale continues to ferment and develop its full flavour in the cask. Draught Real Ale is usually served from a hand-pump, and occasionally straight from the barrel. Some pubs, particularly in the Midlands and North of England dispense Real Ale from an electric pump. In Scotland a tall fount may be used. Real Ale is also called "cask beer" or "cask conditioned beer". Some bottled beers contain live yeast. These continue to ferment and develop in flavour in the bottle similarly to cask beers. These are also Real Ales and usually say "live", "sedimented" or "bottle conditioned" on the label.

There are many myths about British Real Ale. It is NOT ‘warm’, ‘cloudy’ or ‘flat’ - any beer which is any of these should be returned to the bar. Any size of brewery can brew Real Ale - practically every brewery in Britain brews at least some real ales. The sad thing is that many breweries brew real ale, and then lose all their beer’s "real" character by filtering and pasteurization.

(A word of caution here. Cask or bottle conditioning does not guarantee quality. If what went into the cask was poor beer, then nothing will help this. We tasted some poor Real Ales in England, primarily through poor cellarmanship. We found one beer at a brewpub, The Golden Galleon, Cuckmere Haven, Sussex, that was undrinkable.)

The CAMRA UK Real Ale purists insist that nothing but air be allowed to enter the cask to replace voidage. Some publicans with low turnover cannot afford to waste beer and use a cask breather to prevent oxidation. Cask breathers allow a blanket of CO2 to sit on top of the beer and prolong the its life. The purists refuse to accept cask breathers, but we found that this position was not defended by most of the CAMRA members we met. They felt that the availablity of Real Ale is the most important issue. The purists argue that the blanket of CO2 makes the beer acidic and prickly. This should not occur if it is not under pressure but drawn in demand. Most brewers I have spoken to say it would take several pounds of pressure to make a discernible difference to the beer.

If CAMRA Victoria were to accept the purists’ definition of Real Ale, then the only real ale available in B.C. would be the casks served at Spinnakers at 4 p.m. on Friday. (Also, the GCBF would have a rather shorter beer list!) The next closest beers to the CAMRA UK definition would be the unfiltered tank conditioned beers available at the many brewpubs around the province. There are plenty of these to choose from now. Until brewpubs are allowed to sell to other licensees, most B.C. pubs will only be able to serve unfiltered, unpasteurized (but not cask conditioned) Real Ale. What we find at most pubs is a mix of craft beers and mainstream keg beers. Keg beers are dead beers processed to give them a long shelf life. Unfortunately filtering removes most of their flavour and character; they are made fizzy with extra gas; and, they are served cold to mask the unpleasant flavour which pasteurizing gives them.

Recently brewers have produced new keg beers which are designed to be served very cold using nitrogen gas. These are often very bland and less obviously fizzy than the old keg beers. These have been dubbed "nitrokegs" by CAMRA UK. Draught Guinness was the first nitrokeg beer (I’m not very keen on it, I find it’s rather like drinking mousse!). Caffreys and Killkenny are other examples. These beers are frothy and take time to settle - which tends to mean short measure on a pint.

U-Brew beers are very close to Real Ale, as, although they are filtered, the pore size on the filters is relatively large. This allows some yeast to stay in the beer and fermentation continues in the bottle. This is why most U-brew beers are best a couple of weeks after bottling.

In North America Real Ale faces an uncertain future. There’s no doubt that the converts that have discovered the joys of a good pint of cask-conditioned beer will continue to seek it out. But, only a small segment of the population will be exposed to Real Ale. Personally, I believe that CAMRA Victoria should aim for the strictest definition of Real Ale: living beer. I believe that we should continue to spread the word through our most public event, the Great Canadian Beer Festival. I also realize that there are many beers available in B.C. that are very drinkable, but do not fall within that narrow definition. I shall continue to drink these beers, at the same time that I work to convince every brewery to brew Real Ale.