When one thinks of the word “beer,” one generally imagines a clear, cold, fizzy lager, often with nationalist overtones. Budweiser is American, Corona is Mexican, Asahi is Japanese, and so on. England’s beer identity, however, is rooted in so-called real ale—cloudy, tepid, vaguely effervescent, and stubbornly regional.
Traditionally this ale was unfiltered, unpasteurized, and dispensed from still-fermenting casks, without any added carbon dioxide. In the 1960s, however, modernized force-carbonated kegs started to gain popularity in the U.K., and ales became something of a niche product. These days, they are often ordered only by a pub’s corner-dwelling septuagenarian regulars.
