Real Ale

Back to Basics

Real Ale is beer, made like it always has been.
It does not suffer the indignity of pasteurisation or filtering to take all the goodness out, and does not have flatulence-inducing gases added.

It’s just beer. Real Beer.

Usually it is served by a hand pump, like the one on the right. You can see the bar person physically pulling the beer to serve it.
You may occasionally see beer served direct from the cask, by gravity from a tap.
You often see this at a Beer Festival. It’s a lot better than the fake stuff that only sells at all because they spend lots of money on clever advertising campaigns.

Keg or smooth beer is not Real Ale, and usually costs more, so that the advertising agency can buy some new Porsches. Only a mug would buy it.

If the beer you see is dispensed from a hideous sculpted or illuminated monstrosity on the bar, leave it alone; it’s not real (it will be lager, keg beer or smooth beer. Leave that for the others and go for the tasty real thing on the hand pump).

Get real; go for the hand pump!

Some further reading;

100% NATURale

Beer should be more like wine

Discernment