At 08:55 30/03/98 EST, you wrote:
>Any Brits fill me in on why "bitter" - I actually find it rather sweet.
It could have something to do with the fact that the Poms used to make beer
without hops, until the Germans taught them otherwise. Perhaps "bitter" was
the first variety of ale made with hops. It might also have something to do
with the type of hops used.
A bitter is usually, but not necessarily, more bitter than an ale of the
same colour. (Some small blocks are bigger than some big blocks, too!) The
best ones also have a sort of indefinable quality sometimes called "creamy"
(although it's nothing like milk; "cream" is used to describe scotch, as well).
Two final points: (1) Australian bitter comes no where near English (or
Irish) bitter (in fact, most Aussies, including the brewers, don't even know
the difference between an ale and a lager); (2) I've made lots of delicious
ales, but a good bitter always eluded me.
Allen Nugent
Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering
University of New South Wales
Sydney 2052 Australia
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