That notion of warm beer also implies that there is only one home-grown beer style that we all stick to. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over time, a whole spectrum of widely divergent types has been developed, meaning that, whatever your tastes, there is a brew for you. The following is a guide to the principal styles.

Bitter

Bitter ale is the stuff that has flowed in the veins of the English since medieval times. If there is one pre-eminent national preference, this is it. So called for the flavour imparted to it by hops grown across the south of England, bitter is generally a mid-brown brew that is best enjoyed when conditioned in the cask in the pub cellar, and dispensed through a hand-pump.

Although bitter lost a lot of ground among younger drinkers in the 1960s, when bulk-produced, German-style lagers suddenly found popularity, it has since enjoyed a renaissance through the efforts of, among others, the Campaign for Real Ale. Real bitter is often the staple of the country pubs, but urban pubs now usually offer one or two so-called guest bitters alongside the tankerloads of lager they sell.

Bitter is essentially an offshoot of the style of beer traditionally known as pale ale. These were beers where the original drying of the malted grains had been done with coke. Although once designated pale ales, bitter as a beer term gradually came into use during the course of the 19th century, initially to refer to beers that had a noticeably higher hop content. These days, the term has more or less edged out any reference to pale.

There are essentially three different grades of bitter: ordinary, best and premium, ascending in quality and alcoholic strength. The last is sometimes known as ESB (extra-special bitter) and usually has a potency in excess of 5%.

Beer pumps at The Neptune in Hove, Sussex
© Cognitive Applications/Robert Gillam

IPA (India or Imperial Pale Ale)

This style originated during the days of the great trading ships. Plying the eastward route to the Indian subcontinent, the ships took kegs of beer to the British colonial communities there. Long sea voyages are not generally kind to alcohol, and much of the beer shipped to India arrived in a sorry state. The answer was a stronger ale that was highly hopped, the extra alcohol and the hops together helping to preserve it. Its invention is credited to George Hodgson at the Bow brewery in east London.

These days, IPAs tend to be in the region of 5.5-6%, but in the 18th century they were considerably stronger. IPA thus has the reputation of being a powerful, hoppy beer. Fuller’s of London still makes an IPA, although this is really a style whose time has gone, as far as the English market is seemingly concerned. Many products labelled as IPA are only bland shadows of what this style of beer was like in its Georgian glory.

Mild

Mild ale, which remains popular in the north of England, is a lighter-bodied, but usually dark-coloured, beer with a relatively low hop content. Its name, usually thought to denote its absence of bitterness, more probably derives from its being new or young beer (“mild” once having had the meaning of young and fresh). The beer was sold in a hurry, before it had undergone proper cask maturation, in order to meet demand.

King and Barnes Mild Ale from Sussex is a highly rated version of this style.

Porter

The name given to this dark brown ale derives from the fact that it was once especially favoured by porters in the London street markets. It owes its deep colour to the fact that the grains are burned black during malting.

Porter began life as a kind of beer cocktail popular during the early 18th century. Classically an equal-parts mixture of hopped and unhopped beers and “tuppeny” (a strong ale), it was first of all known as “three threads”, or “entire” (the latter because it drew on the entire range of beers in the shop). The first commercially blended brew was Ralph Harwood’s Entire, invented in 1722.

Particularly strong blends of porter, as it would become known, were referred to as “stout porter”, from the usage of stout to mean “strong” or “robust”.

For a fine introduction to this style, seek out Shepherd Neame Original Porter, a rich, chocolate-brown beer.

Stout

Stout ale, in which the global brand leader is Ireland’s Guinness, is also brewed from roasted grains, giving it the characteristic opaque black hue. There are two basic styles of stout, dry and sweet , the former (typified by Guinness) containing more hops.

Other variants may contain any one of a number of other possible ingredients: lactose (known as milk stout), oatmeal, chocolate or coffee. Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout from Tadcaster in Yorkshire, and Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, are good examples of flavoured stouts.

Probably the most opulent way to drink stout is with champagne. Mixed half-and-half, the drink is known as Black Velvet, and packs quite a punch as champagne is more than twice as strong as most stout.

Brown ale

Created in the early years of the 20th century, brown ale is a lighter, less hoppy version of a classic dark ale. Reddish-brown in colour from the roasting of the grains, it is most closely associated with the city of Newcastle, where it was first brewed, Newcastle Brown being the beer of choice in this style around the world. It is relatively low in alcohol, and yet quite rounded and full in flavour.