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I am a big fan of Real Ale and enjoy trying all the different types on offer. For anyone just starting to try new beers though, it can be quite daunting trying to find your way around the variety of styles on offer. Generally speaking, British beers can be split up into eight categories and the majority of beers that a Real Ale drinker comes across should fit into these headings. (You will find though that the styles can vary regionally; the beers of Scotland are different generally to English and Welsh beers, for example, in that they tend to be darker, sweeter and less heavily hopped.)

MILD ALES. Basically a Mild is a beer that is brewed using less hops than the other styles of beer. They can be a variety of colours and strengths, but generally tend to be darker in colour (due to the roasted barley or dark malts used to produce them) and have fruit, nut, roast or chocolate flavours. Milds also tend to be lower in alcohol; ranging from 3 to 3.5% ABV. There are exceptions (just to add confusion) and there are light coloured Milds (like Timothy Taylor Golden Best) and stronger Milds (like Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby). Mild ales are often quite difficult to find, but are becoming increasingly popular. This popularity should hopefully increase following the award of Champion Beer of Britain for Hobsons Mild at the 2007 Great British Beer Festival.

GOLDEN ALES. This is a relatively new style of beer and represents the influx of pale, hoppy beers that are available on the bars today. Examples of Golden ales include Spire Land of Hop and Glory and Hop Back Summer Lightning. Golden ales vary in strength and can be anything from 3.5 to over 5% ABV. Out of all the Real Ales around today this is the style that is really soaring in popularity and most breweries tend to brew at least one beer that fits into this category. Generally speaking Golden ales are pale coloured, can be served cool and have a biscuit, malt and citrus flavour.

STOUTS AND PORTERS. Porter is a beer type that came into being in the early eighteenth century. They were originally produced to replace the mix of brown ale, "stale" ale and pale ale that were popular way back in time (stale refers to well matured, rather than off beer). They became known as Porters because they were very popular with the market porters in London.

During this period the stronger beers produced by a brewery were called the "stout". Strong Porters therefore were called Stout Porters; a name that was eventually cut down to Stouts. Stouts

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