Top 10 English Bottled Beers

Here are the top ten English bottle beers to check out when you get the chance:

1) Newcastle Brown Ale: (1927) Currently considered to be the best selling bottled beer in Europe...famous for being the first Northern-style Brown Ale.

2) Bass Ale: (1777) From Burton-on-Trent. When dark stouts and porters were the most popular beers, William Bass set out to copy the London brewer Hodgson and make a pale coloured beer. There are two bottled versions available in Britain. The version called "Our Finest Ale" is the tastiest and closest version to the original. The version sent to America is blander and stronger than the British versions. There is also a Belgian version which is considered the best of the bottled beers carrying the Bass name.

3) Worthington White Shield: (1829) White Shield is now owned by Coors, though brewed at the mostly autonomous Museum Brewing Company. This is the genuine Burton Pale Ale and another brew produced in Burton-on-Trent.

4) Gale’s Prize Old Ale: Brewed in Hampshire, it has a “dried apricots in vinegar” flavor (motelpogo). Prize Old Ale is best had after it has aged 20 years.
5) Theakston’s Old Peculier: England’s best-known and most popular Old Ale.

6) Morland Old Speckled Hen: (1979) It was launched on the anniversary of the founding of the MG car factory (the beer's name refers to the old, mud spattered factory runabout which the locals dubbed “old speckled ‘un”).

7) Harvey’s Imperial Extra Double Stout: (1700's) Also known as A. le Coq Imperial Stout, it was named after a Belgian by the name of A. Le Coq who was the man in charge of exports of this beer to the Baltic region. The Courage Imperial Stout is rarely made - it hasn’t been brewed since the 1990’s, if you actually find a bottle it will cost you. There is an Estonian brewery, Tartu, that revived A. Le Coq’s Imperial Extra Double Stout. It is only brewed once a year, and then aged for two years before being sold to the public.

8) Robinson’s Old Tom : (1900's) It is an aged beer and has an oaky, wine quality. It can be close in style to a barley wine, but is more complex than that. This beer has won the Supreme Champion at the CAMRA Winter Beers 2000 festival award.

9) Wadworth 6X: (1920's) This brew still deliveres its beers around Devizes in a horse-drawn cart. Its a traditional bitter. Though the beer is big in the UK, it's not exported to America.

10) Mackeson Stout: From a Kent brewry, the XXX that is exported to America has a higher abv than the original British milk stout which is 3% abv. Because of its low strength, sweet taste and supposed nutritional value, Mackeson has long been a beer associated with little old ladies. (source: ratebeer.com)