Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

Cask and bottle-conditioned beers

Cask and

bottle-conditioned Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer ...

beers are referred to as real ale by CAMRA, as both fit its description of beers served from a container in which they have undergone secondary fermentation.

Filtered beer

The fundamental distinction between real and other ales is that the former are not filtered and the

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

is still present and living in the container from which the real ale is served, although it will have settled to the bottom and is usually not poured into the glass. The natural carbon dioxide is lost during filtration so filtered beer has to be artificially re-carbonated. This can make the beer very 'gassy'. Because the yeast is still present and alive in real ale, a slow process of secondary

fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...

continues in the cask or bottle on the way to the consumer, allowing the beer to retain its natural carbonation. Another distinction is that real ale should be served without the aid of added

, or "top pressure" as it is commonly known. Common dispensing methods are the handpump, or "by

gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

" direct from the cask. Electric pumps are occasionally seen, especially in the Midlands and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Water pumps, powered by mains water pressure, were the traditional means of dispensing draught beer in Scotland but this method is discontinued.

Cask breather

A cask breather works by adding

into the cask to replace the beer as it is drawn off, rather than allowing in air, thus extending the beer's saleable life. However, the added gas is not at the high pressure typical of keg beer. Before 2018, cask ales which were kept "fresh" by the use of a cask breather were not classified by CAMRA as real ale. In 2018, this policy was changed, allowing pubs using cask breathers to be listed in the '' Good Beer Guide''.

CAMRA

The expression "real ale" has been heavily promoted by CAMRA to attract the attention of the media in the UK. The term was coined in the 1970s, when there were very few independent breweries left, and most production had gone over to filtered and pasteurised ales served under carbon dioxide pressure ("keg beer").

References

External links