What is the most important factor in choosing your real ale?

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Sunday 23 May 2010

Dark & Delicious

The West Country has some superb dark ales, porters and stouts. English ales are for my money amongst the greatest in the World and the West Country can stake a claim to have more than a few brews numbered amongst those.
These beer styles are much more than just „winter warmers‟ being great food companions for a variety of different dishes, from aged cheddar to dark, rich and bitter chocolate dishes. They also make a stout (pardon the pun) base for flavoured beers. Scottish Kelpie and Alba ale, using seaweed and pine needles respectively. Coffee flavoured beer, whiskey „fusion‟ ales...a vast variety of flavours can be blended with darker beers as they are robust enough not to be swamped by the added ingredients.
One of the most interesting I‟ve heard of to date is a sloe flavoured beer, made in Somerset