How to Order Real Ale at a Pub: A First-Timer's Guide

How do you order real ale at a pub?

To order real ale at a pub, find the handpumps on the bar, read the small badge on each one for the beer's name, style and strength, pick the one that sounds closest to what you like, and ask for it by name with a size: "A pint of the bitter, please," or "A half of the golden ale." If you cannot decide, describe the flavour you want and let the bar staff point you. Settle how you are getting home before the first sip, not after the third.

What is real ale, and how do you spot it on the bar?

Real ale is beer that finishes maturing in the cask it is served from. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the consumer group that coined the term, describes it on a branch page explaining what real ale is as "a 'living' product", containing live yeast that keeps conditioning the beer until it is served, and naturally carbonated rather than given added gas. The same page's advice for spotting it is to look for "beer served from the traditional hand-pull or direct from the cask rather than from a keg line."

On the bar, that means looking for the handpumps: tall levers, usually in a row, each wearing a badge called a pump clip. The pump clip is the label. It typically shows the brewery, the beer's name, often a style word such as bitter or porter, and the strength as ABV (alcohol by volume, the percentage of the drink that is alcohol). The shorter illuminated taps beside them usually serve keg beer and lager.

If a pump clip has been turned to face the wall, that beer has usually run out or is not ready to serve. It is not a puzzle you are meant to solve; choose from the clips facing you.

How do you choose a real ale when every name is unfamiliar?

Ignore the beer names, which are often puns or local landmarks. Read the style word and the ABV instead; together they carry most of the information.

CAMRA's own list of beer styles runs to 25 headings, including "Mild", "Session Bitter", "Premium Golden Ale", "Session Porter" and "Session Stout". The "Session", "Premium" and "Strong" prefixes broadly signal strength, from lower to higher. As a rough, editorial map of what the common style words tend to mean in the glass:

• Mild: dark, soft and gentle, usually low in bitterness. A kind first pint for someone who finds hoppy beer harsh.
• Bitter: amber to copper, with a malty, biscuity body and a dry finish. The traditional everyday pint in many pubs.
• Golden or blond ale: pale and bright, often with citrus or floral hop character. The usual pick for lager drinkers trying cask for the first time.
• Pale ale and IPA: more hop aroma and more bitterness, ranging from gentle to assertive.
• Porter and stout: dark and roasty, with coffee or chocolate notes from the malt.
• Old ale, strong ale and barley wine: rich, warming and noticeably stronger. Better sipped as a half than downed as a pint.

Then check the ABV, which sits on the clip in smaller print. Two beers with the same style word can differ by a percentage point or more.

Still stuck? Describe what you like rather than what you think you ought to order. "Something light and not too bitter," "I usually drink lager," or "I like dark beer but nothing heavy" gives bar staff enough to work with. Many pubs will pour a small taster if you ask; it is a courtesy rather than a right, so on a crowded night decide from the clip instead.

What size should you ask for?

You can ask for a pint or a half pint anywhere, and some pubs also offer a third of a pint, often as part of a tasting flight of several small glasses. GOV.UK's guidance on specified quantities lists the by-the-glass measures for draught beer and cider as "Third, half, two-thirds of a pint and multiples of half a pint", so a two-thirds measure is legal too, though not every pub stocks the glass.

For a first real ale order, a half is the sensible size. You learn whether you like the style without committing to a full pint of it, and you leave room to try a second beer. Asking for "a half" is completely ordinary.

What exactly do you say at the bar?

Wait your turn, catch the eye of the person serving, and name the beer, then the size: "Could I have a half of the mild, please?" Pointing at the pump clip while you say it is normal, and it saves you pronouncing a beer name that may have been invented specifically to be unpronounceable. You will almost always pay as you order. Our guide to British pub etiquette covers the invisible queue, tipping and how rounds work.

The bar staff will then draw the beer up by hand on the pump, which takes a moment longer than opening a keg tap.

What will the bar staff ask you, and what if the pint looks wrong?

The most common question is simply "Pint or half?" if you forgot to say. Some staff will ask whether you would like to try it first, or will mention that it is a strong one if you have picked something high on the ABV scale. If you look young, expect to be asked for ID: under-18s, as GOV.UK's page on alcohol and young people puts it, cannot "buy or try to buy alcohol". The same page notes that "if you're 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can drink (but not buy) beer, wine or cider with a meal."

Expect the beer to be cool rather than cold. Cask Marque, an accreditation scheme for cask beer quality, says in its guide to keeping and serving cask beer that "Real ale is served at cellar temperature 11-13°C, which is somewhat cooler than room temperature." The same guide explains why: too warm and the beer "loses its natural conditioning", too cold and "it will kill off the subtle flavour."

Real ale should taste fresh and lively, with a gentle natural sparkle. Some modern cask beers are deliberately hazy, so a cloudy pint is not automatically a bad one; if you are unsure, ask whether it is meant to look like that. A beer that smells of vinegar, tastes sour when the clip promises nothing of the kind, or is completely flat is a fair reason to take it back. Do so promptly after the first sip, explain calmly, and a well-run pub will usually swap it.

Freshness is also why busy pubs tend to pour the best pint. Once a cask is connected for serving, the Cask Marque guide says, "How long the beer lasts depends on its strength": stronger beers "may last for weeks", while "weaker beers are normally drunk within a few days." In its words, "turnover is so important for quality".

How strong is a pint of real ale, and how will you get home?

Many real ales sit around the strength of an everyday beer, but some are considerably stronger, and the ABV on the clip is the figure to watch. The NHS page on calculating alcohol units lists a pint of lower-strength beer at 3.6% ABV as 2 units and a pint of higher-strength beer at 5.2% ABV as 3 units, and gives the formula "strength (ABV) x volume (ml) ÷ 1,000 = units". The same page states that "men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis."

If you are driving, the safest plan is not to drink alcohol at all. GOV.UK's drink-drive limit page sets the blood limit at 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres in Scotland, and states that "it's impossible to say exactly how many drinks this equals - it's different for each person." Order a soft drink or an alcohol-free beer, or agree on a driver who will not drink before you set out.

This matters in rural areas such as the Durham dales, where villages can be some distance apart and public transport may be limited, particularly in the evening. Check bus times or book a taxi before you arrive rather than at closing time. Our guide to things to do in County Durham helps with planning a day out around a pub visit.

What does a good first real ale order look like?

Scan the handpumps, skip the names, and read the style words and ABV figures. Choose the gentlest-sounding option, perhaps a golden ale or a session bitter at the lower end of the strength range. Say, "A half of that one, please," point, and pay. Then notice whether you liked the bitterness, the malt or the hop aroma, and let that choose the next one.

Real ale earns its place at the table, too. A malty bitter alongside a steak and ale pie echoes the gravy in the filling, and that pairing is a fine reason to come back for a second visit rather than stay for a third pint.

Sources

• What is real ale? (CAMRA South Hertfordshire branch)
• Breweries and beer styles (CAMRA)
• Weights and measures: the law, specified quantities (GOV.UK)
• Alcohol and young people (GOV.UK)
• Keeping and serving cask beer (Cask Marque)
• Calculating alcohol units (NHS)
• Drink-drive limits (GOV.UK)