Today I brewed 21 litres of Old Hooky Bitter clone, the original is brewed in Hook Norton near Oxford. My recipe is
3700g Maris Otter
300g Flaked Maize
200g Medium Crystal Malt
35g Black malt
30g Challenger at 60m
25g Fuggles at 15m
30g Bramling Cross at 80C whirlpool 20m
Nottingham style...
I never commented on bitters at 3.6%-4%, I did however on 3.3% which is too low. Personally I only brew bitters at 4% and above but for me Best Bitter should be 4%-5% not 3.8%-4.5%as classified by BJCP. I notice that the list of beers below 4% that none are called Ordinary Bitter, however many...
Orkney Brewery do 2 great beer Dark Island a Best Bitter and Skull Splitter at 8.5%. Skull Splitter was name after a Norse ruler of Orkney in the ninth century.
A pint of my Summer Lightning clone sat in the garden at temperature of 25C. I’ve had a busy day, cut the back lawn with a fly mow, tried to fix my petrol mower failed so ordered a new carburettor and bottled 34 bottles of Dogfish Head 60 at 6%.
An ABV of 3.2% isn’t a bitter in my opinion it’s a mild. I would never go below 3.8% for an Ordinary Bitter but the term isn’t used in the UK. Who is going to buy something called Ordinary.