Best Bitter

A best bitter pours pale amber to copper, clear, with a low head; from the cask it may have almost none. You taste malt first, bread and a little caramel, then the bitterness that gives the style its name, with an earthy or floral English hop. At 3.8–4.6% it is built for a few pints, and for this style drinkability counts as much as flavour.

Where it comes from

British bitters grew out of English pale ale as a draught beer after the late 1800s, and crystal malt became common in them after the First World War. Traditionally a bitter is real ale: served fresh from the cask, by gravity or hand pump, at cellar temperature, with no added pressure. Bottled and keg versions made for export run stronger, fizzier and sweeter, and taste different from the cask beer in a British pub.

Best is the brewery’s step up from its ordinary bitter: more malt, a little more alcohol and often better ingredients. Brewers use pale ale, amber or crystal malt, often some sugar, English finishing hops and a British yeast with character.

How to serve it

Pull it from the cask at 10–13 °C into a nonic pint. It belongs with roast chicken or fish and chips, and a firm English cheese.

Next to its neighbours

A best bitter carries more malt and alcohol than an ordinary bitter and less than a strong bitter. It shows more caramel and colour than a British golden ale. Where American ales load hops late in the boil, a bitter puts its weight on the early, bittering hops.

Best Bitter in numbers

Classic example

Fuller's

Original gravity

1.040–1.048

Final gravity

1.008–1.012

Food

Roast chicken, fish and chips; firm English cheeses; oatmeal raisin cookies

Classic examples

Fuller's London Pride; Timothy Taylor Landlord; Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter; Adnams Southwold Bitter; Salopian Darwin’s Origin; Surrey Hills Shere Drop

BJCP style

11B Best Bitter

Sources

Checked October 29, 2026.

1. 11B. Best Bitter, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
2. English-Style Bitter — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association