BURTON
STRONG BITTER     5.4% Alc/vol

A highly hopped, traditional English style ale, rich flavours and aromas. Red Duck Burton Strong Bitter is more closely related to the original Burton pale ales from the start of the 18th century, than its descendant, India Pale Ale.

Red Duck Burton Strong Bitter is best served from 6°C to 12°C, depending on the individuals preference, and in a pint glass. It has quite low carbonation levels, like traditional british pub ales, with a small, but creamy head.

BACKGROUND
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a large town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. For centuries, Burton upon Trent has been associated with the brewing industry due to the quality of the local water (from boreholes, not from the River Trent), which has a high proportion of dissolved salts, predominantly caused by the gypsum in the surrounding hills.

The Burton pale ales also differed as they were made from malt dried with coke. Most malt produced in England at the time, was from wood fired kilns, resulting in colour that was not only darker, but highly variable. Coke had been first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn't until around 1703 that the term pale ale was first used.

Previously, Englishmen had drunk mainly stout and porter - dark beers flavoured with roasted malts - but pale ales and bitter came to dominate.

By 1830 onward the expressions bitter and pale ale were synonymous. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less
noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild.

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