Beer differences in the United States and the United Kingdom
Posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 6:28pm. #
Late last month, a quick trip to Boston: and a reminder of the thing that makes drinking in a US bar special -the bar taps.
If you’re reading this in the US, you’ll be used to the range of bar taps, above. Square ones, round ones, ones looking like Guinness glasses, ones made of wood, plastic, metal, ceramic. Hardly ergonomic, and not very tidy, every single beer has a different one.
It’s different here in the UK, where – for proper beer at least – 
there is a uniform style of hand pump – and a moderately uniform style of ‘pump clip’, the small metal clip that tells you what the beer is. The bigger hand pump is required because, unlike keg beer, ale isn’t kept under gas pressure in the UK.
It’s certainly easier to tell, at a glance, what beers are on tap with the tall US bar taps; though the lack of gleaming brass hand pumps takes a bit of getting used to. As does the price (beer in a US bar is more expensive than the UK), and the requirement to tip the barman – all alien concepts!
The nice comparison is that, at least in the US, even in the smartest bars and hotels, you still find the ramshackle bar taps. Compare that to the UK, where beer sophistication in many top-range hotels is simply a bottle of Becks.
- Enjoying a beer? On Twitter? Tell us about it – add #beertweet to your tweet and give us a quick tasting note…
Main photo: Ryan Harvey, from Portland OR. Used under licence. Apparently Portland has one of the best craft beer scenes in the US. Must visit.
That’s pretty interesting actually! It’s been over 10 years since I’ve been to London, so I don’t really remember – but its interesting how the ‘beer culture’ has evolved differently on either side of the pond.