I'm not bitter. Really, I'm not.

Bitter is a British term for pale ale. Boy's bitter is less than 3%ABV, while a strong bitter has at least 7%ABV.

By 1830 the terms bitter and pale ale were synonymous. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale (compared to stout), while customers in pubs would commonly order bitters. Same thing.

Today, one could say that in Britain, if a pale ale is in a bottle, it's pale ale. If it's on tap, the same beer is a bitter. Here's your roadmap:

Session or Ordianry Bitter: up to 4.1%ABV

Regualr or Best Bitter: between 4.2% and 4.7%ABV

Premium or Strong Bitter: 4.8%ABV and above. Also known as Extra Special Bitter, or in the USA, ESB.

VS ESB: You heard it hear first. We've never run across this term before, but we thought it suited Barley's strong bitter. Very Special Extra Special Bitter.

BTW, we suspect that ESB is used in the USA because craft brewers were afraid of calling one of their beers bitter. That's before IPAs became all the rage. That's certainly true in our case. Back in 1992, we considered calling Barley's Pale Ale, Barley's Bitter, because that's what it is (see above.) We didn't because (see above.)

Barley's VS ESB

Style Guidelines: Premium ESB

Rotation Schedule: Right now, this is scheduled to be a one-off brew

Food Pairings: Barbecue; buttery cheeses such as brie, gouda or havarti; nutty cheeses such as asiago or aged parmesan; pork; game

Body: medium

Color: dark copper

Grain: British pale, crystal and carapils

Bittering Hops: Millenium, Willamette and UK Goldings

Finishing Hops: UK Goldings and Willamette

Original Gravity: 1.080 due to increased grain bill (that's the Very Special speaking!)

IBUs (estimate): 52.36

Alcohol By Volume: 8.2%

First Tapped: October 20, 2010

Barley's Smokehouse & Brewpub Ale House No. 2xx 1130 Dublin Road Columbus OH 43215