British ale

Ordinary Bitter

BJCP 11A

A session beer with nothing spare. Low gravity, moderate bitterness, and an English yeast character that has to carry the whole thing.

Vital statistics

Each bar is drawn against the full range of all 98 styles

Original gravity

1.030 - 1.039

Final gravity

1.007 - 1.011

Bitterness

25 IBU - 35 IBU

Colour

8 SRM - 14 SRM

Alcohol

3.2% - 3.8%

Colour also 16-28 EBC

What goes wrong

Making it watery. Low gravity is not low body; mash warm and keep some crystal malt for the finish.

Commercial examples

Bateman's XBBrains BitterBrakspear GravityFuller's Chiswick BitterGreene King IPATetley's Original Bitter

Reference examples of the style, as listed in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Availability varies by market and year.

Vital statistics as published in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Not yet checked against the published guidelines: treat these ranges as a planning aid and read the source at bjcp.org before entering a competition.

The rest of the british ale family

11B

Best Bitter

3.8-4.6% · 25-40 IBU

11C

Strong Bitter

4.6-6.2% · 30-50 IBU

12A

British Golden Ale

3.8-5% · 20-45 IBU

12B

Australian Sparkling Ale

4.5-6% · 20-35 IBU

13A

Dark Mild

3-3.8% · 10-25 IBU

13B

British Brown Ale

4.2-5.9% · 20-30 IBU

Plan a batch to these numbers.

Bitterness Colour Alcohol