Sharp’s Brewery

Why it matters

The clearest case study in what national distribution does to a cask beer: Doom Bar reached a scale no traditional regional bitter had, and the argument about whether that changed it is one of the more instructive disputes in modern British brewing.

Details

Reference beers

• Sharp’s Doom Bar4–4.3% ABV

  The best-selling cask ale in Britain by volume, named after a sandbank at the mouth of the Camel estuary.

BeerHQ carries only the products that anchor something. This is not the brewery’s full range.

Styles it is associated with

• Best bitter — A step up from ordinary bitter in strength and depth, with more malt body while staying firmly sessionable.

Traditions

• British cask ale — Beer that completes its fermentation in the container it is served from and is dispensed without added gas, at cellar rather than fridge temperature.