Pale to dark: how we set the bar

Walk up to the bar and the beers run from palest on the left to darkest on the right. It saves a lot of questions.

Colour tells you most of what a beer will taste like: pale beers are light and crisp, amber bitters are biscuity, dark milds, porters and stouts taste of toast, coffee and chocolate.

Brewers measure colour on the EBC scale, from about 4 for the palest lager to 100 and beyond for a stout. Our bar runs from EBC 6 to EBC 100 this week (sample). Ask for a taster of anything.