Modern Beer styles

[oldboots]

Confused of Yorkshire writes;

This evening my local real ale emporium had four beers on styled “Blonde”, they ranged in colour from “pale” to mid-brown, all around the 4% mark, which of course set me thinking. When I were a lad there were only a few fairly clearly defined styles, but now we have all sorts.

Thirty years ago, the weakest was MILD in light or dark versions with strengths usually between 3% & 3.7% , “dark” meant ruby through to almost black, light MILDs being about the same as a bitter in colour but the same strength as dark MILD and as lightly hopped, Marstons Merrie Monk at 4.3% was considered a very strong MILD.

Bitters were either “Boys” in the West Country (3%-3.5%), ordinary Bitter (3.4-4%) or Best Bitter/Premium Bitter (3.8-4.7%) occasionally there would be something stronger like Fullers ESB or the then sweetish and fresh hoppy aroma'd, Gales HSB; but colour wise they were all mainly mid browns except Boddingtons which was reknowned for being “straw” coloured. Hopping rates varied but all were noticably hoppier than MILD although not as highly hopped as some of todays beers, Holts Bitter was considered very, very hoppy.

Next was Old Ale or Barley Wine (usually only called Barley Wine when bottled, Owd Roger not withstanding) which had strengths of 5%-10% and would be dark amber to dark brown often with a slightly sweet edge.

Lastly were the stouts which pretty much meant Guinness at 4.2% and black as yer 'at, although Murphys and later Beamish made an appearance, the latter two having a more "spicy" taste to Guinness. I have missed out oddities like Gales 5X which was a blend and seasonal.

Enough history, so what about now? Can anyone tell me the styles of beer we have to choose from and what are their defining characteristics? Is it just a marketing ploy to call a “Bitter” a “Blonde” because no-one actually knows what the style is meant to be?