Before I launch into reviewing the veritable cornucopia of beers that I have been drinking recently I thought it would be handy to give provide a quick glossary in order for my semi-drunken ramblings to be more easily understood by the world at large!

Some of them are brewing terms and some of them are just colloquialisms and slang

So here they are in no particular order:

A.B.V % – Percentage of Alcohol by volume, quite literally the strength of the beer in question

C.A.M.R.A – Campaign for Real Ale; check them out here

Bottle Conditioned – Secondary fermentation and maturation in the bottle, creating complex aromas and flavors.

Cask -A closed, barrel-shaped container for beer. They come in various sizes and are now usually made of metal. The bung in a cask of “Real” beer or ale must be made of wood to allow the pressure to be relived, as the fermentation of the beer, in the cask, continues.

Cask Conditioned – Secondary fermentation and maturation in the cask at the pub, creates the light carbonation found in real ales

Draught/Draft – The process of dispensing beer from a keg or a cask by means of a hand pump or other means

Fermentation – The conversion of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, this is caused by the yeast in beer

Hand Pump – A hand operated pump allowing the dispensing of beer from the cask without the use of pressurized gases

Ramp – A colloquialism for the bar counter, ie ” I had a look along the ramp and didn’t like their selection”

Score – £20

Ton – 100 / £100

Pony – £25

Monkey – £500

Wedge – Money

Nugget – £1 coin

I realise that none of the above are rocket science but if they save someone even 2 seconds of head scratching then my work here is done :@)