I recently posted one of my favorite recipes it seems only fitting that I should put up a post for the style profile that I love so much.

Ordinary Bitter is a low alcohol well balanced brew, where neither the malt nor the hops compete for attention on the palate.  Ordinary bitter defines the term Session Beer.  This beer falls under the English Pale Ale category.

Typically, the aroma of Ordinary Bitter is malt focused, but it is a mild aroma.  Somewhat bready and maybe lightly sweet from English yeast strains used.  A little bit of hop aroma is acceptable, but I prefer the malt forward aromas.

The color can be a light yellow to a solid copper in color depending on how much and how dark a crystal style malt is used in the grist.  I like using some mid-range (40L-60L) crystal malt in this style because I think the mild caramely sweetness pairs well with the biscuit/bready qualities of the necessary English Pale malt used as a base malt.
Hops should be English based as well and East Kent Goldings (EKG) are the best choice.  However, using a higher AA variety for the bittering portion of the bill is fine, but I still prefer to follow up with some EKG for flavor hop additions.  Overall, the beer seems bitter despite the small amount of hops to be used which is due, in part, to the low starting gravity (typically less than 1.040SG).

Ordinary Bitter is one of my favorite drinking beers.  The type of brew you can have several servings of with friends and still maintain your “uprightedness”.  So start your night with your favorite full flavored stout or porter, but keep you session moving forward with a good Ordinary Bitter.  I always like to have this one on draft ready to go.