Best beers to try while living in England

Sorry if I gave the impression that I was writing off bottled beer. British beer is real ale and this should be enjoyed live on tap (Boddingtons for example can be either a live beer or a "dead" keg beer depending on where you get it). But bottled beer can be good and often better than the real ale version from a poor pub. Landlord for example (mentioned above) is a great beer in bottles but it is sublime when at its best on tap. I've had Meantime (also mentioned above) in bottles in Australia and while I thought it spectacular I'm confident that the real thing will be even better. What I'm trying to say is that good beers will be good in bottles but potentially great on tap. Real ale is not just craft beer. It's craft beer that hasn't been filtered or pasteurised and which continues to develop in the cask. Instead of being dispensed from kegs by CO2, it's dispensed by gravity (or compressed air in Scotland) and the only condition (fizziness) it has comes from the action of yeast (which is still present in the beer). This means the cellarperson has to control the final development of the beer after it leaves the brewery. This system is unique and, in my opinion anyway, puts English beer ahead of that of Belgium and Germany. Any fan of beer living in the UK ought to immerse themself in real ale. Anything that comes in a bottle can theoretically be enjoyed anywhere else in the world. Real ale culture is something that can only be enjoyed there. The only downside is when you go live somewhere else, you miss it like crazy.

Seconding the Live and Let Live, and also the Salisbury round the corner. The thing about 'craft beer' in the UK is that its both incredibly regional and incredibly seasonal. You will find beers that you only see once, that perhaps even only get made once, in a small batch. A good landlord will be able to make advice, so tell him/her what you like, what you want to try, and they'll pull something good for you. If you want a handbook, CAMRA's 'Good Beer Guide' is the standard. Happy hunting.

As well as http://www.miltonbrewery.co.uk/ look out for the other very local brewery, the http://www.cambridge-brewery.co.uk/. Their bottles are available at Bacchanalia and elsewhere. Their site has a handy http://www.cambridge-brewery.co.uk/buy-draught/buy-draught.html of supporting pubs. I recommend the Hobson's Choice. Here's a link for http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/devonshire/ in its new Milton incarnation.

http://thecastleinncambridge.com/ on Castle Hill is a fantastic Adnams pub. They usually have several different Adnams beers on, and the food is pretty good as far as pub food goes, too. Milton Brewery will sell you polypins and more of their ale, bright, at the brewery site. Smaller quantities of real ales and Belgian draughts can also be purchased at Bacchanalia on Mill Road, which I neglected to say above is an off-licence. The beer festival is great but look around as some of the local pubs run their own mini-festivals year round; again http://www.cambridge-camra.org.uk/ale/314/the-live.html and http://www.the-cambridgeblue.co.uk/ come to mind.

What GeckoDundee says. Most of the best ales are to be found on draught in a small radius of where they are made, and getting to know good pubs will introduce you to a wider range of draught brews faster than seeking out particular bottlings will. When in Cambridge/East Anglia, if I see any beer by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnams_Brewery (made in Southwold) on draught, I'll have it as it's local-ish. http://www.miltonbrewery.co.uk/index.html is local to Cambridge. But since you're also on a side of the country well known for its ciders, do be sure to try a few of those as well. Cambridge has a yearly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Beer_Festival and chapter of http://www.cambridge-camra.org.uk/ as well. Things I see nationwide that I like? http://www.timothytaylor.co.uk/, http://www.blacksheepbrewery.com/, http://www.marstonsbeercompany.co.uk/our_brands/marstons/oldempire.asp, and every now and then the (to my mind peerless) http://www.kelhambrewery.co.uk/. But they're not local to your area, so as GeckoDundee recommends, get to know pubs that keep their beer well.

Meantimes Brewing in London - they have a great pub in Greenwich. The IPA is great, a original style India Pale Ale.

Adding to mippy's post, Wetherspoon pubs currently have a real ale 'festival' going on until the middle of next month. I went to my local yesterday, and they had nine ales out, rotating them as the barrels ended. They're often not the most salubrious venues, but they're cheap, (less than two quid a pint!), and the beer's good. Might be a good way to discover your likes and dislikes.

The Hobgoblin in Reading specialises in 'real ale' (the UK name for 'craft beer', I think) if you fancy a daytrip. Some pubs will have a local CAMRA magazine which will give you tips on where to go - oddly Wetherspoons, a bargain basement pub chain, stocks several real ales and will probably have a copy on their bar.

Tucked away on a quiet street just southwest of the Grafton Centre is the http://www.freepresspub.com/index.html. It has good beer. One of their current guest ales is the St Austell Brewery Proper Job, which you should go and try because I can't. And also because it's a brilliant name, although it's hard to explain to a non-Cornish person quite why. (Proper Job seems to be one of those American-style IPAs; I would imagine the other guest ales have different characters).