Be a beer nerd. Better yet, be a snobby beer nerd. Even better, be a snobby, shameless, know-it-all, walking encyclopedia of arcane brewery and pub terminology. We're here to help with that.
| ABV | Acronym: Alcohol By Volume. A measure of the percentage of alcohol as a volume compared to the total volume of the liquid. Another popular measure is alcohol by weight, the percentage alcohol proportional to the total weight of the liquid. |
| beer engine | Those tall black handles on the Local 180 bar which draw the beer via the sure and mighty influence of vacuum directly from the casks into your glass. Sure, it's old tech and requires more work, but the true believer will be parked directly in front of one. |
| CAMRA | Acronym: Campaign For Real Ale, a British organization dedicated to promoting real ale, protecting consumer rights and supporting pubs. |
| cask | Container that a) serves as the secondary fermenter for real ale, and b) is the source from which real ale is dispensed via a beer engine into your glass. |
| firkin | Cask with a volume of 9 U.K. gallons (10.8 U.S. gallons) |
| hand pump | See 'beer engine' |
| keystone | Plug, usually plastic, that is hammered in the hole at the top of the cask when it is laying on its base. It receives the tap during service; i.e. it is where the beer comes out. |
| pub | Short for Public House. |
| pump clip | Clamp that attaches to the front of the handle of a beer engine that indicates the beer that it currently dispenses. Typically they will display the brewery name, the beer name, the ABV, and will have an appropriate graphic. |
| real ale | The UK-based Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) defines real ale as: beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide. Think of it as the cadillac of beer, the craft ale's craft ale. |
| session | Time spent in the pub talking with your mates and enjoying a lovely beverage. |
| sessions | Either the plural of 'session', or a live and often inpromptu gathering of musicians in a pub. |
| shive | Plug, usually plastic, that is hammered in the hole at the top of the cask when it is laying on its side. It is where the cask is filled and where the venting occurs during service, usually with a spile or a cask filter. |
| spile | Plug, usually wooden, inserted in the shive to control air flow. A hard spile is used to shut off the escape of CO2 and the introduction of outside air. It is applied around 24 hours before service, after which it may be replaced by a soft spile which allows air to replace the consumed beer. |
| underback | Open cylindrical vessel that is plumbed directly downstream of the mash tun. It is used for regulating and monitoring the wort during sparging as it is transfered to the brew kettle, and assists in separating out grist sediment. |
| wort | Unfermented beer. |
