Good clones

[Dennis King]

Having tried recipes from most of the main clone books [English and American] I think some of the recipes come very close to the real thing. In BYOBRAH several are very close. Bass, Directors, Pedigree, Mc Mullens Landlord and Youngs are ones I find the nearest. More than passable are Adnams and Ruddlles. Intrested to get other thoughts.

[mysterio]

My personal experience of clone recipes is they almost never come out like the commercial example I've tried quite a few from several books.

They are a good starting block, though. Cloning Landlord I found I had to use an enormous amount of finishing hops (Styrians) to get close to the aroma, and a yeast which gives a touch of diacetyl like WLP002 or SO4. Maybe its not diacetyl in Landlord but it tastes a bit like it - maybe its from caramalisation because it's a darker beer than an all pale ale malt grist would suggest. Adnams bitter IMO needs a fair bit of late Fuggles to get the characteristic hop flavour. These two beers are probably my favourite English bitters so whenever I make one i'm generally aiming for Adnams or Landlord territory.

SNPA is a doddle too, you just need their yeast, some crystal, clean bittering hop and a mountain of cascade at the end of the boil

[Dennis King]

Different yeasts will make a difference, [some of the American books recomend a yeast] I try to match a beer to a yeast i.e. Fullers or Youngs to a London yest. Not an exact science I know but it seems to help.