Looking for some recommendations in New England. I've had some here that are close. I haven't seen anything for bulk purchase either. thanks.
Can you give some examples of British ones that hit the mark and the American ones that just missed? It might help narrow it down.
While it's not a Bitter per se, my favorite English-style beer in New England is Cottrell Old Yankee Ale, a nice malty 5% brew.
Don't know if you can get it where you are but if you can get your hands on it try Yard's Pugilist Brawler, some good stuff!
Good question, and hard to say . . . something that tastes like it came from cask would be great? Lol. I mean, I went on a little search looking for a bitter reminiscent of some of the pub stuff I had in the UK, but it's all different. Honker's, Hedgerow, Bitter American, and others that just taste like good American takes on Eng Pales.
Have you gotten a change to try CBC's ESB on cask? That might do it for you, but brewpub-only of course. You should be able to find Fullers in bottles. Maybe Old Thumper from Shipyard? Part of the challenge to find a British doppelganger is that the British renditions were probably lower ABV than just about anything on American shelves. And the British imports have been pasteurized and are usually old, whereas they're pipin' fresh on cask in England.
I had Portsmouth's ESB when I picked up my Kate tickets and it was phenomenal. I've been to a couple English bars in NYC that had really good imported bitters on draft, and they were better. But Portsmouth did that beer really well.
