Draught examples often have a creamy, long-lasting head. Malt-dominated flavor, with subdued esters and just enough hop bitterness to prevent the beer from being cloyingly sweet. Caramel flavor from crystal malt medium to none. May have some diacetyl. Creamy, with low carbonation.
Body is medium to medium-full.
These guidelines don't account for these recent commercial examples which would more accurately be described as bitters. Traditionally, these beers were dispensed via pumps, which forced air into the headspace of the cask, thus forcing the beer out. Note that the smoky character can be due to the yeast as often as to smoked or peat- kilned malt. Strongly smoky beers should be entered in the Smoked Beer category instead. It is important to note that while the IBUs on some of these beers can be rather high, the low attenuation and solid maltiness results in a balance that is still even at best and more than likely towards malt.