('Real ale' is fine, though I usually prefer Central European styles like Lambic, Gose, Lichtenhainer, flanders red ale, etc. There are American breweries doing these styles nowadays, too.)
I quite like Jester King, they are from Texas.
There's no single craft beer, and no single temperature at which this non-existent single beer would be served best.
You would want to drink a (craft) lager colder than a (craft) stout or the Duchesse de Bourgogne.
I've also had mulled beer (think like mulled wine, but with beer; a slightly sour fruit beer in this case, with spices added; but there are all kinds of recipes). And that was served hot, on a cold winter's day.
As for draft when drinking out: how finely they control the temperature (and whether they take different beer styles into account), depends entirely on how fancy the place is.
It absolutely does. And those beer styles you mention are also very good. But cask ale is still better.
Lambic and Flanders red ale are not central European, btw.
> But cask ale is still better.
Do you mean cask ales as just ales that are in a cask, or something special?
I guess what I meant is, as an American who loves stouts and cask ale, I really enjoyed the common beer styles in the UK. (And the food was pretty good too)
But if you look a bit, you can find much better options on both sides of of the pond.
Correspondingly, there's a widespread belief in the US that you can't get decent food in the UK, and that's also wrong. I've found lots of excellent food there.