Ale

For other uses, see Ale (disambiguation).

A pint of ale

Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a top-fermenting brewers yeast. This yeast ferments the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste. Most ales contain hops, which impart a bitter herbal flavour that helps to balance the sweetness of the malt and preserve the beer. The other major style of beer is lager, which is bottom-fermented.

Ales are common in Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, the eastern provinces of Canada and among craft beer consumers in the United States. The German word for "top-fermenting" is "obergärig", the French equivalent is "Haute fermentation" and in English Language "top-fermenting".

History of ale

In Norse Mythology, Ægir and his daughters brew ale in a large pot.

Before the introduction of hops into England from the Netherlands in the 15th century the name "ale" was exclusively applied to unhopped fermented beverages, the term "beer" being gradually introduced to describe a brew with an infusion of hops. This distinction no longer applies.

Beer generally needs a bittering agent to balance the sweetness of the malt, and act as a preservative. Ale was typically bittered with gruit, a mixture of herbs and/or spices which was boiled in the wort in place of hops. The preponderance of hops has resulted in the loss of a great deal of variety in the flavour of modern beer.

Ale was an important drink in the medieval world as a staple food, along with bread. As both undergo fermentation they were considered to be of supernatural import.

The word 'ale' comes from the Old English ealu, in turn from the Proto-Indo-European base *alut-, which holds connotations of "sorcery, magic, possession, intoxication".

Modern ale

A modern ale is commonly defined by the strain of yeast used and the fermenting temperature. Ales are normally brewed with top-fermenting yeasts, though a number of British brewers, including Fullers and Weltons, use ale yeast strains that have less pronounced top-fermentation characteristics. The important distinction for ales is that they are fermented at higher temperatures and thus ferment more quickly than lagers.

Cask ale handpumps

Ale is typically fermented at temperatures between 15 and 24°C (60 and 75°F). At these temperatures, yeast produces significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavour and aroma products, and the result is often a beer with slightly "fruity" compounds resembling but not limited to apple, pear, pineapple, banana, plum, or prune. Typical ales have a sweeter, fuller body than lagers.

Differences between some ales and lagers can be difficult to categorise. Steam beer, Kölsch and some modern British Golden Summer Beers use elements of both lager and ale production. Baltic Porter and Bière de Garde may be produced by either lager or ale methods or a combination of both. However, lager production is perceived to produce cleaner tasting, dryer and lighter beer than ale.

Beers classed as ale use predominantly barley malts, though lambics and some wheat beers, which also use wheat, are brewed using the ale brewing methods.

In a number of U.S. states, especially in the western United States, "ale" is the term mandated by state law for any beverage fermented from grain with an alcoholic strength above that which can legally be named "beer," without regard to the method of fermentation or the yeast used.

In many countries ale has lost popularity somewhat with the introduction of a wider variety of alcoholic beverages, most notably lagers and alcopops. However in Britain sales of bottled ale rose by 8.4% in 2006.

Varieties of ale

Pale ale

Main article: Pale ale

Pale ales are brewed using a pale barley malt, the classic example being the bitter of English pubs. Strengths vary from under 3% abv to over 20% in some rare barley wines. Hop levels also vary - ranging from barely noticeable to over 100 IBUs in some examples of India Pale Ale. India Pale Ale (IPA) was originally brewed to survive the journey from England to her colonies in Asia, well-hopped and high in gravity, but the term may be used today to indicate a session bitter or a super-premium pale ale. Amber ale is a North American term for a slightly darker style of this type, that probably takes its name from the ambrée of France.

Brown ale

Main article: Brown ale

A darker barley malt is used to produce brown ales, of which the English mild and Belgian oud bruin are examples. They tend to be lightly hopped, and fairly mildly flavoured, often with a nutty taste. In the south of England they are dark brown, around 3-3.5% alcohol and quite sweet; in the north they are red-brown, 4.5-5% and drier. English Brown Ales first appeared in the early 1900s, with Mann's Brown Ale and Newcastle Brown Ale as the best-known examples. The style became popular with homebrewers in North America in the early 1980s; Pete's Wicked Ale is an example, similar to the English original but substantially hoppier.

Dark ale

Main articles: Stout and Porter (beer)

Dark ales are brewed using dark-roasted barley malts. Porter was a London style that became extinct but has been revived in recent years, particularly in North America by companies such as Sierra Nevada. Porters range from brown to black in colour; a version of porter using more highly roasted malt to give a black colour was known as a "stout porter", or simply "stout". The English preferred sweet stout, typified by Mackeson's, a brew of around 3.75% to which milk sugars had been added. In Ireland dry stout became popular, exemplified by Guinness. Imperial Stout, or Imperial Russian Stout, is an even "bigger" style of 8-10%, originally exported as a winter warmer to the Russian court.

Light ale

In England, a Light Ale is the bottled version of a basic bitter. In Scotland, "Light" indicates the lowest gravity draught beer, which is often dark in colour. In neither case does the term imply "low-calorie".

Irish red ale

Main article: Irish red ale

Irish red ale is a type of ale originating in Ireland. The slightly reddish colour comes from the use of roasted barley, in addition to the malt. The beers are typically fairly low in alcohol (3.5% ABV typically), although stronger export versions are brewed. A red ale tastes less bitter or hoppy than an English ale, with a pronounced malty, caramel flavour.

Belgian ales

Main article: Belgian beer

Belgium produces a wide variety of specialty ales that elude easy classification. In addition to making a variety of blonde ale, all Trappist beer and virtually all Abbey beer are ales. Many Belgian ales are high in alcoholic content but light in body due to the addition of large amounts of sucrose, which provides an alcohol boost with an essentially neutral flavour.

Trappist beers are brewed under direct control of the monks themselves. Only seven Trappist monasteries brew beer, six in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. Abbey beer is brewed by commercial breweries using the name of a monastery, often one that no longer exists or sometimes, one that has licensed its name to a brewery.

German ales

Main articles: Kölsch (beer), Altbier, wheat beer, and Berliner Weisse

German ales tend to be fermented at a somewhat lower temperature, and have more body than British or Belgian ales due to differences in mashing process; the traditional German decoction mash tends to create more oligosaccharides to provide body to the beer. The best-known varieties are Kölsch, a very pale ale from Cologne, and altbier (most associated with Düsseldorf but made in other parts of western Germany as well); wheat beers such as Hefeweizen and Berliner Weisse are also technically ales, though they may have different flavours, particularly the pronounced banana-like estery flavour of hefeweizen.

Scotch ales

Main article: Scotch ale

The ales of Scotland generally have a malt accent. While the full range of ales is produced in Scotland, the term "Scotch Ale" is used internationally to denote a malty, strong dark ale. The malt may be slightly caramelised to impart toffee notes, or smoked (as it is for whisky production).

Old ales

Main article: Old ale

In England, Old ale was strong beer traditionally kept for about a year, gaining sharp, acetic flavours as it did so. The term is now applied to medium-strong dark beers, some of which are treated to resemble the traditional Old ales. In Australia the term is used even less discriminately, and is a general name for any dark beer. Belgian oud bruin is similar to the traditional English old ale.

Cream ales

Main article: Cream Ale

Cream ales are related to American lagers. They are generally brewed to be light and refreshing with a straw to pale golden colour. Hop and malt flavour is usually subdued but some breweries give them a more assertive character. Two examples are Genesee Cream Ale and Little Kings Cream Ale. While cream ales are top-fermented ales, they typically undergo an extended period of cold-conditioning or lagering after primary fermentation is complete. This reduces fruity esters and gives the beer a cleaner flavour. Some examples also have a lager yeast added for the cold-conditioning stage or are even blended with lager. Adjuncts such as maize and rice are used to lighten the body and flavour although there are all-malt examples available.

See also

• Cask ale
• Beer style
• Lager
• Wheat beer

External links

• Michael Jackson on Ale and Porter