Everything about Ale totally explained
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".
History of ale
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.
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're fermented at higher temperatures and thus ferment more quickly than
lagers.
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
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
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're dark brown, around 3-3.5% alcohol and quite sweet; in the north they're red-brown, 4.5-5% and drier. English brown ales first appeared in the early
1900s, with
Manns 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
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
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
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. Of the 171 Trappist monasteries throughout the world, only seven brew beer, of which there are six in
Belgium. The seventh is 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
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
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's for whisky production).
Old ales
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
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.
Further Information
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