Scottish ales are typically full-bodied and malty, with some of the classic examples being dark brown in color. They are more lowly hopped than the English counterparts and often have a slightly viscous and sweet caramel malt character due to incomplete fermentation. Scottish style ales can be found in far-flung corners of the world where faithful versions are brewed, this being a legacy of the style’s popularity in the British Empire. In the United States, many craft brewers produce a Scottish-style ale. The export versions produced by Scottish brewers, the type mostly encountered in the United States, are considerably stronger and more malty than the standard versions made available to Scottish beer drinkers.
Many North American brewers are now producing ales that are identified by the term “amber ale.” This is a more modern, non-traditional style, and many of these beers borrow heavily from the characteristics associated with more classical styles such as pale ales or bitters. Amber ales are light- to medium-bodied and can be anywhere from light copper to light brown in hue. Flavorwise they can vary from generic and quaffable to serious craft brewed styles with extravagant hoppy aromas and full malt character. Typically amber ales are quite malty but not heavily caramelized in flavor. For our purposes amber ales will also include ales commonly identified as “Red Ales,” and “American Ales” as, from the consumer’s viewpoint, the dividing line between these styles can often be a more a marketing concern than a consistently observed brewing convention.
Imperial IPAs (also known as Double IPAs) are distinguished by their prominent hop cone aromas and flavors, and bitterness that is intense and assertive. Colors range from deep gold to deep amber. These intense hop characteristics should be balanced by a rich malt backbone, mid-to-high levels notes and fruity esters. They are medium-to-full bodied in weight and notes of astringency and hop haze are accepted. Depending on the varieties of hops being used, the drinker can experience a wide range of hop flavors including tart citrus peels, pepper and earthy pine-like notes. Imperial IPAs have an ABV between 7.5 and 10.5 percent. These ales represent an extreme use of the hop flower in brewing and a challenge to the brewer in terms of balance and drinkability.
India pale ales are deep gold-to-amber in color, and are usually characterized by floral hop aromas and a distinctive hop bitterness on the finish. India pale ales were originally brewed by British brewers in the 19th Century, when British troops and colonizers depended upon supplies of beer shipped from England. Standard ales did not survive the journey; hence, brewers developed high gravity, highly-hopped ales that survived shipment in casks to their largest market, India. This style, probably not anywhere near as bitter as it was when destined for India, continues to be brewed in a toned-down manner in the United Kingdom and is undergoing a mini-revival at present. However, U.S. craft brewers have claimed the style as their own, and often brew them with assertive Pacific Northwestern hop varieties that give such examples a hugely aromatic hop accent.
Pale ales tend to be fuller-bodied with a more assertive character on the palate than the standard bitter in a English brewer’s portfolio. In Britain, it is generally bottled, as opposed to being sold on draft. Despite the name, pale ales are not pale but, in fact, more of an amber hue. The original designation was in reference to this style of beer being paler than the brown and black beers that were more popular at the time of the style’s inception. In the United States, pale ale styles have become one of the benchmarks by which craft brewers are judged. The U.S. version of pale ale is crisper and generally much more hoppy. Indeed, this style is well suited to assertive domestic Pacific Northwestern hop varieties that give the United States examples inimitable character. A good U.S. example should be available on tap in any bar worth frequenting for its beer selection.
Bitter is an English specialty, and very much an English term, generally denoting the standard ale—the “session” beer—in an English brewer’s range. They are characterized by a fruitiness, light-to-medium body and an accent on hop aromas more than hop bitters. Colors range from golden to copper. Despite the name, they are not particularly bitter. Indeed, British brewed bitters will often be less bitter than U.S. craft-brewed amber ales. A fuller-bodied bitter is labeled as “Extra Special Bitter” (ESB). These weightier versions of bitter often stand up better to the rigors of travel overseas than the lower gravity standard versions. An important element of faithful bitters is the use of English yeast cultures in fermentation. These impart a fruity, mildly estery character that should be noted in examples of the style. Bitters are now widely emulated in North America, sometimes with domestically grown hops imparting a rather more assertive character than seen in traditional English bitters.
Cream ale is a North American specialty that is somewhat of a hybrid in style. Despite the name, many brewers use both ale and lager yeasts for fermentation, or more often, just lager yeasts. This style of beer is fermented like an ale at warm temperatures, but then stored at cold temperatures for a period of time, much as a lager would be. The resultant brew has the unchallenging crisp characteristics of a light pale lager, but is endowed with a hint of the aromatic complexities that ales provide. Pale in color, they are generally more heavily carbonated and more heavily hopped than light lagers.
These brews are golden to light copper in color with a more subtle overall character and lighter body than typical pale ales. English ale fruitiness will probably not be observed. However, the most important qualification is that they are brewed domestically and will have less body and hop and malt character than a pale ale from the same brewery.
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With this issue All About Beer launches a new column called Your Next Beer. The goal of this column is
