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Pale ale is a term used to describe a variety of beers which use ale yeast and predominantly pale malts. It is widely considered to be one of the major beer style groups. All of the major ale producing countries have a version of Pale Ale: Britain has Bitter, America has American pale ale, Germany has Altbier, etc. Pale ales generally over 6% ABV tend to be grouped as Strong Pale Ales under such names as Barley Wine, Saison and American Pale Ale.

Contents 1 Definition 2 Brief history 3 Types of Pale ales 3.1 Altbier 3.2 Amber ale 3.3 American Pale Ale 3.4 Burton Pale Ale 3.5 English Bitter 3.6 India Pale Ale 3.7 Irish red ale 3.8 Saison 4 Examples of pale ales 5 Strong pale ales 5.1 American Strong Ale 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

A pale ale has two basic characteristics:

1. It is an ale, that is, it is fermented using a top-fermenting yeast.
2. It is pale, that is, generally between 8 and 14 degrees SRM in color. While this color is not "pale" compared to, say, a golden ale or Pilsener, the pale malts used in making pale ale at its inception gave the beer a far lighter color than the porters common in England at the time.

Pale ale was a term used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke had been first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn't until around 1703 that the term pale ale was first used. By 1784 advertisements were appearing in the Calcutta Gazette for "light and excellent" pale ale. By 1830 onward the expressions bitter and pale ale were synonymous. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild. By the mid to late 20th century, while brewers were still labeling bottled beers as pale ale, they had begun identifying cask beers as bitter. While the two terms are still used interchangeably in the UK, the preference is for the term bitter to be used for both bottled and cask beer, and use of the term pale ale has declined.

Main article: Altbier

Altbier (often abbreviated to Alt) is the name given to a form of pale ale that originated in Düsseldorf and the Rhineland region in Germany.

The name Altbier, which literally means old beer, refers to the pre-lager brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast like British pale ales.^[1] Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer than is the norm for an ale.

Amber ale is the term sometimes used in North America for pale ales which range from light copper to light brown in colour^[2]. A small amount of crystal^[3] or other coloured malt^[4] may be added to the basic pale ale base to produce a slightly darker colour, as in some Irish and British pale ales ^[5]. In France the term used is Ambrée, and the hop bitterness is modest. In North America, American-variety hops are used in varying degrees of bitterness^[6], though few examples are particularly hoppy.

The term is not used much outside France and North America, apart from North American-style brewpubs^[7].

Commercial examples include: Rogue American Amber, Full Sail Amber Ale, Anderson Valley's Boont Amber Ale^[8], Pelforth Ambrée and Fischer Amber^[9].

Main article: American Pale Ale

In the USA, the Association of Brewers has defined an American-style pale ale as ranging in colour from deep golden to copper, with a bitterness, flavour, and aroma dominated by hops. Pale ales have medium body, and low-to-medium maltiness.^[10]

Later in the second half of the nineteenth century, the recipe for pale ale was put into use by the Burton upon Trent brewers, notably Bass; ales from Burton were considered of a particularly high quality due to synergy between the malt and hops in use and local water chemistry, especially the presence of gypsum. Burton retained absolute dominance in pale ale brewing until a chemist, C. W. Vincent discovered the process of Burtonisation to reproduce the chemical composition of the water from Burton-upon-Trent, thus giving any brewery the capability to brew pale ale.

Main article: Bitter (beer)

The expression first appears in the UK in the early 19th century as part of the development and spread of Pale Ale. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild. Drinkers tend to loosely group modern bitter into Session or Ordinary bitter (up to 4.1% ABV), Best or Regular bitter (between 4.2% and 4.7% ABV) and Premium or Strong bitter (4.8% ABV and over). Hop levels will vary within each sub group, though there is a tendency for the hops in the Session Bitter group to be more noticeable. But again, there is a wide variation in hopping rates for modern beers calling themselves "bitter".

Main article: India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale was a British October pale ale beer bought for export to India. This beer made prominent use of hops, which helped to preserve the beer on the long voyage.

Irish red ale, red ale, or Irish ale gains its slightly reddish colour from the use of a small amount of roasted barley. The term red ale or red beer is used by brewers in countries other than Ireland; however, the name Irish Red is typically used when roasted material is used.

In America the name can describe a darker amber ale, and some breweries may produce a "red" beer that is a lager with caramel colouring.

Examples:

• O'Haras Irish Red Ale
• Smithwick's Ale
• Macardle's Ale
• Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale
• Picaroon's Irish Red
• Guinness Red
• Beamish Red
• Murphy's Irish Red
• Árainn Mhór Rua
• Caffrey's Irish Ale

Main article: Saison (ale)

Saison is the name given to pale ales brewed in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. Saisons are considered to be a farmhouse ale, because saisons were originally brewed in farmhouses for farm workers who were entitled to a half dozen pints of ale or more throughout the workday during harvest season. Saisons are generally bottle conditioned ales, with an average alcohol by volume range of 5 to 8%.

Although saison has been described as an endangered beer, there has been a rise in interest in this pale ale in recent years, with Saison Dupont being named “the Best Beer in the World” by the magazine Men’s Journal in July 2005.

• Bass Pale Ale typifies the UK pale ale style.
• Worthington White Shield is a traditional India Pale Ale, also originating in Burton-upon-Trent.
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale exemplifies the American Pale Ale style, making extensive use of Cascade hops.
• Orval typifies the Belgian pale ale style, and is fermented with some Brettanomyces in addition to Saccharomyces yeast.

Strong Pale Ale is a designation relating to contemporary abv strengths of pale ale - nineteenth century pale ales would have a different range of abv.

The alcohol strength typically starts around 7 or 8% by volume and generally go up to 12%, though brewers have been pushing the alcohol strength higher. In 1994 the Hair of the Dog Brewing Company produced a Strong Pale Ale with an ABV of 29%. ^[11]

American strong ale is a broad category used in America to describe ales of 7.0% ABV or higher. Beers in this category may also be classified as double India Pale Ales, barley wines, or old ale depending on the style.

• Beer style

1. ^ http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000838.html
2. ^ http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-001393.html Michael Jackson, Oct, 2001: "The designation Amber Ale is to be taken seriously".
3. ^ http://www.frenchandjupps.co.uk/products/crystalmalt.html
4. ^ http://www.2basnob.com/specialty-grains.html
5. ^ http://www.beertown.org/events/acbw/amber.html Beertown, 2007: "The typical example presents more mouth-filling body and tongue-pleasing malt flavor than the typical English and American pale ales. Amber ales may also offer a more floral, hop accented take on Irish Red Ale."
6. ^ http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category10.html#style10B
7. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewpub
8. ^ http://www.avbc.com/beers/amber.html
9. ^ http://www.brasseriefischer.com/brasserie-fischer.htm
10. ^ http://www.beertown.org/
11. ^ http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/hair-of-the-dog-dave/23897/

• Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the European Tradition, Phil Markowski, ISBN 0-937381-84-5
• Great Beer Guide: 500 Classic Brews, Michael Jackson, ISBN 0-7513-0813-7
• Dictionary of Beer, Ed: A. Webb, ISBN 1-85249-158-2
• BièredeGarde.com - http://www.BieredeGarde.com

• CAMRA description of Pale Ale

v • d • e Styles of beer
Ale · Lager · Lambic
English beer	Barley wine  · Bitter  · Brown ale  · Imperial stout  · India Pale Ale  · Mild  · Old ale  · Porter · Stout
Belgian beer	Dubbel  · Enkel  · Flanders red ale · Oud bruin · Saison · Tripel  · Witbier  · Lambic
German beer	Altbier  · Bock · Dortmunder Export · Dunkel  · Helles  · Kellerbier · Kölsch · Märzen  · Roggenbier  · Schwarzbier · Smoked beer  · Wheat beer
American beer	Amber ale · American pale ale · American-style lager  · Cream ale · Steam beer
Other	Baltic porter  · Bière de Garde  · Irish red ale  · Pale ale  · Pilsener  · Scotch ale  · Vienna lager
See also	History of beer