Ale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ale is a beer style brewed from barley malt with a top fermenting brewers yeast that ferments quickly, giving a sweet, full body and a fruity, and sometimes a butter-like, taste. Most ale contains some herb or spice, usually hops, which imparts a bitter, herbal flavour which balances the malt sweetness.
Ales are very common in Britain, Germany, Canada's eastern provinces, Ireland, the United States, and Belgium; however, pale lager is the dominant style of beer in almost all other countries.
Contents |
[edit] 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.
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". It is also considered to be based on a Runic formula consisting of the Runes Ansuz, Laguz and Uruz, and has associations with magical inspiration. The Alu formula is found in many runic inscriptions on rings, barrows, bracteates and amulets.
In the medieval world ale was called "God's gift".
[edit] 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.
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 wheat beers and lambics, 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. This distinction is not obsolete, but it is idiosyncratic.
In many countries, particularly Britain, ale has lost popularity somewhat with the introduction of a wider variety of alcoholic beverages, most noteably lagers and alcopops.
[edit] Varieties of ale
[edit] Pale ale
Pale ales are brewed using a pale barley malt. 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 the American India Pale Ale. Amber ale is a slightly darker type of pale ale. Bitter ale is a hoppier pale ale found in many English pubs, but difficult to find commercially compared to other English ales.
[edit] Brown ale
Brown ales are brewed using a somewhat darker barley malt than amber. They tend to be lightly hopped, and fairly mildly flavoured--generally they are flavourful, but without strong offensive flavours. Many have a nutty taste. They are mostly common in English brewing, with Newcastle Brown Ale being the flagship brown ale. There is an American-style brown ale as well, created during the early 1980s by homebrewers, and most prominently commercially represented by Pete's Wicked Ale; it is similar to the English original, though substantially hoppier.
[edit] Dark ale
Dark ales are brewed using dark-roasted barley malts. Stout, oud bruin and mild ale are examples. Initially, stout was a variation of porter, a stronger version known as a "stout porter." The main difference between the two is that stouts are stronger and made with roasted barley. Porters also have a wider range of colors; while stouts are black in color, porters range from black to brown.
[edit] Belgian ales
Belgium produces a wide variety of specialty ales that elude easy classification. In addition to making a variety of blonde ale, common classifications for these specialty beers may be dubbel (malty-complex with a red hue) and tripel (a high-alcohol, lightly-gold coloured beer). 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.
Some specialty beers are based on monastic brewing recipes. The best known among them are the Trappist beers, which are brewed under direct control of the monks themselves. Only six Trappist monasteries brew this beer. Five in Belgium and one in Holland. Similar styled ales brewed by commercial breweries (sometimes under licence of an actual monastery) are called Abbey beer.
[edit] 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 Köln's Kölsch, a very pale ale, 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.
[edit] Cream ales
Cream ales, also referred to as a "creamers," are related to American lagers. They are generally brewed to be light and refreshing with a straw to pale golden color. 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 flavor. Some examples also have a lager yeast added for the cold-conditioning stage or are mixes of ales and lagers. Adjuncts such as maize and rice are used to lighten the body and flavor although there are all-malt examples available.
