Old ale

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Founders Curmudgeon old ale

Old ale is a term commonly applied to dark, malty beers in England, generally above 5% abv, also to dark ales of any strength in Australia.^[1] Sometimes associated with stock ale or, archaically, keeping ale, in which the beer is held at the brewery.

History

Historically, old ales served as a complement to mild ales, and in pubs of the era typically the landlord would serve the customer a blend of the sharper stock ale with the fruitier, sweeter mild ale to the customer's taste. In London especially, the aged ale would take on a tart note from a secondary fermentation with brettanomyces yeast which was present either in the pitching yeast or in the wooden equipment.^[2] Because of the time required for the aging process, some investors would buy mild ale from brewers, age it into old ale, and sell it at the higher price. Eventually, brewers began to keep some beer behind at the brewery, age it themselves and sell it to the pubs. In some cases old ale was a blend of young and old. The "stock ale" was the brewery's very aged ale and was used to inject an "old" quality, and perhaps acidity to the blend.

Winter warmer

A winter warmer is a traditional malty-sweet English Strong Ale that is brewed in the winter months. It is usually quite dark, but not as dark as a stout, with a big malt presence. Sometimes, winter warmers have a few spices, especially in the United States, although spices are not necessarily a required ingredient in a winter warmer. The primary characteristic is strength; the average alcohol content by volume ranges from 6.0% to 8.0% ABV and some Winter Warmers reach 10% ABV or more. Christmas beer is another type of winter warmer, similarly strong in alcohol content and usually spiced.

Variations

Bottle of O'Hanlon's Thomas Hardy's Ale (11.7% ABV)

Some brewers will make a strong old ale for bottling. Some of these can mature for several years after bottling, and may or may not be bottle-conditioned.

The "October" Keeping Ales are thought to have formed the basis for India Pale Ales shipped by the British East India Company.^{[citation needed]}

Another historic version was so-called "Majority Ale," a strong ale brewed on or around the birth of a child, and intended to be drunk on the child's twenty-first birthday.^[3]

Some old ales blended older vintages with fresh beer in vats, on the solera system. The legendary Burton Ale brewed by the Ballentine brewery (Newark, New Jersey) was such a beer, and kept in production as a gift item for distributors and VIPs up until the closing of the brewery in 1972. The only surviving representative is Greene King 5X. Sour old ales fermented with brettanomyces yeast were popular in 19th century Britain. The style is now associated more with Belgian brewing, for instance Oud bruin and Rodenbach Grand Cru, although there is one surviving British example, Gales Prize Old Ale.^[4]

A number of breweries, particularly in Sussex, produce a weaker style of old ale with some resemblance to a mild ale^[5] Examples include King and Barnes (later W. J King) (4.5% ABV) and Harveys' (4.3% ABV) These are typically consumed on draught dispense.

Examples

Examples of old ales include:

Theakston: Old Peculier^[6]
Robinsons Old Tom^[6]
Adnams Tally Ho^[6]
Fuller's: Vintage Ale
Fuller's: Golden Pride
Greene King: Olde Suffolk English Ale
North Coast Brewing Company: Old Stock Ale
Brooklyn Brewery: Blunderbuss Old Ale
Full Sail: Wassail
Smuttynose: Really Old Brown Dog
Sixpoint Brewery: Global Warmer

References

Notes

↑ "Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter - Beer Styles: Old (Ale)". Beerhunter.com. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
↑ Lloyd Hind, H, (1940). Brewing Science and Practice: Volume II Brewing Processes. London. pp. 800–802.
↑ Dr John Harrison (2003). Old British Beers and How To Make Them. Durden Park Beer Circle. ISBN 0-9517752-1-9.
↑
↑ "The boundary between Old Ale and Mild is blurry, simply because, historically, Old Ale was Mild Ale, but aged."
↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/endangered-beers/

Bibliography

Wheeler, Graham, and Roger Protz, Brew Your Own British Real Ale at Home. 1998, 2001, CAMRA Ltd. ISBN 1-85249-138-8

External links

v t e Beer styles

Ale Lager

Beer in Belgium	Abbey Dubbel Flanders red ale Gueuze Lambic Oud bruin Saison Tripel Witbier

Beer in Germany	Altbier Berliner Weisse Bock Dortmunder Export Dunkel Gose Pale lager Kellerbier Kölsch Märzen Roggenbier Schwarzbier Smoked beer Wheat beer Zoigl

Beer in the United Kingdom	Barley wine Bitter Brown ale India Pale Ale Mild ale Old ale Porter Scotch ale Stout

Beer in the United States	Amber ale American Pale Ale American wild ale Cream ale Ice lager Steam beer

Other	Baltic porter Bière de Garde Copper ale Grätzer Irish red ale Light beer Pale ale Pilsner Rye beer Sahti Small beer Sour beer Vienna lager

See also	History of beer Beer and breweries by region Beer tasting Fruit and vegetable beer Low-alcohol beer

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