What makes pale ale

Full-bodied yet refreshing, the bitter finish will leave your tastebuds craving more. We were born to make Pale Ale, a style that was little known in Australia when we started, but is now much loved. Back in the day there were two hop varieties coming out of the North West of the US that really took our fancy; Cascade and Chinook hops. These hops packed an addictive punch and gave rise to the super hoppy American Pale Ale, a style that inspired us back then and still inspires us today.

Since day one, we have brewed our Pale using whole hop cones, sourced straight from the US directly to our breweries something pretty unique and use our hop back to extract those beautiful, hoppy aromas and delicate bitterness. American Pale Ale has a soft, palatable and not-so-bitter taste, with an ABV between 5 and 6 percent.

There are many genres of specialty IPAs. APAs do not have distinguished categories but feature a wide range of flavors including malty, hoppy, wheaty and sweet. There is a spectrum of vital stats for IPA subcategories. Both ales are British island styles that made their way over to the U.

IPA brewers also use C hops, but are experimenting with additional varieties, including Ekuanot equinox , Simcoe and Strata hops. Fortunately the bitterness arms race of the mid s has gone away. Phil Young, a member of the brewing team at Hill Farmstead Brewery , said individual beers can defy expectations.

While there is a bit of hop flavor, they tend to have more biscuit, cracker or bread notes. American Pale Ales tend to be a bit more bitter, while Blonde Ales are bit more malty in flavor. IPAs have also grown from their first brew. The hop varietal can create a citrus note, fruity flavor or herbal taste. The thing all these types have in common is each possess a hint of fruit or citrus with pronounced hop flavor.

While sometimes the latter is stronger than the former, the brew almost always has a clean finish. Both, for example, let the hop character shine a bit more than say a pilenser or stout. However, hoppiness and bitterness are often and easily confused, and both are subjective to the drinker. Popular Belgian beers also include Trappist ales, which are produced only at Trappist monasteries that brew their own beer. Trappist ales encompass beers like Belgian Dubbel, which is somewhat strong and complex, and Belgian Tripel, which is pale, spicy and dry.

Blond ales like Delirium Tremens further add to the strong flavor profile of Belgian beers. Wheat beers rely on wheat for the malt ingredient, which gives the beverage a light color and alcohol level that makes it perfect for kicking back with during the summer and for combining it with fruit, like a slice of lemon or orange.

Some wheat beers, with their funky and tangy flavors, fall under Belgian-style brews while the ones made in the U. Sour beer has shot up in popularity in the U. Highly tart, sour beers can take on many forms, including Belgian-style Lambic beer, fruity Flanders ale and lemony Berliner Weisse beer.

With the addition of fruits like cherry, raspberry or peach, sour beers marry sweet and sour to make beer flavors completely unlike the lagers and IPAs of yore. Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita. By Mahita Gajanan. Related Stories. Already a print subscriber?