Mild Ale is an oft overlooked style, but it holds an important place in the history of beer. For many many years mild ale was the most popular style of beer in The United Kingdom, and the base on which many other styles are built upon. Here’s a quick look at the style.
Style Profile: Mild Ale
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010Style Profile: Barleywine
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Bass No. 1 ale, the first commercial barley wine. Image via: Joyce Images
Don’t let it’s name fool you, Barleywine is still very much beer, albeit one which rivals wines in strength (7-12% Alc/volume) and complexity. This beer was originally brewed by English aristocrats of the 18th century who wanted a strong alcoholic beverage of their own to compete with the wine made by the French with which they were constantly at war. These early barley wines were mostly brewed and consumed by the aristocrats in their private breweries, but in 1900 Bass debuted the first commercial barley wine, Bass No. 1 Ale. Although most wine doesn’t actually taste like wine, it has a flavor and beauty all its own that will quickly make you forget about wine (or anything else for that matter.)
In a lot of ways barleywine is more of a loose guideline that a strict style, there is quite a bit of variety when it comes to what brewers will call a barleywine. Generally speaking though, barleywines start with a solid base of pale barley malt, to which frequently sugar or honey is added. American barleywines tend to match the strongly sweet and malty flavors with an equally strong hop presence, sometimes even dry hopping the beer to give it some added hop aromas. British barleywines on the other hand tend to be more balanced and rounded, with strong dried fruit elements to the taste. However it’s brewed, the hallmark of any good barleywine is a malty, complex body paired strong alcohol notes, while generally avoiding the especially dark and smoky flavors of something like a porter.
Although the style lost much of it’s popularity by the 1960′s, the American craft beer movement has resurrected the style and it has become a favorite among daring homebrewers and craft brewers alike. Due to concerns this style’s name might confuse some consumers, it’s required that all barleywine in America be labeled as “barleywine-style ale.” I’d surprised if anyone has ever picked up a bottle thinking it was wine, but who knows?
What’s your favorite barleywine? Next time you try one let us know what you think about it by tweeting your beer and adding the ‘#mybeer’ hashtag.
Style Profile: Porter
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Porter is a style that traces it roots to beer cocktails of the 18th century. Although the only modern beer cocktail that most people know is the Black & Tan, in centuries past it was fairly common to mix several beers in one pint glass. A bartender in 1720s London might be expected to blend frequently as many as six different ales into a customer’s pint. As we mentioned in our article on cask ale, (which is how all beer would have been served at the time) beer on cask should really be consumed within a few days after it’s been tapped as it begins to grow stale and loose its flavor rather quickly. of course not all pub owners followed these rules, and there was plenty of stale beers being served in London pubs.
Black & Tan
Additionally, many of the working class poor could only afford the weakest and cheapest of ales. As a result, many in the lower classes took up the habit of mixing half a glass of fresh, quality ale with half a glass of the cheap, stale stuff. A particularly popular beer cocktail at the time was known as “Three Threads,” which usually combined pale ale, new brown ale and stale brown ale. In order to save the bartenders some time and energy a brewer by the name of Ralph Harwood developed a heavier beer which was designed to mimic the taste of the “Three Threads” brew, much in the same way you sometimes see pre-bottled Black & Tans today. Harwood’s Entire, as it was known soon became quite popular after its release in 1722, particularly among the cities hardworking porters. It was only a matter of time before this style of beer, which was heavier and smokier than most beers at the time took on the name porter, which it’s still referred to today.
Porters later gave rise to stouts, a darker and more robust version of the style, which were originally known as ‘stout porters.’ Although the two styles remain closely related and similar in flavor, there are a few key differences that warrant the separation of styles, that’s a topic for another style profile though. Porters are typically made with pale malt base with the addition of black malt, crystal, chocolate or smoked brown malt, but as with many styles, there is a tremendous amount of leeway in what many brewers will call a porter. Hops tend to be low in the mix, although American porters may have a moderate hop presence.
What’s your favorite porter? Next time you try one let us know what you think about it by tweeting your beer and adding the ‘#mybeer’ hashtag.
