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THE BREWING OF ALE IN AMERICA AND CANADA
(MBAA 1935)
Henry O. Strum1 and Eric Wollesen2
In some localities there has been a tendency to meet this demand (for ale) by dry hopping lager beers or using high hop rates in the kettle --- and calling these brews ale.
People who have not had any experience with drinking top fermented ales naturally can be misled into believing there are drinking ale, when in reality there are drinking a lager beer prepared in a manner somewhat different from lager beer marketed by these breweries.
1 Masterbrewer, Standard Brewing Co., Rochester NY. Previously Masterbrewer at Wm Peter, Union City, NJ, Beverwyck in Albany, and Cronmiller & White, Canada.
2 Previously at O'Keefe Breweries, Canada, working in Buffalo NY at Gerhard Lang Brewing Co. in 1935.
Comments of members of the Special Ale Committee (see below)
Edward A. Schmidt (C. Schmidt & Sons), past president of the USBA, who favored ales being top fermenting, adding “... that does not mean however that the brewers who wish to make ale on the basis of bottom fermentation yeast, if they can produce an ale satisfactory to their trade should not be allowed to so.”
T. C. Haffenreffer - “If the brewer can get the desired ale flavor from any kind of yeast, why should he not be permitted to?”
Henry Henius (Scheibers, Buffalo) - “The public should be the judge of what constitutes an ale flavor…”
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[BELOW RIGHT] Text from a 1934 Pabst ad announcing their new ale brewery in Illinois used to brew its new Pabst Blue Ribbon Ale, uses the term "cross breeds" for bottom- fermented ales.
(BELOW) Pittsburgh (Iron City) Brewing Co's brewmaster quote upon the release of his Fox Hunts Ale.
LEGAL DEFINITIONS OF "ALE" IN THE US
Federal Alcohol Administration (1934)
Ale is a malt beverage produced by top fermentation, possessing the characteristic flavor and aroma distinctive of ale, having an original gravity of not less than 13.50 Balling, containing not less than 5 per cent of alcohol by volume, and of light color.
Following suggestions from the Special Ale Committee set up by the United States Brewers Association but also containing members affiliated with other US brewers organizations, representing brewers who produced 90% of US ales, who objected to both the minimum limit of 5% abv and the requirement of top fermentation, Federal Alcohol Administrator Williams amended the act to read:
(1938)
No product other than a malt beverage fermented at comparatively high temperature, possessing the characteristics generally attributed to 'ale', 'porter' or 'stout' and produced without the use of coloring or flavoring materials (other than those recognized in standard brewing practices) shall bear of these class designations.
ALE - Malt beverage fermented at a comparatively high temperature containing 0.5% or more alcohol by volume possessing the characteristics generally attributed to and conforming to the trade understanding of “ale”.
BASTARD ALES
Notable US "Bastard Ales" of the pre-Craft era
Genesee Cream Ale - "...brewed with two-row and six-row malts, corn grits and Yakima Valley hops, (it) is made by blending a small amount of beer fermented with top fermenting yeast with a larger amount of beer fermented with bottom fermenting yeast." ---1983 GABF Program
"(The recipe is) still a closely guarded secret after all these years." --- Genesee brewmaster Gary Geminn, whose father, Clarence Geminn, created the beer. But he acknowledged that it's essentially a blend of that old 12 Horse and the brewery's lager, Genesee Beer. "That gave it a nice balance."
Genesee has also marketed their 12 Horse Ale on and off since Repeal. In 1979-80, the beer was reformulated to make it lighter in color and flavor - more in-line with popular Canadian ales, with a new bottle (green select) and updated graphics [RIGHT].
Discussing it with reporters for the local Rochester newspaper The Democrat and Chronicle in 2000, Geminn, calling it a "true ale", noting that “Some brewers manipulate the brewing temperature to create an ale-like flavor using the bottom fermenting yeast of a lager".
McSorley Cream Ale (Rheingold, Ortlieb & Schmidt's) "McSorley's came to the brewery* as a bottom fermented product, and remains such. However, recent brewers of McSorley's have gone to some pains to ensure that it is endowed with some character and Schmidt's, too, is taking this approach." --- M. Jackson, Pocket Guide to Beer, [1982]
* Liebmann (Rheingold) Breweries of Brooklyn had been brewing McSorley's since 1942. Schmidt's & Sons purchased most of the Rheingold brands in 1977, selling the small McSorley's Cream Ale brand to nearby Ortlieb Brewing Co.
“McSorley’s was one of the few beers being made on the East Coast that was a true ale and had true ale characteristics.”– --- William Moeller, Ortlieb brewmaster, 1968 – 1980. (Ortlieb’s ales were brewed in open wooden fermenters.)
--- “Born to Brew” Jack Curtain, American Brewer magazine, Fall 2010.
1982 & 1983 GABF for Schmidt-brewed McSorley's claimed "traditional ale with top fermenting yeast".
Black Horse Ale (Fred Koch Brewery version) - "All of the Koch products (so, including their all-malt Jubilee Porter) use bottom-fermenting yeast, although yeasts differ from item to item." All About Beer, April, 1985.
Like the two other US brewers noted below, Koch's BHA labels sometimes used the 'dba' of "Black Horse Brewery"
Black Horse Ale (Champale 'aka' Black Horse Brewery of NJ version) 1983 GABF - "(B)arley malt, cereal grains, a blend of American hops and top fermenting yeast."
Black Horse Ale was also brewed in the US at the Diamond Spring Brewery, Lawrence, MA sometimes 'dba' "The Black Horse Brewery of Lawrence Massachusett" (which closed in 1970) and, briefly, by Genesee Brewing Co., after they bought the Fred Koch labels in 1984.
Schoenling's Little Kings Cream Ale - "The yeast is bottom-fermenting." ---Michael Jackson, Beer, [1997]
"Little Kings Cream Ale ... is made with a heavier charge of starting material than an ordinary lager beer, and as a result yields a richer and more alcoholic solution that makes it different. Fermentation at a higher temperature, and an extra two or three weeks of aging, contribute more body and a deeper flavor."
"Belgian Hallertau hops (are) used in Schoenling's Little Kings Cream Ale. . ."
--- Interviews with Schoenling's brewmaster, Charles Lichtendahl and assistant brewmasters, Mark Phipps and Robert Piening, Cincinnati Enquirer, March, 1981
Supposedly, in the brewery itself they referred to it as "ale yeast" meaning "the yeast we use for our ale".
Rainier Ale (Rainier and Heileman)- "Rainier represents a remarkable successful attempt to produce a beer with ale characteristics by bottom-fermentation. The secret lies in the use of very high fermentation temperatures and a distinctive yeast, which together produce a winey character to balance the maltiness of this big, copper-coloured brew." --- M. Jackson Pocket Guide to Beer, [1982]"Rainier Ale is brewed with malted barley, grain adjuncts, Yakima Valley Cluster hops and bottom fermenting yeast. The beer is fermented at quite high temperatures in order to produce ale character and is dry-hopped." ---1983 GABF Program (1982's claimed "a top fermenting ale yeast").
"Brewed with 70% malt only, half 2-row Oregon Klages and Peroline barley malt and half midwestern Larker and Beacon 6-row barley malt, along with 30% corn grits and some caramel malts and Yakima Cluster hop pellets… the beer is fermented with bottom fermenting lager yeast starting at a warm 70°F ale temperature down to a larger style 32°F aging for 30-days. Such an ale, like most U.S. large brewery ales, is called a 'Bastard Ale' ".
---Fred Eckhardt, Listen to Your Beer, v1,#3, June/July, 1983
"Rainier was better then than now, although it was what our brewers called bastard ale (i.e. bottom fermented warm at 70F and aged as a lager at 40F...)"
---Fred Eckhardt, All About Beer Magazine, March 1, 2012
Yuengling Lord Chesterfield Ale - "an ale that merges mostly malted barley, some corn grits and a bottom fermenting yeast. Lord Chesterfield's good hop character is attributed to the use of Yakima Valley hop pellets both in the kettle and in dry hopping during the transfer from primary to secondary fermentation phases. The brewery claims; 'It has a true ale character and taste even though Yuengling doesn't use ale yeast in fermentation.' "
--- 1982 GABF Program
"We used to top ferment our ales and porters in wooden tanks," Dick (Yuengling, Jr) says, "but in the 1960s we changed our system. We switched the yeast to bottom fermenting, and it worked out fine. There was no taste or character change." ---Modern Brewery Age, Jan. 1999
Pete's Wicked Ale - "When we started brewing [Pete's] Wicked Ale at Palo Alto Brewing Company (an ale brewery), we used a top fermenting yeast. When we moved production to August Schell Brewing, we utilized a Whitbread bottom-fermenting ale yeast because Schell's was a lager (bottom-fermenting) brewery."
---Pete Slosberg Beer for Pete's Sake [1998]
Rainier Ale (Rainier and Heileman)- "Rainier represents a remarkable successful attempt to produce a beer with ale characteristics by bottom-fermentation. The secret lies in the use of very high fermentation temperatures and a distinctive yeast, which together produce a winey character to balance the maltiness of this big, copper-coloured brew." --- M. Jackson Pocket Guide to Beer, [1982]"Rainier Ale is brewed with malted barley, grain adjuncts, Yakima Valley Cluster hops and bottom fermenting yeast. The beer is fermented at quite high temperatures in order to produce ale character and is dry-hopped." ---1983 GABF Program (1982's claimed "a top fermenting ale yeast").
"Brewed with 70% malt only, half 2-row Oregon Klages and Peroline barley malt and half midwestern Larker and Beacon 6-row barley malt, along with 30% corn grits and some caramel malts and Yakima Cluster hop pellets… the beer is fermented with bottom fermenting lager yeast starting at a warm 70°F ale temperature down to a larger style 32°F aging for 30-days. Such an ale, like most U.S. large brewery ales, is called a 'Bastard Ale' ".
---Fred Eckhardt, Listen to Your Beer, v1,#3, June/July, 1983
"Rainier was better then than now, although it was what our brewers called bastard ale (i.e. bottom fermented warm at 70F and aged as a lager at 40F...)"
---Fred Eckhardt, All About Beer Magazine, March 1, 2012
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