by Brian Vandenbroek

Created on: October 23, 2009

When I began researching this article, I found nineteen styles of ale, three of which had three or more subcategories. Since it would take forever to talk about all those ales, I've elected to introduce you to some of the most common styles of ale. First, I'll give you a brief definition of ale. Ale is fermented by top fermenting yeasts (as opposed to lager's bottom fermenting) at relatively warm temperatures, around 45-5F. The result is a more full bodied beer with noticeable sweetness of flavour. Out of the nineteen ale styles I found, I found seven that most people will be familiar with and have no trouble finding bottles of to enjoy for themselves.

1) ENGLISH BROWN ALE: Probably the most famous of the ales, English brown ale enjoys two variations. In the south you'll find an ale similar to English mild with its flavors of malt and caramel. Bitterness is subdued, leaving plenty of room for the malt, a softly rounded mouthfeel and fruit esters in the nose. In the north, brown ales are bigger, clocking in at 5% abv. These ales are light brown in color with a maltier aroma, flavors of nuts and a more bitter finish. Either variant, when done right are the perfect place to start your ale journey. As for which brands to try? Newcastle Brown, Hobgoblin and Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale are the way to go.

2) MILD ALE: England's Midlands is the home of mild ale. An offshoot of London brown, mild ale is lower in alcohol than its relatives, coming in not much more than 3% abv. Mild ales tend to be dark brown in color. designed to be a session ale, mild ales enjoy the slightly sweet, rounded flavor of caramel and chocolate, a clean finish, and subdued hop bitterness. Today, mild ale is the perfect ale to use as a session ale at the end of a busy day. If you can find them, try Highgate Mild or Gale's Festival Mild

3) BITTER: Another low alcohol session beer, bitter is one of Britain's most popular ales, and is traditionally served on tap. Beyond that, English Bitter is very hard to quantify, so we'll settle for the broad strokes. Bitter is an amber colored ale, sometimes slightly reddish. It ranges from 3.5-5.5% abv with noticeable hop aroma. Bitter will usually present a slightly malty sweetness with notes of caramel. It will then finish dry, accentuating a crisp bitterness that could range anywhere from mild to bracing. Bitter can be hard to find here, but Fuller's London Pride is worth the search. As are Old Speckled Hen and Young's Ramrod.

4) INDIA PALE ALE: An ale

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