Brown Ale

English Brown Ale

At certain points in time the Brown ale was a very popular beer in Britain, it is of course named for it’s colour and another characteristic is they are fairly sweet. The English Brown ale has largely fallen from grace with the trend being toward pale beers or more bitter amber coloured bitters.

Brown ales are named for their colour but can range up to very dark mahogany coloured beers, the aroma is malty sweet and the hop bitterness is very low as well as next to no hop aroma. The flavour is toffee and malt sweetness that gives the beer a full body, alcohol content is at the lower end. Manns Brown Ale is a good example.

IBUs: 12 – 20
SRM: 19 – 35
OG: 1.033 – 1.042
FG: 1.011 – 1.014
ABV: 2.8 – 4.1%

American Brown Ale

The American Brown ale originates from brewers attempts to recreate traditional English Brown Ales with an American style of bold flavours and hoppiness. The US brown ale is dryer and more hop forward than the traditional English Brown Ale and also has a high gravity than the English style.

The US Brown ale is malty and has the same caramel quality as the English incarnation but with a more noticeable hop presence and less of the sweetness. Colour is light to dark brown.

IBUs: 20 – 40
SRM: 18 – 35
OG: 1.045 – 1.060
FG: 1.010 – 1.016
ABV: 4.3 – 6.2%