English Pale Ales
 

The Coke Revolution

 

Prior to the 17th century, almost every beer was dark in color. The reason - dark malt. One of the most basic ingredients of beer, malt is also the primary contributor to the color of beer and most malt used prior to 1600 tended to be darker in color than many malts used today.

 

Before it can be used to brew beer, malt needs to be dried and in centuries past, the drying process usually consisted of heating the malt. Furnaces and kilns in use prior to 1600 tended to produce uneven, unreliable temperatures which led to dark colored malts that created dark beer.

 

In the early part of the 17th century, trees were fast disappearing from the forests of Europe and the search for an alternative to wood burning ovens became increasingly important. As wood became scarcer, the concept of using coke (charred coal) for fuel became popular and in 1642, a coke oven was used for the first time to dry malt in Derbyshire, England. And although it took many more decades for the process to become widespread in malt drying, a revolution had begun. The Industrial Revolution, in fact.

 

Coke became a superior fuel to wood and regular coal, because the "coking" process eliminates most of the foul, smelly elements of the coal. Once "coked," coal becomes a much cleaner burning fuel and ovens fueled by coke dry malt with much less contamination to the malt, leaving it cleaner in taste. Advances in oven technology during this time also allowed for better temperature control of coke ovens, making it possible to dry malt at lower temperatures, leaving the malt pale and light in color.

 

In the 17th century, dark beers like Porters and Stouts dominated the beer industry, but by the early 18th century, beers were being brewed in and around London using pale malt. Coke dried malt could be kept at a lighter, paler color throughout the malting process due to the lack of soot caused by contaminants in coal and wood fueled ovens. The more highly hopped English Pale Ales enjoyed some success, they were still not brewed in quantities as large as the popular (and cheaper) Porters and Stouts.

 

Click here to read more about the modern malting process at the Briess Malt website.

 

India

 

Despite limited success and the presence of Pale Ale breweries throughout much of England, Pale Ales were second in brewing volume for many years to Porters and Stouts. At the same time, shipments of beer to India destined to support British interests there were becoming a bigger part of the overall beer market and it was a London brewer, George Hodgson, who found a way to capitalize on exporting beer to India. He created a very strongly hopped version of the Pale Ale designed to withstand the lengthy sea voyage and while his beer invention, created in or about 1790, is more specifically known as an India Pale Ale, his export beer came to dominate British beer shipments to India and eventually found a very enthusiastic audience at home in England.

 

Hodgson's India Pale Ale and various other brewery's permutations of it that followed helped to popularize the general concept of Pale Ales and moved Pale Ales out of the shadow of Porters and Stouts, beers that had been dominant in the British market prior to Hodgson.

 

Burton upon Trent

 

Burton upon Trent in central England has brewed beer for centuries, at least since an abbey was founded there in the 12th century. However, for many centuries the relative isolation of Burton upon Trent kept it a much smaller brewing city than London to the south. Prior to the 17th century, Burton beers were overwhelmingly of the dark, malt oriented porter or stout variety that was also popular in London as well. However, the introduction of pale malts and Pale Ales to Burton highlighted a distinct advantage that Burton held over it's London competitors - water.

 

The water supply of Burton upon Trent, drawn from wells and not from the river Trent, is high in salt content, a result of large amounts of gypsum deposited in the soil in and around Burton.  This mineral content of the Burton water became an advantage for Pale Ales, because salty water makes a much better platform for hops, the dominant flavor provider in English Pale Ales. This meant that Burton brewers were able to successfully add more hops to their beers with much more satisfactory flavor results than their London competitors. Now as then, brewers in other cities often "Burtonize" their water by adding gypsum to it in order to re-create the quality of water that Burton upon Trent enjoys naturally.

 

Also to the benefit of Burton breweries, the glass bottles and the railroad were coming of age at the same time as Pale Ales, making production and transportation of beer brewed in Burton commercially viable and desirable. Drinkers in London and in the rest of England eventually responded very positively to the new "Pale Ales" and "India Pale Ales" that Burton was producing and Burton breweries began to grow dramatically.

 

Beginning in the 19th century, Burton overtook London as the dominant Pale Ale and India Pale Ale brewer for decades. By 1876, the Bass Brewery (now owned by InBev/A-B) was producing one million barrels a year and was the largest brewer in the world at that time. The Samuel Allsop brewery, also in Burton, was not far behind Bass with 900,000 barrels produced in the same year. In 1920, Bass merged with competitor Worthingtons and continued to brew one of the original Burton IPA's, Worthington White Shield, until 1998.

 

Burton upon Trent is also famous for the invention and use of the Burton Union brewing system, which circulated the fermenting beer through a series of casks connected by pipes. The idea of the Union system is to remove overflow of gas and foam from the fermenting beer, leaving little or no room for potentially beer spoiling elements in any given cask.

 

English Pale Ales

 

English Pale Ales are typically balanced beers that emphasize hoppy, or bitter flavors while maintaining a strong base of malty, sweet flavors. The subtle nature of pale malts coupled with earthy British hops allows both malt and hop flavors to shine. The British commonly refer to their Pale Ales as bitters. In fact, the British categorize their bitters differently depending on the alcohol content of the beer. Higher alcohol percentages are usually produced by the addition of more malt, so higher alcohol English Pale Ales are usually more malty than lower alcohol versions.

 

Standard or Ordinary Bitters are beers up to 4% alcohol by volume (abv) and tend to be beers that are consumed in large quantities, or when a less strong beer is desired. Bottled versions of these beers often have the word "bitter" in the brand name including beers such as Fuller's Chiswick Bitter, Adnams Bitter or Young's Bitter. Due to the relatively low alcohol content of Standard Bitters, they are often not made available outside of the United Kingdom.

Beers from 4.1% to 4.7% abv are usually called Best, Special or Premium Bitters. This type of beer is the most common type of Pale Ale found in Britain. The phrase "Best Bitter" in England is used to refer to the highest quality product that a brewery produces and many of those beers fall into this category.

Extra Special Bitters (ESB), sometimes called Premium or Strong Bitters,  are those Pales that are 4.8% abv and above. This is the most common type of English Pale Ale that is exported to the United States as the higher alcohol content makes the ESB a heartier beer more capable of arriving fresh after transport across the Atlantic. Additionally, the higher alcohol content often makes them more sought after in the American and other foreign markets.

 

Cuisine

 

English Pale Ales (Bitters) are especially well suited for peppery, spicy cuisine like Indian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern food, fish, and shellfish.

 

Drink English Pale Ales in a pint glass.