Pale Ale

Beer historian Martyn Cornell shows that pale ale is much older than IPA. In the late 17th century pale malt was already being made in England by drying malt with coke. According to a report from 1695–97, such a malt gave the beer 'little Colour or Taste'.

The county of Derbyshire was known for its pale ale in the mid-18th century. In 1709 'Burton pale' was already being sung about, and according to a source from 1760 pale ale was also brewed in London under Queen Anne (early 18th century). Before the great rise of Burton IPA, pale ale was brewed all over Great Britain, in Scotland and Wales too.

IPA came only later. Pale ale 'brewed expressly for the India market' turns up in 1822, and the name (East) India Pale Ale is first known from 1829. Burton became famous afterwards for its bitter pale ales, but was not the cradle of pale ale.

The BJCP writes it itself: modern American versions are often just lighter IPAs ('often just lower gravity IPAs'). So there is something to it.

At the same time, the same guideline describes the American pale ale as a style of its own: maltier, better balanced and more drinkable, and less pronouncedly hoppy and bitter than a session IPA. Compared with a regular American IPA, an APA has less bitterness and less alcohol. For American pale ale the BJCP gives 4.5–6.2% alcohol and 30–50 IBU, for American IPA 5.5–7.5% and 40–70 IBU.

The American pale ale is an American adaptation of the English pale ale. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, first brewed in 1980, helped make the style popular. Before the IPA wave it was the most popular American craft style.

According to Ron Pattinson, 'bitter' and 'pale ale' were used interchangeably in the 19th century; he found dozens of articles and books in which they appear as synonyms. Breweries officially called the beer pale ale. In the pub, where there was no tap badge yet showing the official name, people simply ordered 'bitter'. On bottles, brewers chose the name themselves, which is why the bottled version was more often called pale ale. A British beer book from 1956 says the same: what the brewer calls pale ale or IPA is, for the customer, 'bitter' when it comes from a cask.

The difference that Pattinson does see in the 19th century is that between stock pale ale, which matured on the cask for months, and running pale ale, which was ready to serve within a few days.

The BJCP looks at it differently. It treats bitter as a draught version that grew out of English pale ale from the late 19th century, writes that the styles were historically different, and calls modern British pale ale 'a bottled bitter'. On the past, then, the experts do not agree. Today the two are in any case very close together.

According to the American Homebrewers Association (part of the Brewers Association), the biggest problem with beer that is too cold is that the cold masks many aromas and flavours. Cold slows the release of aroma compounds, so they stay in the beer. The quality guide of the Brewers Association also names serving temperature as a factor in how much aroma is released.

The advice differs per style. The AHA gives a table based on Randy Mosher (Tasting Beer). A few examples, converted to degrees Celsius: light American mass-market lagers approx. 1–4 °C, pilsner and other pale lagers approx. 3–7 °C, pale ale and IPA approx. 7–10 °C, and strong lagers approx. 10–13 °C.

The rules of thumb from the same source: lagers colder than ales, strong beer warmer than light beer, dark beer warmer than blond. And pour a few degrees colder than the target, because beer warms up in the glass.

These are recommendations, not laws: the AHA itself calls them general suggestions, from which some styles deviate. If the brewer gives its own serving advice, go by that. If you drink an ordinary pilsner ice cold, you are doing nothing wrong. The myth is that all beer must be that cold.