Golden Ale? Blonde Ale? Pale Ale? Oh my!

Work is the curse of the drinking classes

Oscar Wilde

Happy Paddy's Day, lets grab a pint on The Art of Caesura!

Over the past 6 weeks we've been looking at all of the full-body miniatures currently available for The World of Smog. I want to give a special go raibh maith agat to those people over on the Kickstarter forums who had nice things to say - that was great! 

We'll be moving on this week, so those of you not into The World of Smog can breathe a huge sigh of relief, and those of you who are...don't worry, I've still got about half of the busts to paint (and that's before the new game arrives next year) so there will be plenty more World of Smog in our futures. 

Many moons ago I started brewing a beer quite different to those that I had brewed before. Apart from the lighter colour, one of the craziest differences is that (as per the recipe) I didn't add ANY sugar for fermentation! This was a huge change for me, because the last recipe called for a kilo of sugar for the 23L. I can only assume that there must be something in the liquid malt extract for the yeast to feed off. 

Anyway, this time 'round we're whetting (and wetting) our pallets with Mangrove Jack's Robber's Gold Golden Ale. But first, what is a Golden Ale you ask? 

So apparently Golden Ales and Blonde Ales are the same thing (though it is acknowledged that some beer connoisseurs contest this) apparently the term "Blonde Ale" is more used in Europe (and Canada in my experience), while "Golden Ale" is used in the UK (and seemingly Ireland). Golden Ales are quite new, having been developed in the 1980s to lure lager-drinkers over to ale. The main feature is a biscuity and juicy malt flavour from pale malts (malts that are dried using coke - a kind coal with less impurities). These malts give it the lighter colour too.

So then, what's the difference between Golden Ales and Pale Ales? Well, Golden Ale is a type of Pale Ale (as is Amber Ale, English Bitter, Red Ale, IPA...) and while Golden Ales are new, Pale Ales as a class are old. Like over 300 years old! Pale Ales are defined by their coke-roasted malt but differentiated by their hops and alcohol content. 

Now that we have a better understanding of what a Golden Ale is, next week we can see how mine turned out!

Thanks for joining me as I dabble through the intricacies of the wonderful world of beer. For homework lets go try some Golden Ales / Blondes, I'd recommend Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne's Beal Ban (and would not recommend Guinness's Golden Ale).

See you next week for more Golden Ale on The Art of Caesura!


Reading: Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery - Henry Marsh
Watching: Kong: Skull Island - Vogt-Roberts 
Drinking: Robber's Gold
Listening: Daddy - Psy


Next Week:

Tasting and Judgement!