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style.profile: Cream Ale

4/9/2012

2 Comments

 
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Style 6: Light Hybrid Beer
6A.  Cream Ale

Examples: Genesee Cram Ale, New Glarus Spotted Cow, Little Kings Cream Ale
Serving Temp: 40°- 45°
Glassware: Pint Glass, Mug
Aroma: Faint corn-like aroma, sweet with little or no hop aroma.
Appearance:  Pours a pale yellow to gold with brilliant clarity and a white head that recedes quickly.
Flavor: Neither hops nor malt stand out but it is balanced towards sweet instead of bitter. There will likely be a noticeable corn flavor present because corn (an adjunct used to lighten the body) was used in the brewing process.
Mouthfeel:  Generally a light and crisp, medium bodied beer with high carbonation but a smooth mouthfeel.

Food Pairings: Cheese: soft (Burratta, Havarti, Monterey Jack)  Meat: poultry or fish 

HopHeadSaid: Sensory speaking, I am corn sensitive.  I have a low tolerance for corn flavors and/or DMS (a chemical compound reminiscent of cooked corn, usually an off-flavor) and when they are present in my beer that is generally all I can focus on making it hard to enjoy any other flavors in these beers. So because these beers use corn as an ingredient it is hard for me to enjoy any of these beers.  That said … Spotted Cow by New Glarus is definitely my favorite of the cream ales.  It has been several years since I have enjoyed one but I don’t recall any corn flavors at all and as a matter of fact there was so little corn flavor I thought it was a wheat beer until I cross referenced it in the BJCP style guidelines. However, if you look you might be able to find flavored or spiced cream ales.  I found one that was Chai spiced and the corn sweetness paired well with the spice.  The spice also covered up any corny flavors and so I enjoyed the beer very much.  

2 Comments
Kent Eichstaedt
4/8/2012 11:31:11 pm

It's interesing that everyone referrs to Spotted Cow as a cream ale but New Glarus. They call it a 'Naturally Cloudy Farmhouse Ale'. My home brewer friends don't care for it because it's not an IPA, but that is probably why so many in WI love it. Beer snobs who look down on corn, rice etc. should read 'The Wide World of Adjuncts' in the March, 2011 issue of 'All About Beer'.
http://allaboutbeer.com/live-beer/brewing/ingredients/2011/03/whos-afraid-of-a-big-bad-adjunct/1
http://allaboutbeer.com/live-beer/brewing/ingredients/2011/03/the-wide-world-of-adjuncts/

Reply
HHS
4/9/2012 12:18:10 am

Thanks for the links, Ken. That must be why I like Spotted Cow so much, I am a sucker for any kind of farmhouse ale.

I use adjusts quite often in my homebrews. The most common being table sugar. I use it to bump up ABV if I need it but mostly to dry out my bigger beers. For some reason, I just don't enjoy corn flavor in my beer. I'll eat cooked, roasted and corn on the cob but I don't want that flavor in my beer. Also, I don't care for a heavy rice flavor. Thankfully I don't have to endure either very often.

However, Tradewinds (spotlighted in the articles) is a very good beer and the Tripel-Belgian-yeast thing covered up any rice, as far as I could tell.

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