Beer Style: Brown Ale Family
Pete’s Wicked Ale clone
One of the early superstars in the US craft beer scene, Pete’s Brewing Co. was founded in 1986 and was eventually sold to Gambrinius in 1998. This beer played a large role in putting American Brown Ales on the beer map. Pete’s Wicked Ale was discontinued being brewed in 2011.
Madison Brewing Co.’s BURNT clone
Toasted hemp seeds, infused into this American brown ale, provides a unique nutty character. The hops balance the malt characters nicely. Recipe provided by the head brewer at this Bennington, Vermont based brewpub.
Flying Barrel Scottish Ale
Recipe provided by The Flying Barrel — Frederick, Maryland
www.flyingbarrel.com
Good Olde Brown Ale
A session brown ale provided by The Brew Haus out of Durango, Colorado. The recipe has an optional ginger addition for those ginger lovers out there
Wychwood Brewing Company: Hobgoblin Dark Ale clone
This ruby-colored English ale delivers a delicious chocolate toffee malt flavor, balanced with rounded moderate bitterness and an overall fruity, mischievous character.
Smithwick’s Premium Irish Ale clone
When my wife and I visited Ireland, we really enjoyed our share of Smithwick’s Ale. Smithwick’s is a light-bodied, copper-colored Irish Red ale with a pleasant hint of roastiness and a dry finish. Here’s a successful homebrew version of Smithwick’s.
Randy & Amy Germann — San Antonio, Texas
Real Ale Brewing Co’s Brewhouse Brown Ale clone
One of the original three recipes from Real Ale’s offerings when they firest started brewing Blanco, Texas in 1996. According to their website, “Simple and classic. This well-balanced ale features flavors of chocolate and toffee with a smooth, dry finish.”
Wee Hottie
Kuyler Doyle’s “Wee Hottie” took second place behind the ZEALOTS entry. Kuyler’s choice was dictated by the style’s primary ingredient. “I thought the malty sweet character of a Scotch ale would pair well with spicy heat from chiles,” states Kuyler. “Since Scotch ales are allowed to have a smoky flavor, I went with that as the link. I added some rauch malt to the blend and used smoky chipotle peppers for the heat and flavor.” Like the ZEALOTS, Kuyler did a spinoff of a 5- gallon (19-L) batch. The recipe below has the peppers scaled up for full a 5-gallon (19-L) batch.
Texas Imperial Brown Ale
American Brown ale was once referred to as Texas Brown ale, since the Dixie Cup was the first competition to recognize the style. In honor of that, David Cato brewed his Texas Imperial Brown Ale, which is more or less a brown I.P.A. It’s a richly flavored beer and very hoppy, appropriately enough with Amarillo® hops. This beer, by David Cato took 2nd place in the Imperial Beer category.
House of Homebrew Brown Ale
Brown ale is a very old style of beer that was brewed long before it was formally named. Many of the earliest of English ales were what we would today define as a brown ale. Today the BJCP defines a brown ale as follows: “A beer with an OG falling between 1.060 and 1.040, IBU between 24 and 30 and SRM between 15 and 35.”
– Bill Wiedmer, House of Homebrew
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Otter Creek Mud Bock Spring Ale clone
A Bock that has a nutty, chocolate malt flavor with mild hopping.
Shaun of the Red (Irish Red Ale)
A robust version of an Irish red ale — you might call it a red ale with a little more guts.
