Old Ales

Tasting Notes

Old ale is primarily an English style that was named "old" because it was kept a long time before drinking. Most are full-bodied and tawny, with nutty malt sweetness. High original gravities lend a fruity character and body to old ales. Color is usually light amber to very dark red. They are a high-alcohol version of pale ale, though generally not as strong or rich as barley wines.

Ingredients

Ingredients used in brewing old ale include pale ale malt as the base malt, and crystal, chocolate, black, and amber malts. Adjuncts are often used, including torrified corn and sugar. Old Peculier is made from pale ale and crystal malts, torrified wheat, caramel, and three different sugars.

Brewing Techniques

Generally, single-infusion mashes (at 67ºC) are ideal for this style, with high rest temperature to produce dextrinous wort. Strong ales are often aged longer, resulting in a softening of hop bitterness. Some brewers opt not to filter or pasteurize before bottling. The beer develops with bottle age from one to five years. Old ales are slightly syrupy when young, but improve with aging. Long-term storage has been known to add oxidative flavors, as in fine old port or Madeira wine.

The information on this page was provided by beer-brewing.com (http://www.beer-brewing.com).