Brown Ale

The BJCP writes that brown ale has a long history in Great Britain, but that the name was used in different periods for different products. The modern brown ale 'is a 20th century creation; it is not the same as historical products with the same name.'

Beer historian Martyn Cornell places the re-emergence of brown ale in Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th century. The London brewery Mann's released a bottled, sweet brown ale in 1902; according to Ron Pattinson, Mann's can 'claim to be the first (modern) Brown Ale'. Newcastle Brown Ale followed in 1927, according to an advertisement from the brewery itself.

Afterwards, too, the strength varied widely. In the 1950s most British brown ales had only about 3% alcohol, while Newcastle Brown had just over 5%. The sweet London variant is, according to the BJCP, now a historical style that is 'nearly extinct'.

Part of it is right. The London brown ale is, according to the BJCP, 'luscious, sweet', with a sweet finish, and commercial versions are sometimes sweetened after fermentation. But that style has almost disappeared.

The modern British brown ale, such as the Newcastle type, has, according to the BJCP, 'gentle to moderate malt sweetness', but a medium-dry to dry finish. In the older BJCP classification of 2008 the northern variant was even called 'drier and more hop-oriented' than the southern one.

The American brown ale goes further still: medium to fairly high bitterness, with hops that sometimes smell of citrus or tropical fruit. The Brewers Association gives 30–45 IBU for that style, the BJCP 20–30 IBU.

How sweet a brown ale is therefore depends strongly on the variant.

The BJCP describes British brown ale as a malty, caramel-like brown ale 'without the roasted flavors of a Porter'. For the American brown ale, too, according to the BJCP, there should be no roasted character reminiscent of porter or stout. Instead you taste caramel, nuts, toast, toffee and sometimes a hint of chocolate.

The Brewers Association is somewhat broader and does allow some roasted malt in brown ales.

That brown ale, dark mild and English porter are in one category at the BJCP is only because they resemble each other in judging. It does not say that one style is a lighter version of the other.

Anyone who likes brown ale and is looking for more roasted flavour can certainly see porter as a logical next step.

The colour of beer comes mainly from the grain. The more caramelised, roasted or darkly kilned malt the brewer uses, the darker the beer. CraftBeer.com of the Brewers Association expressly adds that colour does not equal alcohol content or mouthfeel. A quality guide of the Brewers Association for the trade also writes that colour sometimes suggests strength, but often wrongly.

The style guidelines show it in black and white. An Irish stout is black from dark roasted malt or barley, but according to the BJCP has 3.8–5.0% alcohol. A Belgian tripel is deep yellow to light amber and has 7.5–9.5%. The Brewers Association gives the same picture: a dry Irish stout has 4.1–5.3% at a colour of 80+ EBC (black), a tripel 7.1–10.1% at 8–18 EBC (pale). Such a stout does not have to be heavy either: the BJCP calls it remarkably smooth, with a medium-light to medium-full body.

Of course there are also dark beers that are strong, such as imperial stout (8–12% according to the BJCP). That is due to the amount of sugar that was fermented, not to the colour.