All About Ale
is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a top-fermenting brewers' yeast. This yeast allows the fermentation to occur quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste. Most ales contain hops, which gives the beer a bitter herbal flavor thathelps to balance the sweetness of the malt and also acts as a preservative for the beer.
Ales are different from other types of beer, like lagers or stouts, in that they have very low alcohol content. The alcohol content usually ranges from 2.5 to 6%. Ales tend to be smooth, fruity and sweet, but have a wide variety of qualities. Ale can have any number of characteristics, from sweet and nutty to sour and musty, bitter, and everything in between. Ale is brewed at a warmer temperature than other beers, and before refrigeration, ale was the main choice for beer drinkers.
Merriam Webster Online Dictionary:
Main Entry: ale
Pronunciation: \ˈāl\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ealu; akin to Old Norse ǫl ale, Lithuanian alus
Date: before 12th century
1 : an alcoholic beverage brewed especially by rapid fermentation from an infusion of malt with the addition of hops
2 : an English country festival at which ale is the principal beverage
Dictionary.com
Ale –noun
1: a malt beverage, darker, heavier, and more bitter than beer, containing about 6 percent alcohol by volume.
2: British. beer.
Origin: bef. 950; ME; OE (e)alu (gen. ealoth); c. OS alo-, MD ale, ael, ON ǫl;Lith alùs, OCS olŭ; Finnish, Estonian olut; areal word of North Europe
India Pale Ales are fast becoming the most popular style of craft beer in America. The label of “IPA” is now so ubiquitous that many customers at brewpubs erroneously refer to any kind of pale ale as IPA! There is good reason for this fame: not only are modern American IPAs among the world’s most flavorful beer styles, their history is just as rich and interesting as their taste. Read more about IPA....
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