I wrote this to promote some of my favorite American beer styles and perhaps turn drinkers on to some American classics they may have ignored or forgotten in the face of so many trendy one-off experimental beer. I write this to promote some uniquely American beer styles that have popped up since the microbrewery revolution. We all know about APA's, Steam Beer and West-Coast IPA's, but here are some great styles that need more recognition so they may become brewhouse favorites and internationally recognized American craft beer innovations.
These are great American beer styles that craft brewers should celebrate and brew more of....
1. The American Wheat Beer.
A popular summer style of beer, ie: Anchor's delicious summer offering, American Wheat Beer's should be vastly different than hefewiezens. So many craft brewers feel the need to imitate Bavarian Wheat beers, I say keep your finish clean and your beer uniquely American.
These beers don't get much respect among beer lover's, who feel like the lack of "banana-clove" Hefeweizen character means a total lack of flavor. This is not so. American Wheat beers have a similar palate to American Pale Ales, but with a fuller body and a refreshing tartness in the finish. While there are hundreds of wheat beers brewed in America, there are few that are honest originals and far too many that are paltry attempts at making Hefeweizen.
Remember: Adding lemon is a big mistake. It interferes with your ability to taste a well brewed beer. Just as big of a mistake can be made on the brewers end by believing that mild, slightly tart wheat beers must be fruit flavored. As delicious and unique as this style is, I've yet to meet many beer geeks who crave "American Style Wheat Beers." Maybe it's just me?
Good examples of popular American Wheats
1. North Coast Blue Star Wheat Beer: Perhaps my favorite and a perfect example of the style. One of their less known beers.
2: Goose Island 312: A nice choice with some subtle hints at it's German origins.
3. Anchor Summer: One of my favorite summer seasonal. Great for picnics with grilled meats.
4: Smuttynose Summer Weizen: Lovely hints of citrus.
5: Sierra Nevada Wheat (red label): Sadly, it's no longer brewed, this was perhaps the original American Wheat. Bring it back Sierra!
2. The American Vienna Lager
America's oldest surviving brewery, Yeungling, brews an Amber Lager as their flagship. These are often called Vienna Lagers, due to rumored origins from Austrian brewers. There were Austrian or even German beers like this at one time (amber Marzen's would be too malty to qualify IMHO), they don't really exist anymore, so the style survives as an American or Mexican (Victoria).
Some of biggest micro/macro-pseudo-craft beers in America fit under the umbrella of off-dry amber lagers. For one there is Coors Brewing's Killian's Irish Red, which is only enjoyable if you are doing the Coors' factory tour and your options are limited to their line of watery garbage.
Then there is the horrific Brooklyn Lager, which somehow always tastes like it didn't spend enough time in fermentation to me. Then there is Blue Point's Toasted Lager, which is one of the few drinkable beers Bluepoint churns out, but I still wouldn't call it worthy. Next we have Sam Adam's Boston Lager, which I'd rate as mediocre and perhaps your best option at an airport or sports bar. With so many popular examples, why haven't better, smaller breweries taken a crack at this style?
Good Examples of American Vienna Lagers
1: Yuengling: I love this beer for it's dryness, cheapness and drinkability. Beer snobs dismiss it, but it's a perfectly brewed beer and a crowd-pleaser to boot. Sadly, not available in the Western United States.
2: Full Sail LTD 5: A solid, hoppy take on this, often malty, American classic. Tastes pleasantly steely. Full Sail, despite being a great brewer of traditional Northwest Ales, has really stood out with their lagers in the last 5 years. Full Sail "Fest" Lager (part of their "Session" series) is also quite nice.
3: Southern Tier Wein: A nice try from Southern Tier. It's better than Sam Adams, Brooklyn Lager etc, but pretty hard to find. There aren't many good Vienna Lagers around.
3. The Belgian-style Single
As much as the Belgian Quadruppel exists more in American craft brewing then in Belgium. The Belgian Single is what many might call the American attempt at a session strength beer with Belgian yeast character, modeled after the "Paterbiers" that monks brewed for themselves to prevent intoxication.
Many American attempts at making a DeKoninck like "Belgian Pale Ales" have been pretty good too. They are generally Amber, have more bitterness than is common for Belgian styles and shouldn't be stronger than 6% ABV. Not to be confused with American Belgian-style blondes or American Belgo-Pale Ales, which aren't original and overdone. One difference is that a "Single" is often brewed without the addition of sugars to fortify it like most abbey style ales.
This is a great American beer style that was born from American brewers trying to imitate a great Belgian beer that was originally an imitation of an English Pale Ales. When done right it is the best of all three great Ale brewing traditions.
Good Examples of Belgian-style Singles
1: Smuttynose Star Island Single: I really like this brewery and this might be my favorite of their regular beers. It's clean and crisp, goes down super easy and has great apple and coriander notes, without feeling aggressively spiced.
2: Ommegang Rare Vos: A perfect example of the style. Too hoppy and rich to be a DeKoninck clone. Deep Amber, but insanely drinkable. A perfect light spice palate. Often passed over for their stronger beers, I think it's one of their best.
3: Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale: I generally don't recommend this brewery, but this is a solid example of this style, if a bit too hoppy.
4: Two Brother's Domaine DuPage: They call it a French country ale or "Biere de Garde," but it doesn't taste much like the Biere de Gardes that I've had, and fits in much better alongside these stellar ales. Worth seeking out.
4. Coffee Stouts
I think that American craft brewers generally brew too many stouts. They are often overpowering and sometimes syrupy. They are freely mixed with chocolate, which also generally disagrees with me, but I do like coffee stouts. While I find mixing coffee or chocolate with stout violates the taste principles of contrast (rather than matching coffee tasting malts with coffee), and subtlety, I feel like coffee stouts are uniquely American and showcase our dangerous urge to mix stimulants and depressants. They should almost be treated like cousin of beer like Bragot.
When made with good coffee these beers can be stimulating and very tasty. I feel like if this style was explored a bit more, this could turn into another genuine American innovation in brewing. Who would say no to a coffee beer to start off the day? Although it's not American, the Hitachino Espresso Stout is one of my favorite ways to get my caffeine, period.
Good Examples of Coffee Stouts
1: Kona Pipeline Porter: Yeah, they call it a Porter, but if you're throwing coffee in it will taste like a stout, no matter what the base is. This beer is one of my favorite from this otherwise unremarkable brewery. Hey they have the Kona coffee, why not put it to good use. Well-balanced.
2: Southern Tier Jah-Va Stout: While I find many of the beers in their "Blackwater" series to be a bit syrupy, I can make it through a bottle of the Jah-Va just fine. Great coffee flavors and remarkable smoothness for a beer of such strength. One of my favorite "extreme" beers.
3: Troeg's Java Head Stout: I'm running out of good coffee beers here. This one is pretty good, somewhere between the Pipeline and the Jah-Va, but it's not one to write home about, needs more coffee I reckon.
4: Founder's Breakfast Stout: I wanted to close by mentioning this coffee-oatmeal stout (get it? breakfast!). It's created high demand in the beer world and it's barrel-aged variants can create frenzies. It's really quite nice, if you can find it. Great coffee flavors. Probably the best of the bunch. A minor quibble: It is a tad too bitter for the style.
5. Fresh Hop Ales
I think this is perhaps the greatest contribution American brewers have made to the ever-growing list of global beer styles. We took our finest produce, fresh hops, and added them to beer to produce celebratory harvest beers. Most of these that are brewed are in hop-growing areas, as well they should be. They are almost always fantastic. Generally the closer to the Yakima Valley the better, unless you take after Sierra Nevada or Rogue and grow hops. These beers were an important first step to the admirable movements towards brewer self-sustainability.
There are many examples of this beer and they are pretty much all good, but I think every American brewer who has access to fresh hops should make this the new fall seasonal, instead of Pumpkin Ales. If it says "Fresh Hop" or "Wet Hop," order it right away. Seek out: Troeg's Nugget Necter, Sierra Nevada Hop Harvest, and Deschutes Hop Trip, and keep going!
These are great American beer styles that craft brewers should celebrate and brew more of....
1. The American Wheat Beer.
A popular summer style of beer, ie: Anchor's delicious summer offering, American Wheat Beer's should be vastly different than hefewiezens. So many craft brewers feel the need to imitate Bavarian Wheat beers, I say keep your finish clean and your beer uniquely American.
These beers don't get much respect among beer lover's, who feel like the lack of "banana-clove" Hefeweizen character means a total lack of flavor. This is not so. American Wheat beers have a similar palate to American Pale Ales, but with a fuller body and a refreshing tartness in the finish. While there are hundreds of wheat beers brewed in America, there are few that are honest originals and far too many that are paltry attempts at making Hefeweizen.
Remember: Adding lemon is a big mistake. It interferes with your ability to taste a well brewed beer. Just as big of a mistake can be made on the brewers end by believing that mild, slightly tart wheat beers must be fruit flavored. As delicious and unique as this style is, I've yet to meet many beer geeks who crave "American Style Wheat Beers." Maybe it's just me?
Good examples of popular American Wheats
1. North Coast Blue Star Wheat Beer: Perhaps my favorite and a perfect example of the style. One of their less known beers.
2: Goose Island 312: A nice choice with some subtle hints at it's German origins.
3. Anchor Summer: One of my favorite summer seasonal. Great for picnics with grilled meats.
4: Smuttynose Summer Weizen: Lovely hints of citrus.
5: Sierra Nevada Wheat (red label): Sadly, it's no longer brewed, this was perhaps the original American Wheat. Bring it back Sierra!
2. The American Vienna Lager
America's oldest surviving brewery, Yeungling, brews an Amber Lager as their flagship. These are often called Vienna Lagers, due to rumored origins from Austrian brewers. There were Austrian or even German beers like this at one time (amber Marzen's would be too malty to qualify IMHO), they don't really exist anymore, so the style survives as an American or Mexican (Victoria).
Some of biggest micro/macro-pseudo-craft beers in America fit under the umbrella of off-dry amber lagers. For one there is Coors Brewing's Killian's Irish Red, which is only enjoyable if you are doing the Coors' factory tour and your options are limited to their line of watery garbage.
Then there is the horrific Brooklyn Lager, which somehow always tastes like it didn't spend enough time in fermentation to me. Then there is Blue Point's Toasted Lager, which is one of the few drinkable beers Bluepoint churns out, but I still wouldn't call it worthy. Next we have Sam Adam's Boston Lager, which I'd rate as mediocre and perhaps your best option at an airport or sports bar. With so many popular examples, why haven't better, smaller breweries taken a crack at this style?
Good Examples of American Vienna Lagers
1: Yuengling: I love this beer for it's dryness, cheapness and drinkability. Beer snobs dismiss it, but it's a perfectly brewed beer and a crowd-pleaser to boot. Sadly, not available in the Western United States.
2: Full Sail LTD 5: A solid, hoppy take on this, often malty, American classic. Tastes pleasantly steely. Full Sail, despite being a great brewer of traditional Northwest Ales, has really stood out with their lagers in the last 5 years. Full Sail "Fest" Lager (part of their "Session" series) is also quite nice.
3: Southern Tier Wein: A nice try from Southern Tier. It's better than Sam Adams, Brooklyn Lager etc, but pretty hard to find. There aren't many good Vienna Lagers around.
3. The Belgian-style Single
As much as the Belgian Quadruppel exists more in American craft brewing then in Belgium. The Belgian Single is what many might call the American attempt at a session strength beer with Belgian yeast character, modeled after the "Paterbiers" that monks brewed for themselves to prevent intoxication.
Many American attempts at making a DeKoninck like "Belgian Pale Ales" have been pretty good too. They are generally Amber, have more bitterness than is common for Belgian styles and shouldn't be stronger than 6% ABV. Not to be confused with American Belgian-style blondes or American Belgo-Pale Ales, which aren't original and overdone. One difference is that a "Single" is often brewed without the addition of sugars to fortify it like most abbey style ales.
This is a great American beer style that was born from American brewers trying to imitate a great Belgian beer that was originally an imitation of an English Pale Ales. When done right it is the best of all three great Ale brewing traditions.
Good Examples of Belgian-style Singles
1: Smuttynose Star Island Single: I really like this brewery and this might be my favorite of their regular beers. It's clean and crisp, goes down super easy and has great apple and coriander notes, without feeling aggressively spiced.
2: Ommegang Rare Vos: A perfect example of the style. Too hoppy and rich to be a DeKoninck clone. Deep Amber, but insanely drinkable. A perfect light spice palate. Often passed over for their stronger beers, I think it's one of their best.
3: Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale: I generally don't recommend this brewery, but this is a solid example of this style, if a bit too hoppy.
4: Two Brother's Domaine DuPage: They call it a French country ale or "Biere de Garde," but it doesn't taste much like the Biere de Gardes that I've had, and fits in much better alongside these stellar ales. Worth seeking out.
4. Coffee Stouts
I think that American craft brewers generally brew too many stouts. They are often overpowering and sometimes syrupy. They are freely mixed with chocolate, which also generally disagrees with me, but I do like coffee stouts. While I find mixing coffee or chocolate with stout violates the taste principles of contrast (rather than matching coffee tasting malts with coffee), and subtlety, I feel like coffee stouts are uniquely American and showcase our dangerous urge to mix stimulants and depressants. They should almost be treated like cousin of beer like Bragot.
When made with good coffee these beers can be stimulating and very tasty. I feel like if this style was explored a bit more, this could turn into another genuine American innovation in brewing. Who would say no to a coffee beer to start off the day? Although it's not American, the Hitachino Espresso Stout is one of my favorite ways to get my caffeine, period.
Good Examples of Coffee Stouts
1: Kona Pipeline Porter: Yeah, they call it a Porter, but if you're throwing coffee in it will taste like a stout, no matter what the base is. This beer is one of my favorite from this otherwise unremarkable brewery. Hey they have the Kona coffee, why not put it to good use. Well-balanced.
2: Southern Tier Jah-Va Stout: While I find many of the beers in their "Blackwater" series to be a bit syrupy, I can make it through a bottle of the Jah-Va just fine. Great coffee flavors and remarkable smoothness for a beer of such strength. One of my favorite "extreme" beers.
3: Troeg's Java Head Stout: I'm running out of good coffee beers here. This one is pretty good, somewhere between the Pipeline and the Jah-Va, but it's not one to write home about, needs more coffee I reckon.
4: Founder's Breakfast Stout: I wanted to close by mentioning this coffee-oatmeal stout (get it? breakfast!). It's created high demand in the beer world and it's barrel-aged variants can create frenzies. It's really quite nice, if you can find it. Great coffee flavors. Probably the best of the bunch. A minor quibble: It is a tad too bitter for the style.
5. Fresh Hop Ales
I think this is perhaps the greatest contribution American brewers have made to the ever-growing list of global beer styles. We took our finest produce, fresh hops, and added them to beer to produce celebratory harvest beers. Most of these that are brewed are in hop-growing areas, as well they should be. They are almost always fantastic. Generally the closer to the Yakima Valley the better, unless you take after Sierra Nevada or Rogue and grow hops. These beers were an important first step to the admirable movements towards brewer self-sustainability.
There are many examples of this beer and they are pretty much all good, but I think every American brewer who has access to fresh hops should make this the new fall seasonal, instead of Pumpkin Ales. If it says "Fresh Hop" or "Wet Hop," order it right away. Seek out: Troeg's Nugget Necter, Sierra Nevada Hop Harvest, and Deschutes Hop Trip, and keep going!
