Three out of three
14/10/2009 11:25:00 a.m.
GROWING up in West London in the 60s and 70s I served my beer drinking
apprenticeship in pubs where I learned to enjoy the traditional English
ales, usually amber or copper coloured bitters and best bitters.
In those days although most pubs offered a lager or two, it was seen very much as a woman’s drink and no self-respecting bloke would be seen drinking it.
Within 20 years that all changed. The next generation of young pub-goers were looking for a different, more refreshing beer experience; they regarded the traditional ales as old fashioned and “fuddy duddy” but lagers fitted the bill perfectly. Golden in colour and served icy cold, European brands like Heineken, Stella Artois, Lowenbrau and Carslberg shot to prominence while sales of traditional English ales suffered.
Seeing their market share being eroded, some of the larger English brewers took the attitude “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” and started brewing lagers of their own. Sometimes these were successful but more often they didn’t have the street appeal – or marketing budgets – of the big-name European brands and failed disastrously.
Other brewers however, particularly the smaller craft producers, recognised they didn’t have the know-how and storage capacity needed to accommodate the longer fermentation and maturation regimes required to produce lagers and started to brew a new style of golden coloured ale.
The idea here was to produce a crisp, refreshing summery ale that looked like a lager and could be served cooler than a traditional English ale.
Lacking the rich toffee-like malt profile and deep, earthy bitterness of traditional English bitters, so-called Golden (or Summer) Ales are also drier and more refreshing. A simple grist of only pale barley malts, perhaps along with some wheat, is employed and this, combined with cooler fermentation temperatures, maximises crispness while allowing the fruity and herbaceous aromas and flavours of the hops to be emphasised.
In the decade and a half since I left England golden ales have thrived. Nowadays, while lagers still dominate the market, most English specialist ale brewers offer at least one such beer in their portfolio.
Many of New Zealand’s leading craft brewers are also producing excellent golden ales. While some, like Epic (Pale Ale) and Renaissance (Discovery), emulate the American Pale Ale style by accenting the Cascade hop variety, others are looking to develop a more local style by embracing aromatic Kiwi hop varieties.
One of the best of these has just hit the shelves. Launched each year as a summer-time only brew, Three Boys Golden Ale is brewed by university lecturer-turned brewer Ralph Bungard at his Woolston brewery in Christchurch.
Along with pale malt from Dunsandel, Bungard uses a generous dose of tangy Nelson Sauvin hops. So-named because of its distinctive gooseberry, passionfruit and grassy aromas, this particular hop variety has been likened to New Zealand “sauvignon blanc”. Three Boys Golden Ale (4.5%) pours a bright golden hue beneath a brilliant white head. In the mouth the beer offers a deft balance of biscuity sweet malt and those herbaceous hops, with a notably crisp, dry finish.
Three Boys Golden Ale can be paired with food in much the same way as a Marlborough sauvignon blanc, so try it with steamed mussels, oily salmon, or good old Kiwi fish and chips.
Cheers!
In those days although most pubs offered a lager or two, it was seen very much as a woman’s drink and no self-respecting bloke would be seen drinking it.
Within 20 years that all changed. The next generation of young pub-goers were looking for a different, more refreshing beer experience; they regarded the traditional ales as old fashioned and “fuddy duddy” but lagers fitted the bill perfectly. Golden in colour and served icy cold, European brands like Heineken, Stella Artois, Lowenbrau and Carslberg shot to prominence while sales of traditional English ales suffered.
Seeing their market share being eroded, some of the larger English brewers took the attitude “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” and started brewing lagers of their own. Sometimes these were successful but more often they didn’t have the street appeal – or marketing budgets – of the big-name European brands and failed disastrously.
Other brewers however, particularly the smaller craft producers, recognised they didn’t have the know-how and storage capacity needed to accommodate the longer fermentation and maturation regimes required to produce lagers and started to brew a new style of golden coloured ale.
The idea here was to produce a crisp, refreshing summery ale that looked like a lager and could be served cooler than a traditional English ale.
Lacking the rich toffee-like malt profile and deep, earthy bitterness of traditional English bitters, so-called Golden (or Summer) Ales are also drier and more refreshing. A simple grist of only pale barley malts, perhaps along with some wheat, is employed and this, combined with cooler fermentation temperatures, maximises crispness while allowing the fruity and herbaceous aromas and flavours of the hops to be emphasised.
In the decade and a half since I left England golden ales have thrived. Nowadays, while lagers still dominate the market, most English specialist ale brewers offer at least one such beer in their portfolio.
Many of New Zealand’s leading craft brewers are also producing excellent golden ales. While some, like Epic (Pale Ale) and Renaissance (Discovery), emulate the American Pale Ale style by accenting the Cascade hop variety, others are looking to develop a more local style by embracing aromatic Kiwi hop varieties.
One of the best of these has just hit the shelves. Launched each year as a summer-time only brew, Three Boys Golden Ale is brewed by university lecturer-turned brewer Ralph Bungard at his Woolston brewery in Christchurch.
Along with pale malt from Dunsandel, Bungard uses a generous dose of tangy Nelson Sauvin hops. So-named because of its distinctive gooseberry, passionfruit and grassy aromas, this particular hop variety has been likened to New Zealand “sauvignon blanc”. Three Boys Golden Ale (4.5%) pours a bright golden hue beneath a brilliant white head. In the mouth the beer offers a deft balance of biscuity sweet malt and those herbaceous hops, with a notably crisp, dry finish.
Three Boys Golden Ale can be paired with food in much the same way as a Marlborough sauvignon blanc, so try it with steamed mussels, oily salmon, or good old Kiwi fish and chips.
Cheers!
