Episode 61: Newcastle Brown Ale – Not where Jake lives, the real Newcastle.

We start a new series this week with Newcastle Brown Ale. As with our other series we start with a widely available easy to drink beer. For the record this podcast was edited on a ferry traveling between Bainbridge Island and Seattle, WA.

News

The news this week is not good for a craft brewer in upstate New York. F.X. Matt Brewing, who contract brews Saranac, and Brooklyn beer among others, had a fire that caused 10 million dollars worth of damage. The fire was started by some careless welders who lit a plastic conveyor belt on fire. No one was injured during the fire that took 15 hours to get under control. Amazingly, brewing commenced just five days later, although the canning operations were destroyed and the bottle operations damaged.

Brown Ale

• The brown ale has been around for quite a while, in fact up until the late 1600’s, just about all beers were brown. In the late 1700’s however, newer malts became available and the pale ale became all the rage.
• As the pale ale became popular with the middle class in England, the Brown Ale became strong with the working class, who saw the more expensive pale ales as a “yuppie” beer if you will.
• Brown Ales tend to be maltier and sweeter than other beers, with the color ranging from reddish brown to dark brown.
• Some beers will have a slight fruity taste, while others tend to be drier with nutty characters.
• All have a low hop aroma and bitterness.
• Generally speaking, these weigh in at around 4-7% ABV

Newcastle Brown Ale

• First brewed in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter in Newcastle, England, it is considered a northern England version of the beer, which tends to be a little lighter than the Southern style.
• This beer is actually a blend of two beers, a lighter amber ale and a stronger brown ale, something that is a sort of throwback technique in regards to brewing.
• Weighing in at 4.7% abv, this is just about the same as an average light beer in strength.
• This beer is not too complex in regards to its flavor. It is a very lightly sweet beer with solid carbonation and some subtle bitterness.
• Also this beer tends to be better on draft, since the bottle is clear.

Next Week

Next week we will continue in the Brown Ale series and will talk about, Dogfish Head and Indian Brown Ale.

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