Pale Ales. “Generic name for a group of copper-coloured, hop forward, bitter beers” (ref. The Oxford Companion to Beer, 2011). These include English and American pale ales, IPAs, “double” IPAs, English Bitters, and Belgian pale ales. The term originated in the 18th century as a broad term to encapsulate any top-fermented beer that was not dark. Top-fermented beers are those that are fermented at warmer temperatures (typically 16-22°C), causing the yeast to sit atop the wort during fermentation. The opposite is bottom-fermentation (typically 9-14°C) utilised in the production of larger beers.
Pale malts in the 18th Century were much darker than the pale malts of today due to their lack of precision during the malting process. Therefore, European pale ales were, and often still are, characterised by their malty flavours. The take-up of pale ales in the US did not really occur until the beginning of the craft brewing revolution in the 1980s. Prior to that, the Americans mostly drank larger beers thanks to the influx of German immigrants. So when the revolution came around, brewers started looking to the european styles, with more focus on the British beers. The Americans stripped back the typically malt-forward pale ales and begin to experiment with American hop varieties. This gave rise to the American pale ale.
In todays market, I find that there is an obsession with hops. Big, astringent, herbal, double and triple hopped beers. And honestly, after making some beers in this style myself, I tire of such beers. I have myself stripped the pale ale back to its bare essentials and have begun to focus on simpler beers with single hop varieties and bare essential grain bills, leaning more towards the British styles.
It should be noted that I add 5% or less wheat malt to all of my beers purely for head retention and a minute amount of mouth-feel.
Here are some of my recipes:
Ronibull's SmallGoods 