What are your Top 3 AKs?

Some of rons ak recipes

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1896-eldridge-pope.html
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/lets-brew-wednesday-1911-russell-ak.html
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/lets-brew-wednesday-fullers-1914-ak.html
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/lets-brew-wednesday-1930-whitbread-ak.html
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/lets-brew-wednesday-1933-kidd-ak.html
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/lets-brew-wednesday-fullers-1920-pa-ak.html

All but one is pale malts, maize and invert. The other has crystal for the maize
All pretty well hopped considering their OG and the amount of sugar

I think they'd be tasty and refreshing, like a golden ale but with the bit flavour you'd get from the brewing syrups would be different from modern ones.

Kristan has tasting notes at the end of each recipe

 

some of us (Americans) that have been well traveled do. lol
Fullers AK 1910

I home brewed that 1, page 93 in Ron's new book, btw
Still prefer the mild's myself, real ones, lol

 

Congratulations on your culture. My point still stands. I would bet that less than 1% of even "beer advocates" knew what an "AK" is.
I've learned a lot about Ron from his post here.

 

well of course, all its humor.

I don't feel very cultured. spoiled maybe.

on a serious note, 80% of the folks UK, don't know the term either. WAG.

 

I'd say 99% of UK people wouldn't know the term

 

My favorites from AK are
Alaskan IPA
Broken Tooth IPA
Midnight Sun Cohoho DIPA

 

OK - here's the problem I have with this thread:
1. I am interested in learning what an AK is.
2. I don't home brew, and have decided that it is not a good use of my time.
3. I'd go learn more and see who offers an AK, if this site profiled the style - but that's part of the point, I think.
4. I'd read the thread to learn more, particularly if the OP, when faced with ignorance, which it seems he generally expected, would have pointed to actual versions available for purchase, even if those are only sold overseas. Apparently, based on the posts I've seen, there are at least a few AK out there in the U.S. proper. Probably a few have been reviewed here. Links are good.
5. If you expect me to educate myself, that's not unreasonable, but you must offer me a reason why. Having failed to do so, I think you are unlikely to get much traction beyond alienating some people on this board.

You took the time to point out the inadequacies of my knowledge, but did not have the courtesy to actually offer much insight. If you did this as a stunt and a joke, fine, but I'm not laughing, and I'm left feeling you've done your cause to raise the profile of AKs little good.

 

ok I will help out. Ak is also known as Light bitter/Light ale. think bass ale of old, but WEAKER in ABV. its really a pale ale, but lighter.
a PA=bitter in English terms (UK)
Without quoting the books. Amber gold and black, BY Martyn Cornell
an Ak could be also a dinner ale. AK were the weakest ales in the 1860's till WW1
NONE of which you going to find commercially here period.
I could be wrong there, I not visited every 3000 micros in the USA yet.
WW1 screwed beer in the UK forever.

So its a golden ale or biter, or pale ale than is around 4% or less ABV. They can be stronger and were before WW1. I am only saying the ones you can find in the UK now are session type PA.

confused, yea it is. and you have to read those sites and books to understand it better. I was doing a QUICK and dirty condensation from 3 books. I think its fairly accurate. I could recommend many books if you want to learn more.

btw the OP is RON Patterson, he has written about 20 beer books.
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/search/label/AK

its not a STYLE listed on here.

 

I for one like others find myself completely turned off to AK's from this thread. I too have no problem with a little self education but my conclusions from reading the blog have me wondering whether or not the OP is taking a shot at our session IPAs in some weird way. It seems as though he is pointing out that he has an obsession with a little known low abv style that has some very old roots, is he trying to say that people across the pond have been drinking superior session ales for several hundreds of year?
Another gripe would be that he complains that he has little but stale highly priced American IPAs but when countered with the fact that we have little to no options for AK's in the states he tells us to demand them from our brewers. Hey Ron how about demanding some better IPAs from your brewers?
If I want a low abv style beer that may be bitter, not too hoppy with some malt or not I'm gonna seek it through the ever growing selection of session ales. If not I'll run down to the nearest bottle shop and pour through the vast selection of AK's.

 

To get back to something I posted previously: sometimes folks have bad days.

I will repeat that this particular thread has been a disappointment for me but I would make a suggestion that judging Ron from just this thread might be imprudent. He has a body of work including participation on numerous other threads that ideally should be considered.

Needless to say but this is your choice in this matter.

Cheers!

 

This. I have found Ron's blogs and posts here (in general) to be informative and educational. I do think this thread itself may be misguided but it has not tarnished my opinion of him.

 

Ron,

The description from the McMullen website reads: “As one of the longest established ales in the UK, the quality of AK comes from 180 years of brewing experience at The Whole Hop Brewery.”

I personally read the above as that McMullen/Whole Hop Brewery has been brewing for 180 years. I have no idea when McMullen Brewing made their first AK beer. Do you?

Cheers!

Jack

 

I didn't know what the hell they were either lol.

 

According to the McMullen website: “Records suggest that AK was first produced in 1832 and this former ‘mild’ remains in circulation today.”

Hmm, so it appears that McMullen first made their AK 182 years ago?

Cheers

 

Which is quite honestly, why I was more than a bit surprised that your reply to my comment:

"Really? That's a bit odd given the variety of IPAs available in Amsterdam. I know De Bierkoning had some in stock on my last visit. You might try there."

focused only on US brewed IPAs. Since nobody had suggested you should only buy US brewed IPAs to have three favorites. So that was the point at which I really began to get a bit testy.... (But that’s sorted now.)

 

Headache.

Has anyone even been able to clearly define the "style" yet? First, it's a light colored, hoppy bitter. Then, there is one that is dark and malty. Maybe it's a hoppy blonde ale? Maybe a hoppy brown ale? Extra Extra Special Bitter? Light Pale Ale? Not-So-Pale Ale? Session Bitter?

I love the criticism of big American styles in contrast to tweaking the malt bill and hops schedule 2% and needing to call it a new style. Whoever said "beer taxonomists" totally nailed it. Every slight recipe change does not necessarily warrant a new style.

 

I just brewed a Fuller's Chiswick Bitter clone. Maybe my next one will be a Fuller's AK clone, I'd love to compare the two.

As an aside, to me it's fairly obvious Ron was poking fun at the recent "Top 3 IPAs" thread, which is a popular topic here on Beer Advocate. Whether or not his intention was to spark a lengthy discussion about AK's in the process is unclear to me. However, I'm happy this thread has turned into an educational conversation.

 

Easy...Andrei Kirilenko x 3