British Golden Ale

It's Bitter without crystal malt.

 

As of 2015, the BJCP lists it as a sub-style of the Pale Commonwealth Beer category.

https://beerrecipes.org/BJCP-2015-Style/37/12a-british-golden-ale.html

My brewery actually just made one recently. I had never heard of it either but it turned out quite nice. It's a less malty and slightly weaker British pale ale, pretty dry with a good hop flavor.

 

As @patto1ro says,it is just bitter (aka Pale Ale) brewed using lightly roasted malts. Not a new style by any means although CAMRA thinks otherwise.

 

Below is a link to an interesting article entitled “Golden ales come of age as flavour of the British summer”.

Brooklyn Brewery makes an enjoyable summer seasonal they label as Brooklyn Summer Ale.

Cheers!

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/30/golden-ales-flavour-of-summer

 

Do you view the Golden/Summer ales that came about in the '90s as popular enough and distinctive enough (generally: lager malts, well hopped, served cooler) from the pale ale of the day (or the past) that it's deserving of being seen as a distinct style? Or is it a case of "going with what the brewer calls it?"

 

In the BJCP style guideline for the British Golden Ale style there is a paragraph titled as “Style Comparison” which is telling:

“Style Comparison: More similar to an American Pale Ale than anything else, although it is often lower in alcohol and usually features British ingredients. Has no caramel and fewer esters compared to British bitters and pale ales. Dry as bitters but with less malt character to support the hops, giving a different balance. Often uses (and features) American hops, more so than most other modern British styles.”

British Golden Ales do not seem to be just Bitter Ales without crystal malt; there is more to it.

I can certainly see why CAMRA views Golden Ales as a different beer style.

Cheers!

 

Hmmm... didn't know another brewery had popped up just west of downtown. How long has Lost Signal been open? Because I don't remember hearing about them, or them being there, last summer/fall when I was hopping between White River, Mother's, Scotch & Soda, and 417 Taproom for a couple of days.

 

Because Bitter and Pale Ale are two names for the same thing. The brewers labelled them PA and the drinkers called them Bitter.Perhaps to distinguish them from the pale Milds of the time.
Bitter is a very broad church.They can be exceptionally pale right through to coppery red.Every brewer made his beer to be distinctive.
Bitters back in the day really lived up to the name. Over half the world's hops went into British beer.

 

Mayflower Golden Ale just might be my favorite example of the style.

 

"More similar to an American Pale Ale than anything else,..."

 

Some are,many are not. They have been around for a very long time and the range is vast.The error lies in confusing a descriptive term with a style.

 

Thank you for confirming that.

 

No, they're just a type of Bitter. Boddingtons Bitter was golden and hoppy long before Summer Lightning. And the term Golden Ale was used in the 19th century.

 

And what a wonderful pint Boddingtons was before the big boys took it over.
And dont forget Bathams!

 

All modern golden ales are bitters but not all bitters are golden ales I suppose

Modern ones by craft breweries tend to err on the side of hoppyness. Think BJCP american pale ale levels of hoppyness in flavour and perceived bitterness but usually less strong and with no caramel malts. At least that's my perception from the pubs I regularly drink them in . And they are usually the most common types of bitter available at those pubs - but I live in a scottish city so my pubs probably serve different selections compared to Marquis's usual drinking dens


Also, they tend to have a wider ranger of hop flavours than an APA as they use hops from all over rather than just predominantly american ones

just looked at the BJCP description and history not withstanding looks pretty accurate for the modern ones

 

I'll never forget Bathams. Them, Tim Taylors and Harveys keep proper British beer alive. Like the stuff I drank 40 years ago.

 

This is the perfect description of drinking ales across all of Great Britain....and beyond. I have humbly found these beers to be so "friendly", lovely to look at, well priced, and each different, but fresh, full and "strong" enough to allow several to be perfect. Hitchhiking in 1971 north out of London, my best friend and I were picked up by two vacationing students just like us. We stayed in their homes in York and Cardiff, traveled between them for 10 days in many out of the way places that they loved; north to Elgin and out to Cornwall. Best trip of my life! The great beer we found everywhere changed my life and is largely responsible for a long stint in the business. I want one now!