English strong ale

Pale ale is an ale made with predominantly pale malt.

The highest proportion of pale malts results in a lighter color. The term "pale ale" first appeared around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with coke, which resulted in a lighter color than other beers popular at that time. Different brewing practices and hop levels have resulted in a range of taste and strength within the pale ale family.

Coke had been first used for dry roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn't until around 1703 that the term "pale ale" was first applied to beers made from such malt. By 1784, advertisements appeared in the Calcutta Gazette for "light and excellent" pale ale. By 1830, the expressions "bitter" and "pale ale" were synonymous. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild. By the mid to late 20th century, while brewers were still labeling bottled beers as pale ale, they had begun identifying cask beers as bitter, except those from Burton on Trent, which tend to be referred to both as pale ales.

Amber ale is a term used in Australia, France and North America for pale ales brewed with a proportion of amber malt and sometimes crystal malt to produce an amber color generally ranging from light copper to light brown. A small amount of crystal or other colored malt is added to the basic pale ale base to produce a slightly darker color, as in some Irish and British pale ales. In France the term "ambrée" is used to signify a beer, either cold or warm fermented, which is amber in color; the beer, as in Pelforth Ambrée and Fischer Amber, may be a Vienna lager, or it may be a Bière de Garde as in Jenlain Ambrée. In North America, American-variety hops are used in varying degrees of bitterness, although very few examples are particularly hoppy. In Australia the most popular Amber Ale is from Malt Shovel Brewery, branded James Squire in honour of Australia's first brewer, who first brewed beer in Sydney in 1794.

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