American brewers redefine style
By Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish

We have, in the past, been accused of being flagrant traditionalists. This annoys more than one American beer connoisseur.

“You can’t always live in the past,” they sputter, indignantly spitting food particles into their shaggy grey beards. “American brewers have done a lot to create new styles and advance beer tradition for the future!”

And truthfully, there’s some validity to that. Many American craft brewers have shown an eagerness to shuffle off the mantle of the past that doesn’t always sit well with us, not because of any reverence to tradition, but because those stodgy Olde Worlde breweries had 500 freakin’ years to get their beer perfect.

Still, brewing, like any art, is a continuum. It changes with the times. It always has. And as the tastes of the day develop, new traditions and styles are being invented. And just about all of that creativity is taking place in the USA and Canada.

It’s not that Americans are inventing wacky new beer styles (well, they are but these almost universally suck, or, as in the case of pumpkin ale, only go down well at a particular time of year). American brewers are taking existing styles imported from Europe, such as pale ale, barley wine, or stout, and pushing the boundaries in terms of ingredients, flavor profile and strength. The resulting beers are usually so different from their parent titles that the original appellations no longer apply.

So we get new hybrid style names, such as American pale ale. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the archetype of this beer group, which replaces the Kent goldings and fuggles hops of English pale ales with Pacific Northwest hops like cascade and chinook. Thus, the earthy, more subdued and buttery flavor profiles of the English originals are superseded by much bitterer, citrusy, piney flavors.

The result is a beer with greater presence that cuts through fat when paired with meat dishes and bounces off the palate. Beers in the American pale ale style are fresh-tasting, snappy, and easy to find in any bar that knows its beer.

Let’s glance at another style completely altered by US brewers: stout. In American vats, stout became stronger, heavier, and dramatically more skewed toward dryness or sweetness than anything the English would have thrown at you. Sure, the Brits made stronger imperial stout, smoother milk stout, and nutty oatmeal stout, among other subvariants, but once again American brewers have altered all of these into creations most drinkers from the UK wouldn’t even recognize.

One thing many brewers did was combine terms. Southern Tier’s simply named “Oat,” is described as “an imperial oatmeal stout.” Black and viscous, coating the sides of the glass like motor oil, the beer lives up nicely to its somewhat pompous description. Oat warms the palate with a gentle but firm sweetness that rounds out into a hearty, warm alcohol finish, the immense body claiming the taster’s mouth for the next half hour or so.

Obviously, this 12.5% alcohol brew is not one to pound with the dudes from your softball team. It’s a good nightcap beer, and it goes well with chocolate or strong caramel desserts.

Since there are no rules in American Brewing, Southern Tier has gone a step further, creating one of our favorite “extreme” beers: Choklat. Brewed with actual dark Belgian Chocolate, this heavy, onyx-colored beer has an aroma, body and finish like no other. You smell taste and sense chocolate in every sip. You can even tell it’s good chocolate!

And it’s not like the chocolate seems out of place in the beer, the brew is actually well-balanced and quite drinkable. Go ahead and guess what desserts this 11% alcohol behemoth pairs well with.

The modern American brewing tradition was begun by tinkerers and experimenters, and even traditionalists like us benefit from that. In today’s craft beer industry, that chaotic spirit remains alive, well, and, gosh darn it, uniquely American.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http:://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.