Altbier Pale Ale
By: Anonymous

About

Pale ale is a term used to describe a variety of beers which use ale yeast and predominantly pale malts. It is widely considered to be one of the major beer style groups. All of the major ale-producing countries have a version of Pale Ale: England has Bitter, Scotland Heavy and IPA, America has American pale ale, France has Bière de Garde, Germany has Altbier, etc. Pale ales generally over 6%% ABV tend to be grouped as Strong Pale Ales under such names as Scotch Ale, Saison, or American Pale Ale.
Definition
A pale ale has two basic characteristics:
It is an ale, that is fermented using a top-fermenting yeast.
It is pale, that is generally between 8 and 14 degrees SRM in colour. While this colour is not "pale" compared to, say, a golden ale or Pilsener, the pale malts used in making pale ale at its inception gave the beer a far lighter colour than the porters common in England at the time.
Types of Pale ales
[edit] Altbier
Main article: Altbier
Altbier (often abbreviated to Alt) is the name given to a form of pale ale that originated in Westphalia.
The name Altbier, which literally means old [style] beer, refers to the pre-lager brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast like British pale ales.[1] Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer than is the norm for an ale.
Commercial examples of Altbier are Uerige and Diebels Alt.