Talk:Ale

message: This text is from an old encyclopedia whose copyright has expired.  Please feel free to update, expand, remove anachronisms, etc.  --KQ
:its not very good - feel free to drastically junk it. Justinc 23:49, 5 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Original beer article content 

message: Is there any source of this etymology? It seems a bit fanciful and there is a similar German word alt meaning 'old' that refers to a top-fermenting kind of beer.
:Indeed, there seem to be a number of etymologies suggested.  For instance, the book I have here ("Wine and Beermaking: Hints and Recipes" by Ben Turner, 1985) suggests the word entered English from Danish. JulesH 12:09, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  The word 'ale' comes from the Old English ealu? 

message: Many contributors to this encyclopaedia are incorrectly using the term "lager" when they mean bottom fermented Ale or Beer.  There are two main types of yeast - top fermenting yeast and bottom fermenting yeast.  In the UK, Ireland and Belgium, the predominant method of brewing uses top fermenting yeast.  In Germany and central Europe (Czech Republic and other places) the predominant method uses bottom fermenting yeast.
The term lager is almost exclusively used in the UK and Ireland (possibly in other English speaking countries).  It would never be used by a German Brewer to describe a beer.  It is used to describe a brewing process - lagering is storing beer until the fermentation has slowed down to a specific point; this is a process that tends to be used for bottom fermented beers; although top fermented beers do have to go through a period of conditioning.
Bottom fermented beers can be light, dark, strong, weak, wheat beers etc...  calling them lager is a misnomer.
The products marketed as lager in the UK was inevitably very light and bore a passing resemblance to Pilsner beers, or Budweiser beers (those from the Czech? towns of Pilsen and Budweis respectively).  However this was as often as not Top fermented beer, anyway!  So to compare bottom fermented beers with lager is an insult to continental brewers.
::This is inaccurate. While doing a secondary fermentation at cold temperature is indeed the act of lagering, any beer produced as a result of bottom fermentation is properly called a lager, whether it undergoes the cold storage or not. Whether the root words indicate this or not, every single brewing text I've ever read, (dozens) classifies all top fermenting beers as ales, be it porter, amber or lambic, and all bottom fermenting beer as lagers, be it true Pilsener, or crappy north american lawnmower beer. This is further confirmed by the yeast companies themselves labeling vials and smackpacks of yeast likewise. Even steam beer (or California common if you aren't talking about the venerable Anchor) refers to brewing with lager YEAST at temperatures usually reserved for ales. The word lager doesn't necessarily invoke the character of the beer- the misnomer isn't calling them lager, it's generalizing lagers as having specific characteristics. Same with ales- this article erroneously states in the beginning that ales are sweet and fruity - and while some ale yeast does in fact produce these flavors (Belgium anyone?), brewing techniques, hop additions, and various yeast strains can yield a fiercly bitter beer with no sweetness, or a lager-like crisp brew. You are correct in that this article misses the mark, but ales do in fact include all top fermenting strains, and lagers the reverse. This is not a point of contention among any brewer I've ever met.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.21.103.36 (talk) 08:09, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, ale is top-fermented, lager is bottom fermented. Our agressive anti-lager friend here cut and pasted the same unfounded argument on the lager talk page also.--Metalhead94 (talk) 16:51, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ale vs "Lager" 

message: I just read in Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged that porter is "a weak stout." So, I'm going to place it below Stout. Let me know if I'm off, though.
Thanks,
Primetime 08:58, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Porter and Stout

message: The passage about the USA legal definition was removed by me. The section was pointless, and added very little (if anything) to the article.
84.68.57.146 01:06, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I would put it back, since it has a well defined content and is interesting to understand worldwide usage of the term. LHOON 05:59, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  USA Legal Definition Removed 

message: I'm not going to propose it right now, but perhaps merging these two articles would be appropriate? At the moment, this article offers no links to either Real ale or Campaign for Real Ale, both of which are very relevant. Yet, personally, I'd like to see the articles remain separate, but I'm not sure in quite what way to distinguish them. DWaterson 18:39, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, ignore this, there has been no consensus on Talk:Real ale. DWaterson 21:52, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

text: Real ale is a particularly and peculiarly British political thing, about the socio-economics of beer production, marketing, provision and consumption, and it's very well documented (in the real world; I've not looked over its sourcing here), so it's best as its own article, though mentionable here of course. — SMcCandlish   Talk⇒ ʕ(Õلō)ˀ  Contribs. 09:33, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge with [[Real ale]]?

message: This article talk page was automatically added with  banner as it falls under :Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here . Maximum and careful attention was done to avoid any wrongly tagging any categories , but mistakes may happen... If you have concerns , please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 04:33, 4 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: [[WP:FOOD|WikiProject Food and drink]] Tagging

message: "in modern times Fullers Golden Pride is often considered by some to be a rare remaining example of a classic Burton style " - not only does this lack a source/citation, I suggest it's completely untrue. Golden Pride is a strong bitter or possibly a barley wine. Fullers' 1845 is regarded by the brewery (personal communication) as a Burton Ale-style beer. Zythophile (talk) 15:18, 3 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Burton Ale 

message: Uhm, a "top-fermented" link in the beer article redirected here, but, blast it, i can't find a single occurrence of "top" or "bottom" in this article ! Whereas there're loads of those in this discussion page. What gives ? --Jerome Potts (talk) 09:31, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Maybe Alt bier should be added as Ale variety too, since it is top fermenting.Stardude82 (talk) 01:15, 4 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: No it shouldn't, as it is a different kind of beer from a different top-fermenting brewing tradition. 
92.235.37.187 (talk) 23:35, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: That's debatable.  Most references on the topic  ales vs. lagers as top vs. bottom fermentation, period.  Regardless, this has to be added and sourced to both articles, as obvious missing key information. If there's a reliable source for alt being considered a "non-ale" top-fermenting brew, then that could be added as an alternative, sourced viewpoint. — SMcCandlish   Talk⇒ ʕ(Õلō)ˀ  Contribs. 09:30, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Most American references define them that way, yes. We can write that Americans tend to refer to all top-fermented malt beverages as ale, but Europeans generally do not. 
88.104.205.206 (talk) 16:07, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Top/bottom fermentation 

message: In the following passage:
:It has often now come to mean a bitter-tasting barley beverage fermented at room temperature.  In some British usage, however, in homage to the original distinction, it is not now used except in compounds (such as "pale ale" (see below)) or as "real ale", a term adopted in opposition to the pressurised beers developed by industrial brewers in the 1960s, and used of a warm-fermented unpasteurised beer served from the cask (though not stout or  porter). 
What does the final phrase mean? Its reads as if porter and stout not served from the cask.  Though I am not authoirty on shtout, Porter can most certainly be served in this way and plenty is. Dainamo (talk) 13:56, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  It means porter and stout aren't classified as ales. Haldraper (talk) 10:54, 25 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Porter Stouts in Casks 

message: Is any beer fermented with bottom cropping yeast considered not to be an ale. Conversely if a beer is brewed with a top cropping yeast, but then lagered for a period, is it an ale. These distinctions seem to get blurred in the articles and books I read. Is there a clear cut line, or a group of hybrid brews that sit in the middle. 
BTW i'm looking for contributors to BeerXML to broaden it and stave off a delete marker at Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/BeerXML I have friends who insist that only that ale which is cask or bottle conditioned is truly ale. That would seem to exlude a lot of styles like Altbier which is generally filtered and kegged, but considered an ale in Germany  — Preceding unsigned comment added by PrivateWiddle (talk • contribs) 22:14, 16 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Defintions of ale 

message: Substituted at 07:08, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

message: Could the article make the difference more clear, in the modern day? After reading the article, I still have no idea what the REAL difference is between ale and beer. I know both taste differently, but I have no idea about the DEFINED differences as-is. 2A02:8388:1604:CA80:3AD5:47FF:FE18:CC7F (talk) 18:59, 17 July 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ale versus Beer 

message: Ale 2600:1005:B001:42A3:3427:7862:C087:1253 (talk) 17:04, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, agreed. Packerfan386beer here 17:12, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ale 

message: — Assignment last updated by Wordnerd104 (talk) 15:07, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: ENG 21011 Research Writing