is a term covering a broad range of styles united by color and the practice of warm fermentation by ale yeasts. Although the German altbier style fits this description, as do the Belgian dubbel and oud bruin styles, these are rarely referred to as “brown ales,” and the term is usually reserved for beer styles with roots in Britain. See altbier, dubbel, and oud bruin.

The term “brown ale” can easily be confusing, or at least not much more useful than the term “red wine.” At one time, before the advent of pale malt production in the 1700s, most commercial beers could have been describes as brown ales. We see the first mentions of the term in British books of the mid 1700s. At first these beers were made exclusively from brown malt but, with advances in kilning technology, pale malts—which also had the advantage of higher yields—became a cheaper and more reliable alternative. The color and flavor profile was subsequently determined more by modern-style dark malts, crystal malts, and caramelized sugars. See crystal malt.

Within England, there are several variants of brown ale. The classic Northern English example is Newcastle Brown Ale (4.7% alcohol by volume [ABV]) which was first brewed in 1927 not only in response to competition from the growing popularity of pale ales from Burton-on-Trent but also to maximize new developments in bottling technology. See newcastle brown ale. “Brownness,” of course, is relative, and great care was taken to ensure that the Newcastle Brown Ale’s color had an appetizing red luminosity—indeed, the development process took 3 years. The result is a beer with a restrained caramel and dried fruit individuality and signature brown ale toffee and nut flavors. More robust northern English examples include Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Brown Ale (known in the United States as Nut Brown Ale) and the richly flavored Double Maxim from the Maxim Brewing Company of Sunderland. See samuel smith’s old brewery. The latter beer was originally brewed by Vaux in 1901 to celebrate the safe homecoming of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Vaux from the Boer War, where he commanded the maxim machine-gun detachment of the Northumberland Hussars.

These Northern English brown ales all hover around the 5% ABV mark, which is considered relatively strong in the UK. They are also relatively dry. Southern variants tend to be sweeter and rarely exceed 4.2%. In parts of the south, the Midlands, and the west, a variant called mild was once prevalent. Until the 1950s, cask-conditioned mild outsold bitter, the drink now more closely associated with traditional British beer. Milds are also usually brown, but they tend to be softly hopped, slightly sweet, and low in alcohol, showing light chocolate, caramel, and fruit notes in the center. They are beers meant for long evenings in the pub and are rarely seen in bottles. Conversely, British beers called brown ale tend to be found in bottles. See mild.

Once every English brewery included a brown ale in its portfolio, but the popularity of brown ales in Britain has declined with the loss of heavy industry and the redeployment of the hardy individuals who rewarded their skilled efforts with glasses of foam-topped dark beer. By the latter half of the 20th century, brown ale had acquired a “cloth cap” working-class image, and people who aspired to office work set brown ales aside in favor of paler beers.

Craft brewers in the United States, unencumbered by any class images surrounding brown ale, have taken the style up enthusiastically and transformed it in the process. Although mild has gained a toehold in American brewpubs and brewers from Utah seem to have embraced the style with a vengeance, there is now a uniquely American variant of brown ale. American-style brown ales are stronger, browner, and hoppier than their English forebears. Most are full bodied and dry on the palate, with strengths ranging from 5% to 6% ABV, and bitterness tends to be moderate, but can be robust. Roasted and caramelized malts are used heavily enough to skirt the edges of the porter style, but the best keep the roast restrained, pushing caramel notes to the fore. Most versions have notable hop aromatics, sometimes brought on by dry hopping. See dry hopping. Craft brewers outside of North America have paid little attention to the brown ale family of styles, but a few versions have recently popped up from Scandinavia to Brazil, and it can be supposed that the evolution of the brown ale will continue apace in future years.