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Styles · Cream Ale

Beer style · BJCP 2021 1C

Cream Ale

Standard American Beer

Published ranges These are the ranges the BJCP 2021 guidelines publish for this style.

Original gravity
1.042–1.055
Final gravity
1.006–1.012
Bitterness
8–20 IBU
Color
2.5–5 SRM (5–10 EBC)
Alcohol
4.2–5.6 % ABV

What it is

An ale fermented cool and then lagered so that it drinks like an American lager, with a touch more malt sweetness and only a hint of yeast fruit. Maize or sugar keeps it pale and highly attenuated. The target is a smooth, easy pale beer with no rough edges anywhere.

Flavor

What a Cream Ale should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Room for floral or spice.

Malt

Grainy, with room for sweet/honey.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for fruity esters.

Hops that suit it

The traditional choice

What Cream Ale has classically been brewed with.

Nothing else on character: the hops here are there for bitterness and balance, and any variety whose aroma you would notice is out of place.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

And 32 more yeasts whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.