Style: American Brown Ale
All StylesStyle Profile based on 1,600 recipes
BU:GU
0.56
Hops
4.6 g/L
Mash pH
5.46
Description
A malty but hoppy beer frequently with chocolate and caramel flavors. The hop flavor and aroma complements and enhances the malt rather than clashing with it. History: An American style from the modern craft beer era. Derived from English Brown Ales, but with more hops. Pete’s Wicked Ale was one of the first and best known examples, and inspired many imitations. Popular with homebrewers, where very hoppy versions were sometimes called Texas Brown Ales (this is now more appropriately a Brown IPA). Style Comparison: More chocolate and caramel type flavors than American Pale or Amber Ales, typically with less prominent bitterness in the balance. Less bitterness, alcohol, and hop character than Brown IPAs. More bitter and generally hoppier than English Brown Ales, with a richer malt presence, usually higher alcohol, and American/New World hop character.
Examples: Anchor Brekle’s Brown, Big Sky Moose Drool Brown Ale, Brooklyn Brown Ale, Bell’s Best Brown, Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale, Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale, Telluride Face Down Brown
- 93% Pale (77%)
- 90% Crystal (11%)
- 82% Roast (4%)
- 56% Toast (10%)
% of American Brown Ale recipes using each malt category (addition % in brackets)
g/L · median with IQR range
- 28% Cascade
- 21% Willamette
- 15% East Kent Goldings
- 13% Fuggles
- 12% Centennial
- 11% Southern Brewer
- 8% Chinook
- 7% Magnum (GR)
- 5% Columbus
- 5% Nugget
% of American Brown Ale recipes using each hop
g/L · median with IQR range
dated American Brown Ale recipes with at least one dry-hop addition
- 34% Chocolate Malt
- 23% Pale Malt (2 Row) US
- 16% Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
- 12% American - Chocolate
- 11% Pale Malt, Maris Otter
- 10% Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
- 9% Cara-Pils/Dextrine
- 9% Brown Malt
- 9% Victory Malt
- 8% Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
Colour = malt category · bar = % of recipes
- 19% Safale American (US-05) Fermentis
- 10% SafAle English Ale (S-04) Fermentis
- 10% California Ale Yeast (WLP001) White Labs
- 7% American Ale (1056) Wyeast Labs
- 4% LalBrew Nottingham Lallemand
- 3% British Ale Yeast (WLP005) White Labs
- 2% Dry English Ale Yeast (WLP007) White Labs
- 2% English Ale Yeast (WLP002) White Labs
- 2% American Ale II (1272) Wyeast Labs
- 2% London Ale Yeast (1028) Wyeast Labs
% of American Brown Ale recipes using each strain
- 83% Single Infusion
- 14% Step Mash
- 4% Decoction
163 recipes with mash data
- 80 ppm Ca²⁺
- 5 ppm Mg²⁺
- 25 ppm Na⁺
- 71 ppm Cl⁻
- 80 ppm SO₄²⁻
- 100 ppm HCO₃⁻
median across recipes with a declared water profile
Similar Styles
Ranked by similarity across OG, IBU, ABV, hop rate, and grist composition.