As beer styles go, Golden Ale is intrinsic in its importance in reviving the fortunes of real ale during the last decade of the 20th century, luring drinkers away from the lurid commercial lagers that were on the scene at the time. The British Guild of Beer Writers describe it as “a hop-forward, average-strength to moderately-strong pale bitter. Drinkability and a refreshing quality are critical components of the style.”[1] Typically suited to the summer months, a notable feature of this style is its appearance which they further note “straw to golden in color. Good to brilliant clarity. Low to moderate white head. A low head is acceptable when carbonation is also low.”[1] Typical golden ales measure around a rating 10 EBC, although some brewers have released lighter coloured beers, these tend to be classed in the blonde ale category. A good deal of beer writers and industry experts including the BGBW seem to believe that Golden Ales are a relatively recent innovation first developed during the Eighties. The story goes, that the first such example was produced in 1986 when the Golden Hill Brewery (later known as Exmoor Ales) based in Wiveliscombe in Somerset, produced Exmoor Gold (4.5%) to commemorate their 1000th brew since they established the brewery in 1980. Initially a on-off release, its unusual appearance caused a stir at the time, Roger Protz notes “but news of a beer that was as pale as lager but hummed and boomed with rich malt and hops spread like a forest fire and it became a regular beer.”[2] Yet Protz isn’t blindsided by the bogus claim that golden ales were first introduced in the Eighties, he adds “golden ales have been around for a tad longer. Would you believe the early 19th century? It was a time of profound change in the brewing industry.”[3] As the old adage goes, it has been done before.
Although the likes of Exmoor Gold (4.5%) helped popularise the growing interest of Golden Ales as a beer style in the late Eighties and early Nineties, conversely the production of Golden Ales has its roots stretching back to the early years of the 19th century. In his book “Amber, Gold and Black”, Martyn Cornell stated “the tradition of Golden Beer went back at least to 1842, when William Sander’s Brewery in Burton on Trent was advertising its East India Pale Ale and Golden Ales.”[4] Ron Pattison was able to find an even earlier record from the 14th November 1832, where a trade report mentions that “MESSRS. FRITH, BOMANJEE AND CO., have just commenced issuing a choice batch of the following, October Brew'd Ales, which they can recommend as of superior quality, sound and ripe.”[5] One of the beers they mentioned for sale was Allsopp's Golden Ale, that was selling at 8 rupees per dozen, which predates Sander’s by a decade. The development of Golden Ales, Protz notes was made possible by the introduction of coke to the curing process of malt; first introduced during the 16th century, coke enabled malt to be cured over longer period of time, and a lower temperature, thus enabling a paler coloured malt as a result.[6] Initially it was seldom used, Protz adds “once it was made on an industrial scale, brewers and maltsters used coke in preference to wood. The result was pale rather than brown beer.”[3] This neatly tied with the gradual increase in popularity of pale ales and IPA’s during the early 19th century as the East India export market encouraged their proliferation, which in turn encouraged brewers to brew lighter coloured beers. As early as 1825, Shepherd Neame developed Brilliant Ale (5.6%), a straw-coloured concoction only made possible by the introduction of pale malt production. Beer Today notes “brewery folklore has it that the bright golden, straw-coloured hue of Brilliant Ale was inspired by the vision of the early morning sun sending its golden shafts of light through the brewhouse window. Historically, this recipe was formulated with 100% pale malt and was bittered by the brewery’s signature East Kent Goldings hops, resulting in a golden, brilliantly bright, hoppy ale.”[7] Nearly two centuries later in 2013, Shepherd Neame resurrected the beer as part of their Classic Collection series, which met with great acclaim and surprised a good deal, to discover that Golden Ales were once marketed and developed during the 19th century, over a century earlier than previously claimed.
As the century wore on, there were cases of other breweries releasing their own Golden Ales, including the likes of Golden Sunlight Pale Ale (1851) – Hereford and Tredegar, Golden Ale (1858) – Gartons and Golden Sunlight Ale (1887) – Watkins and Sons. The latter example, Boak and Bailey interestingly note “it’s clear from this that Golden Sunlight is definitely a brand name, if not a trademark – and, in fact, the brewery itself eventually came to be known as the Sunlight Brewery to cash-in on the popularity of this particular product.”[8] In the trade adverts from the time it is described as a light golden ale of wonderful value, resembling a traditional German style Lager. Like their modern counterparts at Exmoor Ales and Hop Back Brewery, even at this point history their were laying claim to Golden Ale being an ideal alternative to lager. Going into the 20th century, breweries continued to release Golden Ales, although they were often described as Pale Ale, Light Bitter or Dinner Ale at the time, for example Golden Ale (3.8%) sold by Strong’s in 1934 was described as a Pale Ale, and when this beverage was still being sold in 1960, again it was retailed at a Pale Ale in the company accounts.[9] Another example is Golden Hop (?) sold by Alton Court Brewery in 1953 is described as a Light Bitter, likewise Golden Brew (?) sold by G. Ruddle the same year is mentioned as a Light Bitter in the trade journals. Ron Pattison states “light ale was one of the most popular types of beer in the 1950’s.”[10] These beers he mentions tended to be found in the South, especially in London, were often pale in colour and relatively low ABV, doesn’t that sound familiar? Furthermore, Martyn Cornell notes “while most British beers continued to be ruddy dark, there were very pale coloured bitters in England before 1986.”[4] He mentions the likes of Boddington’s Bitter - Boddingtons, Taddy Bitter – Samuel Smith’s, Golden IPA – Strong’s, Golden Pale Ale – Holden’s, Golden Bitter – Offlier’s, Golden Ale – Burt’s and Masterbrew – J.W. Green. All these beers were low in EBU and tended to be straw coloured, although they all were labelled as Bitter or Pale Ales in the promotional materials, hence the confusion.
Not much had changed by 1981, when Hall & Woodhouse (later known as Badger) launched Tanglefoot (5%). Cornell highlights at the time of its release it was described as a straw-coloured Bitter, nowhere did it mention that it was a Golden Ale. Developed by then head brewer John Woodhouse, he named it after an amusing incident when he got his foot tangled up in a dog lead. At certain times in its early history, it was invariably marketed as a Strong Ale and Premium Ale on its pump clips. Hywel’s Beer Blog describes it as “well, it’s very light. It’s quite crisp. There’s something tangy and spicy about it. And it’s very easy to drink. So easy to drink, it’s one of the easiest ways to consume a 5% volume drink.”[11] From appearances alone it looks like a Golden Ale, but during its early years it was marketed as a Bitter, Strong Ale and Premium Ale at certain points in history and only later on with the growing popularity Golden Ales in the ensuing decades, did the brewery rebrand it as a Golden Ale. Five years later in 1986, when Exmoor first released Exmoor Gold (5%), they subsequently claimed that this was the modern Golden Ale. While Golden Ales had existed beforehand, this was the first example specifically promoted under its own breakaway style, separate from the likes of Bitter, Light and Pale Ale. There was essentially a marketing ploy behind this move, as Cornell highlights “the tendency was also developing for Golden Ales to be served cooler than traditional amber bitters. This was partly to encourage more uptake among lager drinkers already attracted to the style by its familiar colour (to them), partly to emphasise the refreshing aspect of summer drinks.”[4] This was the case when Summer Lightning (5%) by Hopback Brewery, burst onto the scene in 1989. Initially it was sold as a one-off festival special produced by brewer (and founder) John Gilbert, where he sold it his pub The Wyndham Arms, which he ran with his wife Julie. It was noted at the time for its very pale colour which later on Michael Jackson noted “Summer Lightning, too, is golden in colour, until recently, an unusual feature in a British ale. The colour also makes the beer acceptable to those people who hitherto felt they must switch from ale to lager in summer.”[12] It had long been Gilbert’s intention to brew a lager, since his time working as a brewery at Brixton Brewery. Yet, Boak and Bailey note “it instead became an ale that merely looked like lager, which he hoped would lure drinkers back from then highly fashionable brands such as Stella Artois.” [13] Word quickly spread about this beer as it became popular, and at GBBF 1990 it won the award of ‘New Brewery Champion beer’, it would subsequently win a slew of awards over the years. Des de Moor adds, it “became a mainstay when the Gilberts founded a separate brewery, Hop Back, in 1991. Soon the sincerest form of flattery was added to the beer’s critical and commercial success, with many other brewers copying the formula.”[14] Its success helped inspire a raft of imitators looking to promote their own ‘Golden Ales’ on the market such as notably the likes of JHB (3.8%) – Oakham, Pale Rider (5.2%) – Kelham Island and Hophead (3.8%) – Dark Star, their combined success helped promote Golden Ale as an individual brand under its own right.
As a beer style Golden Ale is effectively an elaborate marketing campaign. The mere notion that the first Golden Ales came about in 1986 is false, as brewers had been producing light straw-coloured ales for over 150 years at that point. What is true however is that Golden Ales were first promoted as their own separate style in the late Eighties, purely as a ploy to move drinkers to move away from lager and drink beer during the summer months. Over the years, the proacted campaign to promote Golden Ales as its own style has pulled off and brewers no longer label these types of beers as pale, light ales or bitters. This was justified following the success of Pale Rider (5.2%) when it was awarded Champion Beer of Britain at GBBF 2004, the following year a separate category was created for Golden Ales. Cornell notes “it marked what might be the coming of age of golden ales just eighteen years after their ‘birth’.”[4] Today, Golden Ales are designated under their own separate beer style according to the BGBW; whenever they feature in a pub, beer festival or bottle shop they are marketed under this style; and virtually every brewery in the land produces this type of beer in their repertoire. Although, the likes of Golden Ales are not a relatively recent innovation as some might be led to believe, their importance in the revitalisation and popularity of real ale is imperative. Boak and Bailey once stated “some of the best beers being made in Britain today belong to a style that has no name. They are the colour of pilsner, usually made with only pale malt, but they are not mere ‘golden ales’—‘golden’ is not, after all, a flavour.”[13] This underlies the fact that Golden Ale is primarily a cunning brand name, a promotional crusade that eventually became seen as the flag bearer for the real ale boom, yet when looked in closer, it roots go much further back in time than was once believed.
[1] ’12A: English Golden Ale’ – British Guild of Beer Writers, 12th December 2015
[2] ‘Going
for Gold: Exmoor toasts 30 years’ by Roger Protz, Protz on Beer, 13th
July 2016
[3] ‘Golden
Ale: beer style that's a golden oldie’ by Roger Protz, Protz on Beer, 2nd
May 2014
[4] ‘Amber,
Gold and Black’ by Martyn Cornell, The History Press, 1st April 2010
[5] ‘Early
IPA’ by Ron Pattison, Shut Up About Barclay Perkins, 1st July 2021
[6] Until
the 19th century, malt was often cured with wood. As a downside this
meant malt was cured at higher temperatures for shorter periods, thus producing
Brown Malt, which meant only darker coloured beers were possible.
[7] ‘Brilliant
recreation of mid-19th century Shepherd Neame brew’ by Beer Today, 7th
May 2013
[8] ‘A
century before Summer Lightning, Golden Sunlight’ by Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey,
10th September 2020
[9] ‘Random
brewery - Strong of Romsey’ by Ron Pattison, Shut Up About Barclay Perkins, 15th
April 2014
[10] ‘Branded
Light Ale in 1953’ by Ron Pattison, Shut Up About Barclay Perkins, 11th
December 2015
[11] ‘Beer
Review: Badger Tangle Foot’, Hywel’s Beer Blog, 3rd January 2009
[12] ‘Struck
by lightning’ by Michael Jackson, The Independent, 16th May 1997
[13] ‘The
Emergence Of ‘Pale ‘N Hoppy’ Beers In The UK’ by Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey,
All About Beer, c.2016
[14] ‘Hop Back Summer Lightning’, by Des de Moor, What’s Brewing, Summer 2002
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