California Ale ?

[Pharmguy]

My friend brewed what he called a California Amber Ale. He lost the recipe and I cant find anything in this forum about it. All I know is that it tasted really good. Anyone heard of it? More importantly, anyone have a good recipe??

 

[Pharmguy]

Im guessing he guessed the name wrong, hmmmmm.

 

[Yooper]

I'm sure there are people who have called their beers something similiar- however, it seems like a generic title for an amber ale. There are some amber ales in the recipe database, as well as California Common style. Sorry I can't be more specific, but I have no idea what someone else would put in their amber.

 

[Bob]

Find the style page on the HBT Wiki for American Amber Ale. It's one of my favorite styles, so I wrote the style thingy for it. It's really, really easy to create your own recipe, so give that a try! If you simply must have someone else's recipe, I've a couple tried-and-true you'll probably enjoy.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[Ølbart]

Could it be something like Jamil's recipe for a west coast style American Amber? Hopped like an IPA. This one (extract).

 

[Pharmguy]

Ahhhhh, found it. It is called a California Common style which is an american hybrid. Not sure what hybrid means yet. I guess it is just an American amber with some hop differences (Northern Brewer
hops with woody, rustic or minty qualities).

 

[Yooper]

Ahhhhh, found it. It is called a California Common style which is an american hybrid. Not sure what hybrid means yet. I guess it is just an American amber with some hop differences (Northern Brewer
hops with woody, rustic or minty qualities).

A California Common is a so-called "steam beer", that's the key. It's an ale, fermented with lager yeast at ale temperatures. There are recipes in the database for this style. The commercial example of this style is "Anchor Steam" beer. There is even a special yeast available for it, called California lager yeast. It's best fermented at about 62-65 degrees.

 

[Bob]

California Common - otherwise known as Steam Beer - is arguably the only distinctly American style of beer. It's called a hybrid because it's an amber beer fermented with lager yeast at ale temperatures. The benchmark example of the style - Anchor Steam Beer* - is a very basic grist of pale and crystal malts, hopped generously and exclusively with Northern Brewer, and fermented with an exclusive yeast.

Cheers,

Bob

* Anchor Brewing Co. has trademarked the descriptor "Steam Beer", and jealously guard that trademark. Thus other breweries who brew a similar beer - even BJCP and AHA competition style listings - must use another term. "California Common" is the agreed-upon style name.

 

[Pharmguy]

So thats a hybrid, thanks! And Yooper.....LETS GO WINGS!

 

[david_42]

* Anchor Brewing Co. has trademarked the descriptor "Steam Beer", and jealously guard that trademark. Thus other breweries who brew a similar beer - even BJCP and AHA competition style listings - must use another term. "California Common" is the agreed-upon style name.

Which means instead of being "the original steam beer", they call their California Common "steam beer" and turn what could of been a marketing boost into something dumb.