Oakham Ales

Golden Ale Varietals

Golden ale is very similar to pale ale, except it is paler, brewed using lager or low temperature ale malts, and served at cooler temperatures. It was developed in the hopes of attracting younger people away from lager and towards cask ales. The alcohol content of golden ale ranges from 3.5% to 5.3%.

Breweries have begun to heavily capitalize on the term "golden ale," but not in the sense of a typical Belgian golden ale (another wrinkle in the picture here). Instead, the term "golden ale" has come to be used by brewers to describe a style that resembles a classic blonde ale.

There's some misconception out there about the differences between a conventional Belgian-style golden strong ale, a blonde ale, and the New World artisan version of a golden ale... Golden ales evolved as a variant even lighter in color than a pale ale, and were originally referred to as a dinner ale (or even sparkling ale).

Major brewers in the United States used low-cost cereals like maize to mass-produce American lagers, notably during World War II, when other grains like wheat were relegated to military usage.

When the American craft beer movement began to gain traction in the late 1970s and 1980s, breweries wanted to make beers that were familiar to American palates. This is why, several years after Sierra Nevada gave the world to its Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in 1981, the Boston Beer Company debuted its Vienna-style Boston Lager in 1985.

Blonde and golden ales are grouped together in the judging standards for the Great American Beer Festival, one of the most well-known beer festivals in the world.