I’ve written here at length about the cream ale style before, and for my latest article for The Bulletin that came out a little over a week ago, I covered the topic again: Need a lawn mower beer? Try an American cream ale. I delve a bit more into the history than strict style and brewing considerations, giving a (very) broad overview of lager brewing and German brewers emigrating to America and ale brewers developing cream ales to compete with lagers…

Variously known as present-use ale, sparkling or lively ale, or cream ale, they were sometimes fermented with lager yeasts at warmer temperatures, and sometimes with ale yeasts and subsequently cold conditioned. One of the hallmarks of the style was the use of America’s native grain — corn — along with barley in order to lighten the color and body of the finished ale.

Despite the term cream ale, dairy has nothing to do with the style. There is no definitive historical reference for where this term came from, though I suspect a marketing influence, as these beers were highly carbonated and would likely have been poured with tall, creamy heads of foam.

Cream ale is largely an ale version of a standard American lager, with similar color and strength, though it should be more aromatic and flavorful. More hop character and some ale fruitiness is common.

And of course while I listed several possible local cream ale options, none of which are currently available, I find out after the fact that Wild Ride Brewing released its Cold Chillin’ Vanilla Cream Ale just a couple of days before the article came out. And then I find McHeavy at McMenamins Old St. Francis School, also a cream ale—though to be fair, just the name “McHeavy” is a bit counter-intuitive to the style.

But that gives local readers at least two options to seek out and sample! I need to do the same…