Weyermann® Almanac Beer Recipe

Beer recipe: Blond Ale, American

We are lucky enough to have been granted permission to share beer recipes from the Weyermann® Almanac of World Beers with our audience. Please try them out, enjoy and feel free to tag or contact Weyermann® with your finished brew.

Hops in the beer recipe

Warrior® hops and Crystal are classic choices for crafting American style Blond Ale. However Cashmere hops can also be used as an alternative for Crystal, if required.

Warrior® hops, with their smooth, clean bittering and a mild citrus aroma, perfect for layering with higher-aroma varieties

Crystal with it’s woody, green, floral and fruity notes, is extremely versatile in a range of different brews.

When used together, in this Blond Ale American beer recipe it creates an easy drinking summer seasonal brew. One with a simple grain bill that provides good diastatic strength.

BLOND ALE, AMERICAN

Perhaps the best way to characterise an American Blond Ale is to call it an ale version of the American Standard Lager. Distantly akin to a Kölsch, it has, however, clearly American hop and malt accents.

Some wheat (used here) and a few adjuncts (not used here) may also be part of the mash. The beer is often brilliantly straw blond, like a Munich Helles. Unlike many British pale to blond ales, though, the American version tends to be low in diacetyl, with only a hint of mild, fruity esters. The hopping is restrained. Fermentation with an American yeast is conventional, but a clean-fermenting Kölsch or Altbier yeast gives excellent results, too