Beer Style Guide: Get to Know American Blonde Ale with Em Sauter

A microbrewery beer of the 1980’s, don’t write off the humble blonde ale (also called golden ale), which is an important beer in the history of the American beer scene.

The History of Blonde Ale

Blonde ale was created during the brewpub boom of the 1980s. Many of these breweries were very small and streamlined so there couldn’t be a lot of room for long lagering times or multiple yeast strains. So the blonde ale (which, funny enough, can also be made with lager yeast!), was created to mimic American lagers and other light lagers so there would be a light, easy drinking option. It works well as a substitute as macro lagers can sometimes have a light, fruity sweetness similar to ales. These blonde ales proliferated across the American brewing scene and became the go to “house beer” of many brewpubs across the country. According to the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), the first blonde ale was apparently brewed in 1987 at Catamount brewing, a now defunct but very important early brewery based in White River Junction, VT (fun fact- I lived across from their old building during art school!).

How Blonde Ale is Made

Blonde ales are usually brewed with pale malt (maybe with a little malted wheat too) for a cracker/bread aroma and flavor and either ale yeast or lager yeast. If you do have access to lager yeast, brewing a blonde ale with lager yeast is a good way to make sure it has that cleanliness by fermenting it colder. You can also use English or American ale yeast or German kolsch ale yeast. The hop profile can be subdued to highly hopped and usually showcases American hop varieties so blonde ales can have a spritzy grapefruit or light pine flavor and aroma to them. Blonde ales are also a great base for fruit beers.

Pairing Blonde Ale

Since blonde ales are meant to be like a lager, they are sessionable and easy to imbibe. A tailgate or baseball game is a great place to drink these beers. American BBQ, hamburgers, bar bites, nachos, I could keep going on what foods work well with blonde ales since they are so versatile. They are also lovely with light and delicate fruit desserts like sorbets.