Cream Ale! Did he say cream ale? Yes he did, Newburgh Cream Ale to be precise. This little gem from the Newburgh Brewing Company of Newburgh, New York is one of the few examples of this style made today. Fewer still are made by craft brewers like Newburgh, making this a beer to get excited about indeed. That’s because cream ale is a truly American style, and as such let’s go right to Newburgh to see what they say about their version. From the label:
Cream Ale is our interpretation of a New York original. Originally brewed by ale breweries to compete with the surging popularity of lager beer, it remains a regional specialty in the Northeast United States. Our version is light-bodied and a pale straw color, with a perfect blend of malt and hops. The result is a supremely refreshing version of a style dear to our hearts.
But is cream ale really a New York original? That’s my question. First of all, it might behoove us to explore just what cream ale is. Cream Ale is a hybrid style combining a warm ale yeast fermentation of a light malty brew with a cold conditioning akin to a lager. In many respects this makes it similar to German Kolsch, although it is usually brewed with adjuncts like corn which the German would never think of using.
Three classic examples come to mind, only one of which is from New York, but which is the original? Liebotschaner Cream Ale form The Lion brewery in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania has been around for a long time, but is in my opinion the least likely to be the first. New York’s Genesee Cream Ale is the best know example of the style, but by their own admission it was first brewed in 1960. That makes the real original cream ale Little Kings from the Schoenling brewery of Cincinnati, Ohio, as they date that beer back to 1958. This is the oldest example of cream ale that I can find.
Newburgh Cream Ale has an almost session-level alcohol content of 4.2% by volume with 35 IBUs. It’s not available here in Georgia but I scored a can from the ever generous Erik Bierbiker. Ingredients from the website:
Malt: Pale Malt, Malted Wheat, Flaked Barley, Flaked Oats
Hops: Fuggles, East Kent Goldings, Cascades
Yeast: Newburgh Ale Yeast
Newburgh Cream Ale pours to a pale yellow color with a thin short lived fizzy head and a soft malt and gentle herbal hop nose. The beer has soft biscuit malt up front followed by a correct for style graininess that is almost corn-like, but Newburgh says they don’t use corn in this beer. A more than balancing herbal earthy hop finish rounds the beer out perfectly.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the smooth and delicious drinkability of this beer. Believe it or not, I’m going to go out on a limb and wish that they had used a little corn to make it more authentic. Still, this is a fantastic beer, one that I could sip for hours, and at the low ABV that is even more possible than with most beers. Kudos to you, Newburgh Brewing for this remarkably well executed example of the style.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft