British ale

British Brown Ale

BJCP 13B

Nutty, caramel-forward and moderately dry, the northern English brown. More body and malt than a mild, less roast than a porter.

Vital statistics

Each bar is drawn against the full range of all 98 styles

Original gravity

1.040 - 1.052

Final gravity

1.008 - 1.013

Bitterness

20 IBU - 30 IBU

Colour

12 SRM - 22 SRM

Alcohol

4.2% - 5.9%

Colour also 24-43 EBC

What goes wrong

Reaching for chocolate malt. The nutty character comes from crystal and a light touch of brown malt, not from roast.

Commercial examples

AleSmith Nut Brown AleMaxim Double MaximNewcastle Brown AleRiggwelter Yorkshire AleSamuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale

Reference examples of the style, as listed in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Availability varies by market and year.

Vital statistics as published in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Not yet checked against the published guidelines: treat these ranges as a planning aid and read the source at bjcp.org before entering a competition.

The rest of the british ale family

11A

Ordinary Bitter

3.2-3.8% · 25-35 IBU

11B

Best Bitter

3.8-4.6% · 25-40 IBU

11C

Strong Bitter

4.6-6.2% · 30-50 IBU

12A

British Golden Ale

3.8-5% · 20-45 IBU

12B

Australian Sparkling Ale

4.5-6% · 20-35 IBU

13A

Dark Mild

3-3.8% · 10-25 IBU

Plan a batch to these numbers.

Bitterness Colour Alcohol