Pale lager

Cream Ale

BJCP 1C

An American ale built to compete with lager: fermented warm with a clean yeast, often with maize or rice in the grist, then lagered cold until it drinks like something that took six weeks.

Vital statistics

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

Original gravity

1.042 - 1.055

Final gravity

1.006 - 1.012

Bitterness

8 IBU - 20 IBU

Colour

2.5 SRM - 5 SRM

Alcohol

4.2% - 5.6%

Colour also 5-10 EBC

What goes wrong

Over-hopping it. The bitterness is structural, not a feature, and a cream ale that tastes like a pale ale has stopped being one.

Commercial examples

Genesee Cream AleLiebotschaner Cream AleLittle Kings Cream AleSleeman Cream AleSun King Sunlight Cream 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 pale lager family

American Light Lager

2.8-4.2% · 8-12 IBU

American Lager

4.2-5.3% · 8-18 IBU

International Pale Lager

4.6-6% · 18-25 IBU

Czech Pale Lager

3-4.1% · 20-35 IBU

Czech Premium Pale Lager

4.2-5.8% · 30-45 IBU

Munich Helles

4.7-5.4% · 16-22 IBU

Festbier

5.8-6.3% · 18-25 IBU

German Leichtbier

2.4-3.6% · 15-28 IBU

Kolsch

4.4-5.2% · 18-30 IBU

German Helles Exportbier

4.8-6% · 20-30 IBU

German Pils

4.4-5.2% · 22-40 IBU

Plan a batch to these numbers.

Bitterness Colour Alcohol