This Brew Dudes Homebrew Swap Exchange 6 is coming to us from Patrick from Aurora Colorado! Its one of my favorites… Cream Ale.

I think this beer has come to us just in time. I’ve been screwing around with my Cream Ale recipe too much lately and sometimes we just lose track of what we are trying to do. Patrick’s Cream Ale has re-grounded me in the simple elegance of a great Cream Ale.

This beer is just a tad bit north of being yellow. It has an every so slightly darker color than you’d expect from what is normally a pilsner malt driven style. This is not a ding, certainly it helps it stand out a bit. The beer was nearly crystal clear, had very nice bubble cascades and a very white foamy head with mild to moderate retention.

The aroma was decidedly cream ale. A touch of malt aroma backs a distinctive fresh corn like aroma. What’s nice is that we are not talking about a dreaded cooked corn or vegetal aroma. The aroma is a pleasant and clean corn note. Perfect for the style.

Patrick noted in his notes to us that he was aiming for something with a pleasant hop aroma. I don’t know if that should be taken to mean noticeable hop aroma or just present and nice. John felt the aroma was pleasant and noticeable. I found it a subtle background aroma that was certainly nice if you looked for it, but the malt and corn aroma were the forefront.

The taste was super clean. Crisp and highly drinkable. The finish was clean and light with an unmistakeable corn presence again. Overall a great Cream Ale. I hope Patrick enters this in a competition somewhere as I’d love to see how it stacks up. Regardless, this is a great every day drinker in my opinion.

A last note on the yeast use. Patrick went with WY2112 the California Lager yeast strain. I usually go with boring American Ale yeast like US-05. I might rethink that because I wonder if that lager strain is really letting that corn adjunct sing. If Patrick is reading this let us know the percentage corn in your recipe and the source (was it truly flaked corn or flaked maize; and from whom??)

Another great exchange. Thanks so much for Patrick and everyone that’s participated so far. We have more to come so stay tuned!!!

BREW ON!!