Maine Beer Co. recently released Dutch’s Cream Ale at its Freeport brewery. The name pays tribute to the old Dutch Village Motel that once occupied the brewery’s site, its charming little cottages staged across a spacious lawn off Route 1 in Vacationland. One can imagine an old caretaker mowing that vast expanse, buoyed by a cream ale (a style sometimes referred to as a “lawnmower beer”). Unpretentious, sessionable and thirst-quenching, the cream ale makes a suitable companion for a bout of yard work under the sun.

Cream ale is a distinctively American beer (and not just because the first commercial canned beverage was a Krueger’s Cream Ale in 1935). Cream ale was once widely popular in the United States, particularly in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, brewed as a competitor to the pale lagers that became so popular in the later decades of the 19th century. This makes it something like an American version of the Kölsch: lager-like, but often with a slightly fruitier profile. Unlike a Kölsch, though, this beer was made with two ingredients indigenous to the Americas: corn and Cluster hops.

Corn was used by brewers to clarify the beers aesthetically, making them look more like the popular pale lagers. American six-row malt was dense in protein, which made it harder to achieve that effect; adjuncts like corn or rice could help brewers achieve that crisp luminosity that drinkers of the time desired.

Cluster hops are one of the oldest varieties grown on this continent. Historians speculate that they stem from open pollination between a wild American hop and the English Black Cluster in the eastern United States, perhaps late in the 18th century. Largely used for bittering, it was by far the most abundant hop crop in this country until the 1970s.

Historically, cream ale brewers have used lager yeasts or both ale and lager yeasts – either simultaneously in the primary fermentation or ale yeast for the primary and lager yeast for conditioning.

But why “cream” ale? These beers don’t contain dairy or lactose. The name was historically a marketing device – perhaps a reference to a pillowy head, perhaps the suggestion of a creamy mouthfeel or perhaps to signal the beer’s freshness (it was once cryptically referred to as “present use ale,” according to beer writer Jeff Allworth).

The beer’s popularity has generally receded over time, though some craft breweries include a cream ale in the rotation, particularly over the summer months. They also tend to employ a wider variety of hops, beyond the native Cluster used in days of yore. As the examples below suggest, this makes for a range of interpretations that are as interesting as they are refreshing.

DUTCH’S CREAM ALE, MAINE BEER CO.

ABV: 4.4%
NOTES: Brewed with six-row barley and flaked maize; Magnum, Saaz, and Nelson Sauvin hops; and a blend of ale and lager yeasts. Straw-colored and clear. This effervescent beer is distinguished by a punchy aroma of green bell pepper, alongside lemon and hints of corn. The finish is notably dry.

KICKFLIP, BISSELL BROTHERS

ABV: 5.5%
NOTES: Brewed with two-row barley, corn, crystal malt and rice, along with Callista and Cluster hops. Straw-colored with a bit of haze. It is floral – practically perfumey – with sweet hints of corn. Medium-bodied, with a balanced finish.

KIN’S CREAM ALE, TRINKEN BREWING CO.

ABV: 5.4%
NOTES: This beer was originally the flagship of Lewiston’s Rusty Bus Brewing Co., which closed this year. It has since been adopted by their friends at Trinken. Gold in color, with a touch of haziness. This medium-bodied beer possesses pleasant aromatics of sweet cornbread, honey, vanilla cream and white wine, preceding a semi-sweet finish.

Ben Lisle is an assistant professor of American Studies at Colby College. He lives among the breweries in Portland’s East Bayside, where he writes about cultural history, urban geography, and craft beer culture.

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