How To Brew a Blonde Ale (3 Recipes & Complete Style Guide!)

Blonde Ales are more than just a golden yellow beer. In a world dominated by bitter IPAs and barrel-aged stouts, the Blonde Ale is an easy-drinking beer with a balanced profile. Let’s check out some delicious Blonde Ale recipes and learn how to brew them!

Brew a delicious Blonde Ale by using a variety of ingredients. Base grains consist of American and British Pale Malts. Specialty grains include Crystal, Vienna, Biscuit, and Pilsner malts. This style can use any hop variety, but Willamette or other floral and earthy hop varieties work well. You can use neutral ale or lager yeast strains.

Interested in brewing your own Blonde Ale? Keep reading for a comprehensive look at ingredients and learn the best way to brew one.

What is a Blonde Ale?

Perhaps the most approachable beer style for new beer drinkers is the Blonde Ale, also known as a Golden Ale, which has the perfect balance between hop and malt flavor and aroma. They’re easy to drink and make a great session beer.

Blonde Ales–surprise, surprise–have English roots. They’re a product of the light-color beer revolution in England at the start of the 1700s. These beers are light with notable carbonation, and they’re often brewed with fruit, honey, and other adjuncts.

The Blonde Ale is defined by its hop-malt balance, drinkability, and light malt sweetness reminiscent of crackers and biscuits. It’s designed to be a well-rounded and crowd-pleasing beer.

  • Color – Yellow or golden, straw, 3-7 SRM
  • Common flavor – Bread, crackers, citrus, floral
  • Aroma – Citrus and floral, light malt
  • Mouthfeel – Soft but not thin, medium to high carbonation
  • IBUs (Bitterness) – 15-25
  • ABV – 4.1-5.1%
Blonde Ale recipes and brewing process

History of the Blonde Ale

Like I mentioned above, Blonde Ales hail from England and other parts of Europe. They were brought about around the same time as pale ales and were formerly known as dinner ales to be enjoyed with meals. They were considered very similar to Kolsch beers.

Blonde Ales were a lighter version of the pale ale that became gained popularity and traction throughout the 1700s. As such, American craft breweries followed suit in the late 1980s when Blonde Ales started popping up after the introduction of American pale ales.

Blonde Ales were first brewed in America at the height of the craft beer revolution. They were a lighter, easier-drinking, more refreshing take on the pale ales that were so popular on the West Coast, spreading to the rest of the country. 

Popular commercial Blonde Ales

Here are a few great examples of the Blonde Ale style for you to try. 

  • Victory Summer LoveRefreshing and aromatic with subtle citrus and earthy hop flavors. Brewed with Pilsner and CaraPils malts with Tettnand and Simcoe hops.
  • Kona Brewing Big WaveMalty sweetness with floral aroma and taste. Light hop aroma and little bitterness. Brewed with pale 2-row and caramel 20. 
  • Russian River Apical Dominance  Limited release hoppy Blonde Ale hopped with Talus hops. Citrus and grapefruit aroma with added Citra, Crystal and Comet hops. 
  • Tree House Brewing EurekaBrewed with Nelson Sauvin hops and pale malts for grape-like sweetness and simplicity. Floral aroma with a slight lemon flavor.

Popular blonde ale recipe kits (all-grain or extract)

Blonde Ale - All Grain Beer Brewing Kit (5 Gallons) | MoreBeer

With just a touch of Crystal malt and kiss of Willamette hops, this beer is as light and breezy as the name implies.

One of the most crowd-pleasing kits we offer, this is a great option if you're brewing up a batch for a party or large event.

Check Current Discounts at MoreBeer!
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

How to brew a Blonde Ale

Now that you know a bit about the history of the style, I’ll cover the different aspects of how to make a Blonde Ale. I will go step by step to dive into the ingredients and how they are used on brew day.

A Blonde Ale will take longer than ten days to ferment with an additional resting period for bottled batches. The entire process can take up to 4 weeks, depending on the yeast strain and packaging method.

A Blonde Ale beer sitting on a bar table

Recipe and ingredients

Before you start brewing a Blonde Ale, you need to collect the proper ingredients. Blonde Ales have an endless amount of flexibility when it comes to the recipe, from adding honey to dry-hopping. Below are some tips and guidelines to get you started, but feel free to experiment with the style.

Water profile

A good water profile is vital for brewing beer of any style. For Blonde Ales, start with RO water and aim for a 1:1 balance between sulfate and chloride, as each affects hop and malt flavors respectively.

Because the Blonde Ale does not favor either hops or malt, keep the ppm for sulfate and chloride relatively low. Overall, the water should be soft.

In general, good-tasting water is sufficient for brewing a good-tasting beer.

Base grains

Although the style is not malt-forward, the base grains used for a Blonde Ale play a vital role.

When selecting base grains, any US pale 2-row or British pale malt with provide a neutral base for a Blonde Ale. It’s important not to use too dark of a malt where the flavor is overpowering.

The majority of Blonde Ales will use a pale malt base and add specialty grains depending on the desired outcome.

Specialty grains or other additions

Blonde Ales are notorious for being experimented with by adding specialty grains or other fermentables.

Blonde Ales don’t need much more maltiness than what’s achieved with the base grains. However, some specialty grains can add a layer of complexity to the style. Flaked wheat and crystal malt can benefit head retention and add sweetness to the beer. 

If your goal is to create a maltier version of a Blonde Ale where the grains dominate the palate, make use of some specialty grains. These will prevail in the flavor in front of hops and neutral base grains.

It’s also worth noting that grain selection can alter depending on whether you use ale or lager yeast.

Some other specialty grain options to consider are:

  • Pilsner malt – helps elevate the blonde appearance and enables greater head retention
  • Biscuit malt – Use sparingly. Known to create biscuit and cracker flavors
  • Vienna malt – Lager style malt producing fuller-body beers with golden color. Perfect for a Blonde Ale brewed with lager yeast

Hops

Hops play a big role in any beer, not just IPAs. They’re used to balance sweetness and add bitterness and flavor.

Blonde Ales feature a variety of hops, including American, German and British strains. They’re used for bittering, aroma and taste. Blonde Ales benefit from hops with low alpha-acid levels and can also be dry-hopped.

The most important aspect of hop selection is choosing varieties that complement each other. As you’ll see below, bittering hops have more to do with the bitterness of a beer whereas flavor and aroma hops are more responsible for the taste and smell.

Bittering

Bittering hops are used to add bitterness to beer. They’re added at the beginning of the boil, allowing ample time for isomerization to occur. At the same time, the aromas of these hops are boiled away, and the wort is left with a strong bitterness.

Because bittering hops don’t add much flavor or aroma to beer, it’s best to choose ones that have a high alpha acid content to maximize bittering efficiency during brewing. Although bittering hops aren’t responsible for flavoring, too much can cause the beer to taste vegetal.

Blonde Ales have low bitterness and few IBUs, and the amount of hops needed for bittering will reflect that.

Here are some good bittering hops to use for a Blonde Ale.

NamePurposeAlpha Acid %
CascadeBittering + Aroma12-14%
CitraBittering + Aroma10-15%
GlacierBittering + Aroma3.3-9.7%
ColumbusBittering + Aroma14-18%
Aroma and Flavor

Aroma and flavor hops are used for exactly that – aroma and flavor attributes.

Aroma and flavor hops are added late in the boil, usually past the halfway mark. The more time they’re in the boil, the less flavor and aroma they give off. For Blonde Ales, the possibility of aroma and flavor hops is endless. Pair up to two varieties together or use just one to hone in on its characteristics.

These hops also require greater selectivity. Not all flavor and aroma hops go together and the wrong combinations can create undesired flavors. Try to use hops that complement each other.

Blonde Ales typically make use of only one or two hop varieties to minimize the risk of clashing flavors and aromas. Note that all hops give off at least some bitterness despite when they’re added to the boil.

NameFlavor/AromaAlpha Acid %
WillametteSpicy, floral, fruity4-6%
FuggleEarthy, floral2.4-6.1%
CitraFloral, fruity, citrus11-13%
ChinookPiny, spicy12-14%
AmarilloFloral, fruity, citrus8-11%

Yeast

Yeast is another crucial ingredient in the realm of Blonde Ales.

A good Blonde Ale yeast strain ferments clean for a neutral taste and versatile foundation for potential adjuncts and malt additions. The yeast can have low levels of fruity esters with medium-high flocculation and attenuation.

Depending on the desired outcome, Blonde Ales can be brewed with either ale or lager yeasts.

Dry

Below are some good dry yeast options for a Blonde Ale.

NameAttenuationFlocculationTemp Range
Safale US-0578-82%Medium64.4-78.8°F
LalBrew BRY-97 American West Coast70-75%High59-72°F
Safale S-0474-82%Medium64.4-78.8°F
Liquid

Below are some good liquid yeast options for a Blonde Ale.

NameAttenuationFlocculationTemp Range
Wyeast 105673-77%Low-medium60-72°F
OYL 00670-80%Medium-high64-72°F
Wyeast 127272-76%Medium60-72°F

Brewing process for Blonde Ales

After you choose the ingredients for your Blonde Ale, it’s time to start your brew day!

Before you start, decide on the type of mash you are going to do: single-step or infusion. You should also consider the mashing temperature, water quantities, hopping schedule, and if you need an additional fermenter.

At this point, you’ve figured out the hard parts. The brew day will be standard and straightforward, even if this is your first time brewing beer. You will start with the mash-in. Then, sparging.

Once you collect enough wort, it’s on to the boil, where you’ll add hops and any other adjuncts you or your recipe calls for. After that, it’s time to cool the wort, pitch the yeast and wait.

Blonde Ale beer and bubbles

Mashing

Mashing can be complicated for some styles of beer, but the Blonde Ale makes things easy on this front.

The malts used for Blonde Ales are already modified, so you don’t need to spend time on a step mash. A single-step mash will do just fine. Mash between 150-155°F for a malt-hop balance.

Aim for a temperature right in the middle of that range for a well-balanced Blonde Ale. The beer should be equally malty and hoppy. The mash-in will take around 60 minutes–the perfect amount of time to accumulate sugars while avoiding a build-up of unwanted enzymes.

Your recipe should have roughly 1 quart of water per pound of grain.

Boil

The boil length for a Blonde Ale will be an hour long. Add your bittering hops at the start of the boil, giving them enough time to undergo isomerization. Add flavor and aroma hops later in the boil, letting their oils transfer to the wort without boiling away.

Common aroma hop addition times are at the 20, 15, 10 and 5-minute marks and during whirlpool or flameout. The longer these hops are in the boil, the less aroma and flavor they will impart to the beer.

Whirlpool or flameout

Hops can be added even after the boil before you chill the wort.

These two stages of brewing are great for adding flavor and aroma from hops into your beer without sacrificing a large increase in bitterness. Hops added at these times are used strictly for the taste and smell of your beer.

These methods both occur after removing the wort from the heat, but whirlpool adds an extra spin on things. After flameout, a whirlpool is created in the wort, and hops are added to better spread their oils throughout the wort while collecting trub.

This method is great for a Blonde Ale that experiments with different hop variety combinations or one that wants to emphasize a specific strain.

Fermenting Blonde Ales

Fermentation for a Blonde Ale depends on the yeast strain used, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

As with all fermentation, Blonde Ales benefit from a consistent temperature. The process should take about a week or a little longer, depending on the health of the pitched yeast.

Once primary fermentation is finished, you can either rack to secondary for dry hopping or package your Blonde Ale in bottles or a keg. 

Temperatures

The temperature that you ferment at will depend on the strain of yeast you use.

For a Blonde Ale, keep your fermentation temperatures between 60-75°F. For a beer with less fruity esters, keep temperatures in the lower ranges. If you want a more fruit-forward taste and aroma, higher fermentation temperatures are appropriate.

A consistent fermentation temperature helps with yeast efficiency and produces a higher-quality beer.

Bottling or Kegging Blonde Ales

Should you bottle or keg your beer?

Either packaging method works for a Blonde Ale. The beer does not benefit from bottling or kegging over the other. Choose a method that works best for you and your carbonation style.

Blonde Ale recipes

Blondinebier

Ingredients

  • American 2-row malt – 10 lbs
  • Crystal malt – 0.5 lbs
  • Willamette hops – 0.82 oz
  • Yeast of your choice. Suggested: Wyeast 1056, White Labs WLP001 or Safale US-05

Instructions

  1. Set up all-grain brewing equipment.
  2. Heat 4 gallons of water to 152°F.
  3. Slowly add the 2-row and crystal malt to the heated water in the mash tun. Stir while adding.
  4. Mash at 152°F for 60 minutes.
  5. Infuse mash with near-boiling water while stirring and raise the temperature to 168°F.
  6. After the mash, recirculate the wort until the runoff is mostly clear.
  7. Sparge with 170°F water for 45-60 minutes. Collect 6.5 gallons for the boil.
  8. Begin the 60-minute boil. Add 0.82 oz of Willamette hops.
  9. Cool the wort to pitching temperatures for chosen strain.
  10. Pitch yeast, and aerate thoroughly.
  11. Ferment at 67°F for at least one week.
  12. Allow at least two days for settling.
  13. Bottle or keg as desired.
  14. Carbonate your beer.
    1. If bottling, prime your beer for bottle conditioning. Carbonation can take 2 weeks.
    2. If kegging, force carbonate.
  15. Once carbonation is done, enjoy your beer!

MoreBeer.com’s Blonde Ale kit

Ingredients

  • 2-row malt – 9 lbs
  • Crystal malt – 8 oz 
  • Willamette hops – 1 oz
  • Clarifier
  • Yest of your choice. Suggested: WLP001 California, Wyeast 1056 American, Imperial A07 Flagship, Omega West Coast Ale I, CellarScience Dry: CALI, Safale US-05

Instructions

  1. Set up all-grain brewing equipment.
  2. Heat 3.6 gallons of water to 151°F.
  3. Slowly add the 2-row and crystal malts to the heated water in the mash tun. Stir while adding.
  4. Mash at 151°F for 60 minutes.
  5. After the mash, recirculate the wort until the runoff is mostly clear.
  6. Sparge with 170°F water for 45-60 minutes. Collect 6-7 gallons for the boil.
  7. Begin the 60-minute boil. Add the 1 oz of Willamette hops.
  8. At 5 minutes left on the boil, add the clarifier.
  9. Whirlpool the wort to collect trub.
  10. Cool the wort to pitching temperatures for chosen strain.
  11. Pitch yeast.
  12. Ferment at 68°F for at least one week.
  13. Allow one week for settling.
  14. Bottle or keg as desired.
  15. Carbonate your beer.
    1. If bottling, prime your beer for bottle conditioning. Carbonation can take 2 weeks.
    2. If kegging, force carbonate.
  16. Once carbonation is done, enjoy your beer!

Martin Keen’s American Blonde Ale

Ingredients

  • Pale malt – 7 lbs
  • Vienna malt – 1 lb
  • Victory malt – 8 oz
  • White wheat malt – 8 oz
  • Cascade hops – 2 oz
  • Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale or Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Instructions

  1. Set up all-grain brewing equipment.
  2. Heat 3.6 gallons of water to 152°F.
  3. Slowly add the pale, Vienna, Victory and white wheat malt to the heated water in the mash tun. Stir while adding.
  4. Mash at 152°F for 60 minutes.
  5. After the mash, recirculate the wort until the runoff is mostly clear.
  6. Sparge with 170°F water for 45-60 minutes. Collect 6-7 gallons for the boil.
  7. Begin the 60-minute boil. Add 1 oz of Cascade hops.
  8. At 10 minutes left on the boil, add 0.5 oz of Cascade hops.
  9. At flameout, add the remaining 0.5 oz of Cascade hops.
  10. Cool the wort to pitching temperatures for chosen strain.
  11. Pitch yeast.
  12. Ferment at 68°F for at least one week.
  13. Allow one week for settling.
  14. Bottle or keg as desired.
  15. Carbonate your beer.
    1. If bottling, prime your beer for bottle conditioning. Carbonation can take up to 2 weeks.
    2. If kegging, force carbonate.
  16. Once carbonation is done, enjoy your beer!

Did you know that we have a full library of homebrew beer recipes for every style?