Why BBA Brews Only Ales: The Craft of Top Fermentation

One Decision, No Exceptions

There is a common assumption that a serious brewery must offer everything — ales, lagers, something for every preference. From its founding in 2022, Beautifully Brewed Ales Company made one uncompromising decision: no lagers, ever. Every release in the collection is a top-fermented ale — a choice rooted as much in craft philosophy as in technical preference.

The Science Behind the Standard

Top-fermenting yeast, typically Saccharomyces cerevisiae, works at warmer temperatures — roughly 15 to 25 degrees Celsius — and rises to the surface during fermentation. This is the yeast behind classic ale families: Kölsch, Altbier and Weizenbier among German styles; Berliner Weiße, Gose and Grätzer beside them; and, in the broader ale family, Pale Ale, IPA, Stout, Imperial Stout and Barley Wine.

Bottom-fermenting lager yeast, by contrast, works cooler and settles at the bottom of the vessel — producing the cleaner, more restrained profiles associated with lagers. For BBA, that restraint is exactly what the brand does not want.

Expression Over Restraint

Top fermentation produces the fruitier esters, richer textures and expressive complexity that define every ale in The Grateful Eight. Where lager yeast is engineered to disappear into the background, ale yeast insists on being felt — in aroma, in body, in the small imperfections that make a beer feel handmade rather than manufactured.

This is not a limitation BBA works around. It is the foundation everything else is built on.

Eight Expressions, One Conviction

It is a deliberate, singular commitment — one style of fermentation, pursued with total conviction, across eight radically different expressions. From the sharp clarity of a Bitter to the ceremonial weight of an Imperial Stout, every chapter in the collection speaks the same technical language, even as the tone changes completely.

Discipline as Freedom

What makes this commitment essential is what it makes possible. By refusing to dilute the range with lagers, BBA gives every brewer the same expressive vocabulary — and eight entirely different ways of using it.