Comparison
American wild ale vs Oud Bruin
What is the difference between American wild ale and Oud Bruin?
The short answer
The main difference is dryness: American wild ale has far more of it than Oud Bruin. American wild ale also leads on alcohol warmth; Oud Bruin on malt intensity and caramel & toffee.
Generated from the two style records. No editor has written this comparison up, so it carries no verdict beyond what the data supports.
Where they overlap
They share comparable acidity, yeast fruitiness (esters), overlapping strength ranges, the same style family — the boundary between them is narrower than the comparison suggests.
Side by side
| American wild ale | Oud Bruin | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Sour & wild | Sour & wild |
| Fermentation | Mixed fermentation | Mixed fermentation |
| Origin | United States | Belgium |
| Category status — One of these is a more settled category than the other, which is worth knowing before treating the comparison as exact. | Emerging | Established |
| Strength | 4.5–9% ABV | 4–8% ABV |
| Bitterness (IBU) — IBU measures iso-alpha acids in the lab. It does not track perceived bitterness, which residual sweetness, body and roast all alter — compare the sensory rows below for how each actually tastes. | 5–25 IBU | 20–25 IBU |
| Colour | Straw to deep brown, or fruit-derived — 3–25 SRM, 6–49 EBC | Deep reddish brown to dark brown — 15–22 SRM, 30–43 EBC |
| Original gravity | 1.044–1.080 | 1.040–1.074 |
| Final gravity | 1.000–1.012 | 1.008–1.012 |
| Serving temperature | 9–12°C | 9–12°C |
| Carbonation | 2–4 vol CO₂ | 2–3 vol CO₂ |
| Glassware | Tulip glass, Teku glass | Goblet |
| Clarity | variable | clear |
How they taste different
| Character | American wild ale | Oud Bruin |
|---|---|---|
| Dryness | High–Very high | Not characteristic |
| Malt intensity | Not characteristic | Moderate |
| Caramel & toffee | Not characteristic | Moderate |
| Alcohol warmth | Trace–Low | Not characteristic |
| Funk | Moderate–Very high | Trace–Low |
| Sweetness | None–Trace | Low–Moderate |
| Body | Trace–Low | Moderate |
| Chocolate & cocoa | Not characteristic | Trace–Low |
| Berry | None–High | Not characteristic |
| Carbonation | High | Moderate |
Which should you choose?
- You want more dryness → American wild ale
- You want more malt intensity → Oud Bruin
Derived from where the two actually differ. Neither is better — this is a question of which difference you want.