I liked ales...a lot!.
I did a lot with the 'California Commons.' All the recipes I tried worked out excellent for me. I found that liquid yeast was the best. I mostly used White Labs. Sometimes Wyeast. But usually White Labs.
That's what I like. Wyeast, at least in my case, needs to be preped beforehand and has always been slow to flocculate. The local brew store keeps both well stocked.