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| Table of Contents | |
| Beer | Beer is the world's oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage. |
| Ales | Ale is a type of beer brewed from barley malt with a top-fermenting brewers yeast that ferments quickly. |
| Lager | Lager is the English name for bottom-fermenting beers of Central European origin. |
| Lambic | Lambic is a very distinctive style of beer brewed only in the Pajottenland region of Belgium |
| Pale & Dark | Variations from the types of malts used during brewing. |
| Strength | Beer ranges from less than 3% alcohol by volume (abv) to almost 30% abv |
| Serving Styles | Draught, keg, cask, bottle or can styles. |
| Temperature | The temperature of a beer has an influence on a drinker's experience. |
| Vessels | Beer is consumed out of a variety of vessels, such as a glass, a beer stein, a mug, a pewter tankard, a beer bottle or a can. |
The following definitions are extracts from the Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page).
Visit it and the below links for more information.
| BEER: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer | |
| Beer | Beer is the world's oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage. It is produced by the fermentation of sugars derived from starch-based material — the most common being malted barley; however, wheat, corn, and rice are also widely used, usually in conjunction with barley. Less widely used starch sources include millet, sorghum and cassava root in Africa, potato in Brazil, and agave in Mexico, among others. The starch source is steeped in water, along with certain enzymes, to produce a sugary wort which is then flavored with herbs, fruit or most commonly hops. Yeast is then used to cause fermentation, which produces alcohol and other waste products from anaerobic respiration of the sugars. The process of beer production is called brewing. Beer uses many varying ingredients, production methods and traditions. The type of yeast and production method may be used to classify beer into ale, lager and spontaneously fermented beers. Some beer writers and organizations differentiate and categorize beers by various factors into beer styles. Alcoholic beverages fermented from non-starch sources such as grape juice (wine) or honey (mead), as well as distilled beverages, are not classified as beer. |
| ALE: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ale | |
| Ale | Ale is a type of beer brewed from barley malt with a top-fermenting brewers yeast that ferments quickly, giving a sweet, full body and a fruity, and sometimes butter-like, taste. Most ale contains some herb or spice, usually hops, which imparts a bitter, herbal flavor which balances the malt sweetness. As an appellative ale means any top-fermented beverage made from malt. The other major style of beer is lager, which is bottom-fermented. Ales are common in Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, the eastern provinces of Canada and among craft beer consumers in the United States. The German word for "top-fermenting" is "Obergärig", the French equivalent is "Haute fermentation". A modern ale is commonly defined by the strain of yeast used and the fermenting temperature. Ales are normally brewed with top-fermenting yeasts (most commonly Saccharomyces cerevisiae) , though a number of British brewers, including Fullers and Weltons, use ale yeast strains that have less pronounced top-fermentation characteristics. The important distinction for ales is that they are fermented at higher temperatures and thus ferment more quickly than lagers. Ale is typically fermented at temperatures between 15 and 24 °C (60 and 75 °F). At these temperatures, yeast produces significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavor and aroma products, and the result is often a beer with slightly "fruity" compounds resembling apple, pear, pineapple, banana, plum, or prune, among others. Typical ales have a sweeter, fuller body than lagers. |
| Pale ale | Pale ales are brewed using a pale barley malt, the classic example being the bitter of English pubs. Strengths vary from under 3% abv to over 20% in some rare barley wines. Hop levels also vary - ranging from barely noticeable to over 100 IBUs in some examples of India Pale Ale. Pale Ales include India Pale Ales and Amber Ales. |
| India Pale Ale (IPA) | India Pale Ale (IPA) was originally brewed to survive the journey from England to her colonies in Asia, well-hopped and high in gravity, but the term may be used today to indicate a session bitter or a super-premium pale ale. |
| Amber Ale | Amber ale is a North American term for a slightly darker style of IPA, that probably takes its name from the ambrée of France. |
| Brown ale | A darker barley malt is used to produce brown ales, of which the English mild and Belgian oud bruin are examples. They tend to be lightly hopped, and fairly mildly flavored, often with a nutty taste. In the south of England they are dark brown, around 3-3.5% alcohol and quite sweet; in the north they are red-brown, 4.5-5% and drier. Commercial "brown ale" was originally a bottled version of mild, of which Newcastle Brown Ale is the best-known example. The style became popular with homebrewers in North America in the early 1980's; Pete's Wicked Ale is an example, similar to the English original but substantially hoppier. |
| Dark ale | Dark ales are brewed using dark-roasted barley malts. These include Porters and Stouts. |
| Porter | Porter was a London style dark ale that became extinct but has been revived in recent years, particularly in North America by companies such as Sierra Nevada. Porters range from brown to black in color; a version of porter using more highly roasted malt to give a black color was known as a "stout porter", or simply "stout". |
| Stout | Stout is a porter with higher roasted malt and a cark color. The English preferred sweet stout, typified by Mackeson, a brew of around 3.75% to which milk sugars had been added. In Ireland dry stout became popular, exemplified by Guinness. Imperial Stout, or Imperial Russian Stout, is an even "bigger" style of 8-10%, originally exported as a winter warmer to the Russian court. |
| Light Ale | In England, a Light Ale is the bottled version of a basic bitter. In Scotland, "Light" indicates the lowest gravity draught beer, which is often dark in color. In neither case does the term imply "low-calorie". |
| Irish Red Ale | Irish red ale is a type of ale originating in Ireland. The slightly reddish color comes from the use of roasted barley, in addition to the malt. The beers are typically fairly low in alcohol (3.5% ABV typically), although stronger export versions are brewed. A red ale tastes less bitter or hoppy than an English ale, with a pronounced malty, caramel flavor. |
| Belgian Ales | Belgium produces a wide variety of specialty ales that elude easy classification. In addition to making a variety of blonde ale, common classifications for these specialty beers may be dubbel (malty-complex with a red hue) and tripel (a high-alcohol, lightly-gold colored beer). Many Belgian ales are high in alcoholic content but light in body due to the addition of large amounts of sucrose, which provides an alcohol boost with an essentially neutral flavor. |
| Trappist | Specialty beers based on monastic brewing recipes. The best known among them are the Trappist beers, which are brewed under direct control of the monks themselves. Only seven Trappist monasteries brew this beer, six in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. Similar styled ales brewed by commercial breweries (sometimes under license of an actual monastery) are called Abbey beer. |
| German Ales | German ales tend to be fermented at a somewhat lower temperature, and have more body than British or Belgian ales due to differences in mashing process; the traditional German decoction mash tends to create more oligosaccharides to provide body to the beer. The best-known varieties are Kölsch, a very pale ale from Cologne, and altbier(most associated with Düsseldorf but made in other parts of western Germany as well); wheat beers such as Hefeweizenand Berliner Weisseare also technically ales, though they may have different flavors, particularly the pronounced banana-like estery flavor of hefeweizen. |
| Scotch Ales | The ales of Scotland generally have a malt accent. While the full range of ales is produced in Scotland, the term "Scotch Ale" is used internationally to denote a malty, strong pale ale. The malt may be slightly caramelized to impart toffee notes, or smoked (as it is for whisky production). |
| Old Ales | In England, Old ale was strong beer traditionally kept for about a year, gaining sharp, acetic flavors as it did so. The term is now applied to medium-strong dark beers, some of which are treated to resemble the traditional Old ales. In Australia the term is used even less discriminately, and is a general name for any dark beer. Belgian oud bruin is similar to the traditional English old ale. |
| Cream Ales | Cream ales, also referred to as a "creamers," are related to American lagers. They are generally brewed to be light and refreshing with a straw to pale golden color. Hop and malt flavor is usually subdued but some breweries give them a more assertive character. Two examples are Genesee Cream Ale and Little Kings Cream Ale. While cream ales are top-fermented ales, they typically undergo an extended period of cold-conditioning or lagering after primary fermentation is complete. This reduces fruity esters and gives the beer a cleaner flavor. Some examples also have a lager yeast added for the cold-conditioning stage or are even blended with lager. Adjuncts such as maize and rice are used to lighten the body and flavor although there are all-malt examples available. |
| LAGER: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_lager | |
| Lager | Lager is the English name for bottom-fermenting beers of Central European origin. They are the most commonly consumed beers in the world. The name comes from the German lagern ("to store"). Lagers originated from European brewers storing beer in cool cellars and caves and noticing that the beers continued to ferment, and also to clear of sediment. Lager yeast is a bottom-fermenting yeast (e.g., Saccharomyces pastorianus), and typically undergoes primary fermentation at 7–12 °C (45–55 °F) (the "fermentation phase"), and then is given a long secondary fermentation at 0–4 °C (32–40 °F) (the "lagering phase"). During the secondary stage, the lager clears and mellows. The cooler conditions also inhibit the natural production of esters and other byproducts, resulting in a "cleaner" tasting beer. Modern methods of producing lager were pioneered by Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger, who perfected dark brown lagers at the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria, and Anton Dreher, who began brewing a lager, probably of amber-red color, in Vienna in 1840–1841. With improved modern yeast strains, most lager breweries use only short periods of cold storage, typically 1–3 weeks. The main elements of the lagering method used by Sedlmayr and Groll are still used today, and depend on a slow acting yeast that ferments at a low temperature while being stored. Indeed, the German term 'Lager' means 'storage'. While first marketed as 'Lagerbier' in Austria and Germany, the term is now quite uncommon in the German speaking countries where today one would simply ask for 'helles Bier' (pale lager), 'dunkles Bier' (dark lager or ale) or specific varieties, particularly those with a distinctive character such as Pilsneror Weizenbier (also called Weissbier). In the English speaking world, however, lager is now a general name for any beer made using the lagering method. |
| Pale Lager | Pale lager is a very pale to golden-colored beer with a well attenuated body and noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid 1800s when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brewing techniques back to the Spaten Brewery in Germany and applied it to existing lagering brewing methods. This approach was picked up by other brewers, most notably Josef Groll who produced Pilsner Urquell. The resulting pale colored, lean and stable beers were very successful and gradually spread around the globe to become the most common form of beer consumed in the world today. |
| Premium Lager | Premium lager is a name sometimes used by brewers for products they wish to promote; there is no legal definition for such a product, but it is usually applied to a flagship product. Anheuser-Busch also uses the terms "sub-premium" and "super-premium" to describe the low-end Busch beer and the high-end Michelob. Some beers referred to in this context are: Stella Artois, Grolsch, Grain Belt, Kronenbourg 1664, Carlsberg Special Brew and Carlsberg Export, Tennent's Super, Hahn Premium and James Boag's. Spezial is a stronger style of pale lager, mostly brewed in Southern Germany, but also found in Austria and Switzerland. Spezial slots in between Helles and Bock in terms of flavor characteristics and strength. Full-bodied and bittersweet, it is delicately spiced with German aroma hops. It has a gravity of between 12.5° and 13.5° Plato and an alcohol content of 5.5 - 5.8% ABV. The style has been in slow decline over the last 30 years, but still accounts for around 10% of beer sales in Bavaria. |
| Strong lager | Pale lagers that exceed an abv of around 5.8% are termed Bock, Malt liquor, Märzen and Oktoberfestbier. |
| Oktoberfestbier | Oktoberfestbier or Oktoberfest beer is a name originally given to beers served at the Oktoberfest event in Munich, but which may now be used by various brewers, especially in the USA, for a pale lager around 6% alcohol by volume - which since the 1970s has been the most popular type of beer served at the festival. Münchner Oktoberfestbier is brewed in Munich specifically for the München Oktoberfest. |
| LAMBIC BEERS: spontaneous fermentation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic | |
| Lambic | Lambic is a very distinctive style of beer brewed only in the Pajottenland region of Belgium (southwest of Brussels). Unlike conventional ales and lagers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, Lambic beer is instead produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Senne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavor: dry, vinous, and cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste. Lambic beers, a specialty of Belgian beers, use wild yeasts, rather than cultivated ones. Many of these are not strains of brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and may have significant differences in aroma and sourness. Yeast varieties such as Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus are quite common in lambics. In addition, other organisms such as Lactobacillus bacteria produce acids which contribute to the sourness. |
| Serving Styles: | |
| Draught/Keg | Draught beer keg fonts at the Delirium Café in Brussels Draught beer from a pressurized keg is the most common method of dispensing in bars around the world. A metal keg is pressurized with carbon dioxide (CO2) gas which drives the beer to the dispensing tap or faucet. Some beers, notably stouts, such as Guinness and "smooth" bitters, such as Boddingtons, may be served with a nitrogen/carbon dioxide mixture. Nitrogen produces fine bubbles, resulting in a dense head and a creamy mouth feel. In the 1980s, Guinness introduced the beer widget, a nitrogen pressurized ball inside a can which creates a foamy head. The words "draft" and "draught" can be used as marketing terms to describe canned or bottled beers containing a beer widget, or which are cold filtered rather than pasteurized. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draught_beer, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keg_beer#Keg_beer |
| Cask Ales | A selection of cask beers Cask-conditioned ales (or "cask ales") are unfiltered and unpasteurized beers. These beers are termed "real ale" by the Camra organization. Typically, when a cask arrives in a pub, it is placed horizontally on a stillage and allowed to cool to cellar temperature (typically around 13 °C/55 °F), before being tapped and vented — a tap is driven through a (usually rubber) bung at the bottom of one end, and a hard spile or other implement is used to open a hole in the side of the cask, which is now uppermost. The act of stillaging and then venting a beer in this manner typically disturbs all the sediment, so it must be left for a suitable period to "drop" (clear) again, as well as to fully condition — this period can take anywhere from several hours to several days. At this point the beer is ready to sell, either being pulled through a beer line with a hand pump, or simply being "gravity-fed" directly into the glass. |
| Bottled Beer | Most beers are cleared of yeast by filtering when bottled. However, bottle conditioning beers retain some yeast — either by being unfiltered, or by being filtered and then reseeded with fresh yeast. It is usually recommended that the beer be poured slowly, leaving any yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. However, some drinkers prefer to pour in the yeast; this practice is, in fact, customary with wheat beers. Typically, when serving a hefeweizen, 90% of the contents are poured, and the remainder is swirled to suspend the sediment before pouring it into the glass. Alternately, the bottle is inverted prior to opening. |
| Cans | Many beers are sold in beverage cans, though there is considerable variation in the proportion between different countries. In 2001, in Sweden 63.9% of beer was sold in cans. People either drink from the can or pour the beer into a glass. Cans protect the beer from light and have a seal less prone to leaking over time than bottles. Cans were initially viewed as a technological breakthrough for maintaining the quality of a beer, then became commonly associated with less-expensive, mass-produced beers, even though the quality of storage in cans is much like bottles. Glass bottles are always used for bottle conditioned beers, so are associated with higher-regarded beers. Plastic (PET) bottles are used by some breweries. |
| Vessels: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_glassware | |
| General | Beer is consumed out of a variety of vessels, such as a glass, a beer stein, a mug, a pewter tankard, a beer bottle or a can. Some drinkers consider that the type of vessel influences their enjoyment of the beer. In Europe, particularly Belgium, breweries offer branded glassware intended only for their own beers. The pouring process has an influence on a beer's presentation. The rate of flow from the tap or other serving vessel, tilt of the glass, and position of the pour (in the centre or down the side) into the glass all influence the end result, such as the size and longevity of the head, lacing (the pattern left by the head as it moves down the glass as the beer is drunk), and turbulence of the beer and its release of carbonation. Beer glassware comprises the drinking vessels made of glass designed or commonly used for drinking beer. Different styles of glassware complement different styles of beer for a variety of reasons, including enhancing aromatic volatiles, showcasing the appearance, and/or having an effect on the beer head. Several kinds of beer glassware have a stem which serves to prevent the warmth of the drinker's hand from warming the beer. |
| Wheat beer glass | German Weizenbier (wheat beer) glass. A wheat beer glass is a glass used to serve wheat beer, known also as Weizenbier or Weißbier. The German glass generally holds 500 millilitres with room for foam or "head". It is much taller than a pint glass. It is very narrow at the bottom and slightly wider at the top. In other countries such as Belgium, the glass may be 250 ml or 330 ml. The tall glass provides room for the often thick, fluffy heads produced by the style, which traps aromas and is visually pleasing. |
| Pint glass | A pint glass is a drinking vessel holding an imperial pint (568 ml ˜1.2 US pints) of liquid and is usually used for beer. Three common shapes of pint glass are found (conical, jug, and flared top), though others are available. Pints are considered good for serving stouts, porters and English ales. |
| Pilsner glass | A pilsner glass is a glass used to serve many types of light beers, but is intended for its namesake, the pilsner. Pilsner glasses are generally smaller than a pint glass, usually in 250 ml or 330 ml sizes. They are tall, slender and tapered. Wheat beer glasses are often mistakenly referred to as pilsner glasses, but a true pilsner glass has an even taper without curvature. Pilsner glasses are made to showcase the color, effervescence, and clarity of the pilsner, as well as to maintain a nice head. |
| Beer stein | A beer stein is a traditionally-German beer tankard or mug, made of pewter, silver, wood, porcelain, earthenware or glass; usually with a hinged lid and levered thumblift. The lid was implemented during the age of the Black Plague, to prevent diseased flies from getting into the beer. |
| Flute glass | A flute glass is the preferred serving vessel for Belgian lambics and fruit beers. The narrow shape helps maintain carbonation, while providing a strong aromatic front. Flute glasses display the lively carbonation, sparkling color, and soft lacing of this distinct style. |
| Goblet or Chalice | Chalices and goblets are large, stemmed, bowl-shaped glasses adequate for serving heavy Belgian ales, German bocks, and other big sipping beers. The distinction between goblet and chalice is typically in the glass thickness. Goblets tend to be more delicate and thin, while the chalice is heavy and thick walled. Some chalices are even etched on the bottom to attract carbon dioxide and provide a stream of bubbles for maintaining a nice head. |
| Snifters | Typically used for serving brandy and cognac, a snifter is ideal for capturing the volatiles of aromatic beers, such as Belgian ales, India pale ales, barley wines and wheat wines. The shape helps trap the volatiles, while allowing swirling to agitate them and produce an intense aroma. |
| Tulip glass | A tulip glass not only helps trap the aroma, but also aids in maintaining large heads, creating a visual and olfactory sensation. The body is bulbous, but the top flares out to form a lip which helps head retention. It is recommended for serving Scottish ales, barley wines, Belgian ales and other aromatic beers. |
| Stange and Becher | A Stange (trans: 'Stick' or 'Bar'), is the preferred glass shape for the serving of Kölsch. Altbier, traditionally served in a Becher, although slightly shorter and fatter than a Stange, is similar in shape. Both usually hold between 200-300cc and are cylindrical (Although, Altbier can sometimes be seen served in more conical glasses). |
| "A New Glass" | An unnamed glass design was released by the Samuel Adams Brewery. This glass was created by Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams brewery, to attempt to "elevate the craft beer experience". The "New Glass" is shaped similar to a wheat beer glass, with a large bulb near the top of the glass, only shorter. The lip of the glass is turned outward where the wheat beer glass would end, turned inward. Other notable characteristics of the glass include: laser etchings on the bottom of the glass, thinner walls, and a bead inside the rim. http://www.samueladams.com/Promotions/glassware/default.html |
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