Now that you're an expert on the history of beer and even a little excited about the craft brewing movement, you might be tempted to head out to a brewery to try some foamy goodness yourself. Before you do, it's a good idea to understand the different types of beer so that you get your hands on something that you can enjoy.
In general, beer falls into two categories: lager and ale. The distinction between the two types of beer comes from the type of yeast each uses.
You might remember from Chapter 1 that Germans introduced Americans to cold maturation lagers in the 19th Century. That maturation refers to the use of yeast that best ferments at cool temperatures. The yeast in lagers ferments at the bottom of the barrel, which allows the hops to release their more subtle flavors.
Pale Lager: These beers are light in color and generally have a dry, crisp flavor. Simply by naming a few well-known pale lagers, you'll understand just how popular pale lagers are. Budweiser, Heineken, and Michelob all fall under the umbrella of pale lagers. That said, craft breweries also make pale lagers, including: Kona Brewing Company's Longboard Lager, Full Sail Brewery's Session Lager, and Jack's Abbey Brewing's Hoponius Union. You know, in case you're looking to impress a pale ale enthusiast.
Pilsner: Like pale lagers, pilsners are light in color but they contain a bit more bitterness because of the ingredients. Most pilsners are brewed using noble hops; four distinct types of aromatic hops that must be imported from their native regions. Pilsners aren't as popular as pale lagers in the United States, but they're extremely popular in Europe. Pilsner Urquell is considered the original pilsner.
Light Lager: This name refers to those brewed using fewer hops and grains in order to create a lower calorie beer. Light lagers are sometimes criticized for being low in flavor or watered down. Bud Light, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra, and Guinness DroughtGuinness Drought are all considered light beers.
Dark Lager: The dark color of these lagers comes from the hops and barley being roasted prior to the fermentation process. This roasting process also gives the beer a rich, full-bodied flavor that's unique to this type of lager. Often people compare them to stouts and porters (which are both ales), but while dark lagers have the depth of flavor, they lack the heaviness of those ales.
An infographic on different types of beer courtesy of Andrea Raby for The Big Green.
Ales, on the other hand, use yeast that best ferments at warmer temperatures. Additionally, ales are top brewed, meaning that the fermentation occurs at the top of the barrel.
Brown Ale: Brown ale is traditionally brewed using brown malt, with a light touch of hops. Newcastle Brown Ale is the most established of today's brown ales, and craft brewers often use brown ale as a base for innovative new twists using flavors like coffee, chocolate, and nuts. English-style brown ale is generally lighter in color and less hoppy than American-style brown ale, which is richer with darker undertones.
Porter: Historically, porters came to be from mixing new ales, old ales, and sour ales into one beer, which created a deep flavor that covered up a number of sins while maintaining a pleasant richness. Today, porters are brewed using black or smoked malt, chocolate, and occasionally roasted malt. Much debate exists between the differences between porters and stouts, since stouts were born out of porters.
Stout: The use of highly roasted malts made for a richer, creamier beer that people came to call the stout ale. In addition to being richer, stout ales were originally higher in alcohol content, but since their rise in popularity, brewers create them in a varying levels of alcohol content today. These dark beers, like Guinness and Young's Double Chocolate, are more popular than porters.
Wheat Beer: While other beers use rice, or corn in their brews, wheat beer contains a much higher proportion of—you guessed it—wheat, as well as malted barley. There are several different types of wheat beer, including weizenbier (Bavaria) and witbier (Belgium and the Netherlands), which vary in flavor but are generally not very hoppy and full of bright flavors.
While brewers of lagers and ales are precise in their use of yeast and fermentation, brewers of lambic use spontaneous fermentation by exposing the liquid that will become the beer to the wild yeasts and bacteria in the native Zenne valley of Brussels. The resulting flavor is dry and somewhat sour; lambic is often compared to cider. It's sometimes flavored with whole fruit or fruit flavored syrup to give it a sweet, almost soda-like taste.
The next time you're at a brewery, you'll be able to ask your server about their beer without resorting to getting whatever is most popular. You can ask for a lager or an ale, a light or dark beer, something with a lot of hops or just a hint. And after reading the next chapter, you'll be able to order the local specialties no matter what part of the world you're in.