BREWBARON

Beer Types (Styles)

There are many beer types available to consumers. In fact, there are litterally hundreds of different styles to choose from.

To get an understanding of these different beer types, let’s first look at what beer is actually made of.

The basic building blocks of beer are the four ingredients: water, malted barley, hops and yeast.

In its simplest terms, the factors that go into deciding the style of beer to be made are the type and amount of malt being used, the type, amount and method used when adding the hops, and the strain of yeast used to ferment the beer.

To get an even broader range of beer types, brewers will use specialty grains (malts) in a certain way that adds color and flavor to the beer without adding fermentable sugars.

In specialty beers, just about anything goes. People will use spices, fruit juices, candy, and just about anything else you can think of.
Types of Beer

Basically, beer is categorized into one of three different categories: lagers, ales, and the rest fall into a category called specialty beers.

The difference between a lager and an ale is the type of yeast used in fermentation.
Ales

An ale yeast is called top fermenting because of its tendency to flocculate (gather) at the surface of the brew during the first few days before settling to the bottom.

To brew an ale, fermentation must take place in warmer temperatures for the yeast to multiply and do its magic. Ales are usually higher in alcohol and will be noticeably fuller and more complex.
Lagers

The lager yeast simply flocculates (not at the surface) and sinks to the bottom. Therefore it is known as bottom fermenting. Lager yeasts need cool temperatures during fermentation to perform their magic.

Lagers tend to be lighter in color and usually taste drier than ales. They are generally less alcoholic and complex. This is the most common beer type sold in the U.S.
Specialty Beers

Specialty beers are either ales, lagers, or a hybrid of the two that will contain other ingredients that cause it to not fit into a true ale or lager style.

People have been drinking beer  for centuries, and it has had plenty of time to evolve into many different types. All of the various flavors, body and colors of the many styles of beer generally fall under two classifications, either lager or ale. Together, these two classes of beer  collectively make up thousands of different varieties of beer.

The two different categories of beer differ in the type of yeast used to brew them and the temperature at which they are brewed. Beer that is classified as lager uses special yeast that ferments best at cooler temperatures. Beer classified as ale uses another type of yeast that ferments best at warmer temperatures. Both lagers and ales contain hops, malted barley, yeast and water.

There are basically four types of beer that fall under the lager category: American style pale lager, pilsner, light lager and dark lager. Pale lager usually contains more carbonation than the other types of beer. It tends to be light in color as well as in body. The most popular brands of beer in the United States, such as Coors and Budweiser, are examples of a pale lager.

Pilsner is another type of lager that is pale in color. However, pilsners tend to have more distinct flavors and are often more bitter than American style pale lager. In the U.S., light lager beer contains less hops and barleys, which reduces the caloric content of the beer. Light beer also has a slightly lower alcohol concentration than regular beers. In Europe, a light lager is a beer that is light in color rather than calories. Dark lagers are made with roasted barley and hops, and therefore have richer flavor, a very dark color and a full-bodied taste.

The main types of beer that are referred to as ales include brown ale, porter and stout. Brown ale is usually red or copper colored rather than brown. It has a milder flavor than the other types of ale beer.

Porters are darker and more full bodied. Porters usually have a more noticeable barley flavor that is reminiscent of chocolate, along with a mild hop flavor. Stouts are the darkest type of beer, almost black in color. They are thick and taste strongly of the barley and hops that they are made from.

Although there are generally only two types of beer, several thousand unique types of beer are created through different combinations of ingredients and added flavors. Fruit, vegetables, spices and so on are added to both lagers and ales to create beer with flavors like cherry wheat and pumpkin spice, for example. The variety in these creative brews is enough to whet any palate.