Abbey beer originally referred to a beer brewed in an Abbey. Today this is not necessarily the case. A contemporary Abbey beer may also be produced under licence. For example, Abbaye Notre Dame de Leffe permits InBev, one of the world's largest brewers, to produce Leffe in its Stella Artois brewery in Leuven, Belgium – with royalties payable of course!

Basically, the concept of what an Abbey beer is or should be has been confused by the marketing machine. Abbey beer has also been loosely applied to beers named after Abbeys that no longer exist and even beers named after a local saint and with no connection to an Abbey at all.

The Union of Belgian Brewers
have a collective trademark to
identify genuine Belgian Abbey beers.

(BTW: An abbey is a religious community of monks that has an Abba, or Father, as its leader. An abbey can also be a religious community of women whose leader is an Abbess, although we are not aware of any nuns that brew beer – but would be more than happy to sample their wares if you know of any!)

Alkoholfreies  Pronounced "ull-cohol-fry-es beer"
Translated as free of alcohol, it is not a beer style in the traditional sense, but rather a characteristic of a particular brewing process. Labelled alcohol-free, in Germany or non-alcoholic in the U.S., these beers are not entirely void of alcohol. They may contain up to 0.625% abv.

Examples include: Erdinger Alcohol Free and Birra Moretti Zero.

Ale
The beer world generally divides itself into Ales and Lagers. An Ale generally refers to a beer that is distinguished by the use of top-fermenting yeast strain Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (Saccharomyces is Greek for sugar mould and Cerevisiae is Latin for beer.) An Ale is the traditional and older style of beer - Lagers popped up about 500 years ago. The varieties and flavour profiles are immense. Ales are are generally smoother, creamier, fruitier, spicier and less carbonated than their lager cousins.

AlsterwasserPronounced "illstuh-vassar"
A Northern German variation on the original Bavarian Radlermass- think of it, as the term to use when ordering the equivalent of a "Shandy" when in North Germany.

Altbier or AltPronounced "ullt-beer"
The name translated from German means old beer, referring to the pre-lager brewing method. It is a copper-coloured German pale ale style that originated in the city of Düsseldorf and the Rhineland of Germany. The short story is that the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot of 1516 (German Purity Law) made it illegal to brew beer in the summer. This didn't affect the cooler climate Rhinelanders who beavered away throughout the year. The Alt yeast adjusted over time, enabling the brewers to store their beers in cool caves after fermentation. They also were able to experiment with lighter malts. All in all this led to a cleaner, crisper beer than was normal for an ale. The modern Alt beer is an amber coloured, lagered ale - basically a pale ale with the dryness of a lager and the fruitiness of an ale.

Examples of include: 3 Ravens Blond

Amber
Today, amber refers predominantly to the colour of a beer. It sometimes seems that any beer, between pale and dark is referred to as Amber.

Amber Ale
Amber Ale most commonly refers to the light copper and light brown pale ales of North America. Also known as Red Ales in some parts of the US, these beers were a big hit in the Pacific Northwest for their highly hopped flavours. In France, they use the term Ambrée yet the French style is less bitter. Amber Ales seem to be growing in popularity in Australia.

Examples include:

American Pale Ale - APA
American Pale Ale is based on the English Pale Ale Style, yet it is exceedingly patriotic – the general rule being it should use all-American ingredients. It displays the bitterness, pine and citrus notes of American hop varieties such as Cascade, Magnum and Perle. It is less caramel in flavour than its English counterparts. APA's nearly disappeared with the onset of prohibition when the smaller brewers went out of business. With the emergence and boom of the American Brew Pub it has made a serious come back in the States.

Examples include:

go to top




Barley Wine

Barley Wine is usually the strongest ale offered by a brewery and is aged significantly prior to its release. It generally ranges from 8 to 10% abv. Barley Wine is often associated with the Northern Hemisphere holiday season and features predominantly in English and American breweries. Think dark, malty, fruity, chewy, luscious and warming - heck, think fruit cake or plum pudding! The Gods of Beer Judging also refer to Barley Wine as a Strong Ale. (And don't you just love that a beer is called a wine - just to keep it simple!)

Examples include:

Berliner WeissePronounced "bear-leeh-nuh Vice-uh"
Berliner Weisse is a wheat beer with a sour, tart, fruity and highly effervescent character that is popular in and around Berlin in the summer months. Its taste is distinct from other German wheat beers. Berliner Weisse is relatively low in alcohol, only 2.5 - 2.7% abv. It is commonly taken with a shot (a "Schuss") of syrup to combat its tartness. It is served in a goblet and sipped through a straw. Beer through a straw – interesting, but we are open minded!

Examples include:

Bière Brut
Sometimes referred to as Bière de Champagne, Bière Brut is a "relatively" new style and industry talk categorises it as a "top-shelf cross-over". (We say relatively new, it is but an infant in the terms of the history of beer.) Easily mistaken for sparkling wine from a distance (that's packaging for you,) Biere Brut shares some similar characteristics to the bubbly, such as carbonation and mouthfeel. It is often pricey, has a high alcohol content, it is cellared and subjected to remuage and dégorgement (two words for the wine buffs). Yet it is still unmistakably a beer and for this we give thanks. An interesting style to watch.

Examples include:

Bière de Garde
Biere de Garde, or keeper beer, is delightful French fare - trust the French to effortlessly elevate a once provincial farm-style ale to international respectability. Its origins in Pas-de-Calais in Northern France and its similarities to a Belgian Saison, speaks volumes for the relationship between these close neighbours. It was originally brewed in winter and early spring and cold cellared, to be enjoyed in the fields in the summer months. It generally comes in three varieties, brune (brown), blonde (blonde) and Ambrée (amber).

 

Examples include: Brasserie de Saint Sylvestre's 3 Monts and Brasserie Duyck'a Jenlain.

BiobierPronounced "bee-o-beer"
One of two terms for certified organic beer. The other term is Ökobier. Organic beers must be brewed entirely from certified, organically grown and processed raw materials. (It is not a play on the term bio - but something to remember it by!)

Examples include: Georg Schneider's Wiesen Edel-Weisse Organic.

 

Bitter(English)
A Bitter is classified in the category of an English Pale Ale. You will find beers labelled as ordinary bitter, best bitter, special bitter, extra special bitter and premium bitter. There is no universal measure for how a brewery defines its ordinary from its special – generally it is based on the alcohol content of a range. Be aware just because a beer states it is a Bitter, it may be very well be a lager - for example Australian VB is a lager that is very bitter.

Examples include:

 

BockPronounced "bock-beer"
German's rank their bockbiers as the most malty and heaviest lagers in the world and warn they are to be sipped not guzzled. Generally little hop aroma in the nose or on the finish and little bitterness, with colour that can range from blond to black. The Bockbier brewing season kicks off the year for German brewers (1^st of October.) Many Bock beers feature imagery of goats on the label. Bock means billy goat in German.

Examples include:

See also Doppelbock, Maibock, Helles bock, Eisbock.

Brown ale
English style, top fermented brown beer lightly hopped with roasted caramel and/or nutty. flavours. Its sub-styles are often sorted along geographic lines such as Northern English Brown and Southern English Brown. American Brown Ales are deemed to be big on Amercian personality - hoppier and maltier than the North English Brown.

 

Examples include:


go to top

 

California Common

See Steam Beer

 

Craft beers
These days, it seems like every "man and his large multinational brewery” professes to produce a "craft beer” – much to the chagrin of the independent, microbrewers who coined the term. Its original intention was to describe the artisanal beers, brewed using traditional methods and produced in smaller quantities by independent breweries. Again, it's a marketing game and there probably exists a need for the industry to define some serious parameters for the use of the term.

 

Cream ale
Cream ales are reminiscent of the German Kolsch. The ABJC describe Cream Ales as "clean, well-attenuated, flavourful. American lawnmower beer” (whatever that means?) They are subjected to an extended period of cold-conditioning after primary fermentation. Some also have a lager yeast added at this stage. To aid fermentation the Cream Ales are sometimes are Krausened – a traditional German carbonation technique of adding a small dose of unfermented malt sugars (wort) to the conditioning tank.

 

Examples include:

go to top





DampfbierPronounced "dumm-pff-bier"

Dampfbier is an all-barley ale that uses a Weissbier yeast. Its literal translation is steam beer. It is a warm fermented ale, which produces tonnes of bubbles that burst and give the impression that the brew is steaming. It is a centuries old style from the Bavarian Forest. Deep golden to light amber in colour, it is medium-bodied, very mildly hopped, low in effervescence with a mild phenolic aftertaste.

Examples include:

Dinkelbier Pronounced "ding-kell-bier"
Those who are allergic to wheat may be interested in Dinkelbier – though it may be hard to source. It's an ale made from Spelt (Triticum spelta in German is dinkel.) Surprisingly, this is actually a centuries old heirloom brew and not a response to the boom in low-allergen foods. The brewing process is complex and the malting of the Spelt grains more involved than for barley or wheat – it is not produced in great quantities.

 

Examples include:

 

DoppelbockPronounced "dollple-bock"
Doppelbock or Double Bock is an extremely malty version of a Bockbier – a strong German lager and have been brewed since 1780. Alcohol values range 7 to 13% abv. with some specialty Doppelbock's hitting the 24% mark. See bockbier

Examples include:

Doppelsticke Pronounced "dollple-shtick-uh"
Doppelsticke is to to Altbier what Doppelbock is to Bockbier. Doppelsticke is a super-strong ("double") Alt-style ale that was created by Altbiuer brewpub Uerige in Düsseldorf, drunk in the cooler months of the year.

Examples include:

Draught beer
Not a beer style, but a method of dispensing beer since 1785 and the development of the beer engine by locksmith and hydraulic engineer Joseph Bramah. Pictured below is his original drawing.

Dry beer
In the word's of the great yet late Beer Hunter, Mr Michael Jackson "Dry beer was originally a milder adaptation of the German Diat Pils, renamed Dry Beer by the Japanese. After its great marketing success in Japan, the term Dry Beer was taken up in North America. There, the style was made milder still. American Dry Beer has a conventional alcohol and calorie content but is notable for having scarcely any taste, and no finish.” Dry beer is a popular mass market quaffing beer in Australia.

 

Examples include:

 

Dubbel (Flemish) Pronounced Doo-bell or Double
A Dubbel or (Belgian Double) is a naming convention used by Belgian Brewers to identify a stronger version of the tradition brown ales. They are bottle conditioned and vary between 6.0-8.0% abv. It is a rich, malty beer with spicy, clove-like, flowery with mild hop bitterness.

Examples include:

Dunkel Pronounced "doonn-kel"
Dunkel – German word for Dark – is a traditional style brewed in Munich and feature Munich Malts, German lager yeast strains and Noble German Hops. They are generally associated with Bavaria, Southern Germany but are made throughout Germany. Smooth and malty in flavour they are typical 4.5 to 6% abv.

Examples include:

Dunkelweizen Pronounced "doonn-kel vite-sen"
Dunkelweizen is a wheat-based ale and the dark version of the golden-yellow Weissbier or Weizenbier (more commonly called Hefeweizen outside of Europe). It is moderately dark, fruity, malty, spicy and refreshing. It blends the characteristics of a Weissbier with the malty flavours of a Munich Dunkel.

Examples include:

Dunkler Pronounced "doon-kel-ur"

Literally translated it means "more darkly" or "extra dark"

 

Examples include: Erdinger Pikantus Dunkler Weizenbock

 

Dünnbier Pronounced "duenn-beer"
Dünnbier (literally "thin beeer") was made for the coal and steel mines of Northern Germany in the 19^th century, where it was purported supplied free of charge and in unlimited quantities and happily consumed all day long by the well "watered” workers. It is a thin, relatively low-alcohol beer, roughly 2.0 - 3.0% abv.

go to top




EinfachbierPronounced "eyne-fach-beer"

"Simple" or "Plain" beer – it can be any brew, regardless of colour or composition, with 0.5 to 1.5% abv. It is slightly above non-alcoholic beers and slightly below Light Beers. It is a German beer tax category.

Examples include:

EisbierPronounced "ice-beer"
Eisber is usually a Pilsner or Helles, which is intentionally brewed to be stronger than a normal beer. It is then partially frozen, known as freeze distilling. Freeze distillation is a term for a process of enriching a solution by partially freezing it and removing frozen material that is poorer in the dissolved material than is the liquid portion left behind (i.e. the brew loses some water, which increases the alcohol concentration to about 5%). Freezing also removes some of the hops' bittering (but not aroma) as well as grain husk tannins, making Eisber a smoother and more rounded beer than its unfrozen counterparts.

Examples include:

 

EisbockPronounced "ice-bock"
Eisbock is made from a Doppelbock and like an Eisbier, it undergoes a freeze distillation (see above). It is a warming, super smooth and strong with a heavy syrupy body and big on flavour. It originated in Kulmbach district of Bavaria.

 

Examples include: Schneider Aventinus Eisbock, Kulmbacher Reichelbrau Eisbock

EmmerbierPronounced "emmer-beer"
Emmer (Triticum dicoccum) belongs to the spelt family of grains and ranks among the world's oldest cultivated plants and in light of this most likely one of the oldest styles. Emmerbiers are usually a dark amber in colour and are quite astringent due to the tannin rich husks. Emmerbier goes well with roasts and game – think of it as a serious option over red wine.

Examples include:

English Pale Ale (Extra Special/Strong Bitter)

You can't underestimate the importance of a water source in the development of beer styles. Another great example is the English Pale Ale, that originated in the city of Burton-upon-Trent, known for its hard water which was great for clarity and also bought the hops bitterness to the fore (hence their other moniker - English Bitters) Gold to reddish-amber, lovely solid heads with hoppy, buttery and malty dwell here.

See bitter

 

Examples include:

 

Enkel, meaning "single", is a term formerly used by Trappist breweries to describe the basic recipe of their beers. Currently, there are no Trappist (or secular) breweries using the term.

 

ErntebierPronounced "aern-uh-beer"
Is a harvest beer – not because it was made to celebrate a harvest, but was rather to fuel the workers reaping the harvest. It is a farm style or homebrew of relatively thin, low-alcohol beer (roughly 2.0 to 3.0% abv.) Several Bavarian breweries still make a commercial Erntebier today, though they tend to be higher in alcohol.

Examples include:


go to top





FestbierPronounced "fest-beer"

A seasonal specialty – or festive beer. It is mostly popularly refers to the beers produced especially for Oktoberfestbier. In most locations, Festbier production is timed for autumn. However it can relate to any beer that is brewed for a celebration such as in the Franconian city of Erlangen for its Bergkirchweih celebrations – purportedly the biggest open-air beer garden of Europe with more than 11,000 seats.

Examples include:

Framboise or Frambozenbier
Framboise is French for raspberry – but in the context of beer think of Fambozenbier and you are in Belgian lambic territory and drinking beer using fermented raspberries and wild yeast. It is a relatively modern take on the traditional sour cherry kriek beer. There are also non limbic Framboise beers – basically beers or fruit beers. It is often served in small, champagne like glass

Examples include:

 

 

go to top




Gobbeldok Pronounced "gob-ell-dock"

A fictional, short hairy alien from the planet Dok, obsessed with potato chips. Clearly not a beer but damn it sounds like one. In the throes of editing this style glossary and happily drowning in dubbels, doppels, gose and bocks, surely one could be forgiven for slipping it in here... please oh beer gods forgive us our childish humour and gee aren't you glad you trawled all the way to the letter G? Do press on...

 

 

GosePronounced "gose-ug" as in "rose” plus "uh”
Gose (should not be confused with Gueze) is an ancient, sour and saline tasting ale, made from more than half malted wheat and the rest malted barley. It gets around the German Purity Law as a regional speciality hailing from Leipzig, Saxony. It is is fermented with both yeast and lactic bacteria, it is spiced with coriander and hops and brewed with slightly salted water. It is a very interesting beer with a long and complex history that has contributed to its taste significantly.

Examples include:


GruitbierPronounced "groot-beer"
This is a pre-hops beer and we are talking some 500 to 1,000 years ago that it was in circulation and was the world's most common beer style. Gruit is old German for herbs and is what most medieval brewers used to flavour their beer to counteract the cloying sweetness of the malt. Gruit was used either as a single type of herb or as a mix. Herbs included yarrow, bog myrtle, juniper, rosemary, mugwort, and woodruff.

Examples include:

 

 

Gueuze
Gueuze is made by blending young (1-year-old) and old (2–3-year-old) lambics into a new beer, which is then bottled for a second fermentation.

 

Examples include: Timmermans Gueuze


go to top




Happoshu

Translates to sparkling spirits and is a beer tax category in Japan, yet Happoshu is not strictly categorised as a beer. Okay, let's try to make sense of this. The Japanese taxation system sorts brewed malt beverages into two categories: beer and happoshu. The distinction is made based on the amount of malt used relative to grain adjuncts. Happoshu are the low-malt brews and regulations exclude the use of the word beer to describe them. Such "malted beverages” usually feature adjuncts including rice, corn, sorghum, potato starch and sugar. The taxation is lower on Happoshubeverages, which may explain their popularity. The history of beer in Japan (which was introduced by the Dutch) is intriguing and requires further investigation!

Examples include:

 

 

Hefe
Hefe is the german word for yeast and most notably appears in conjunction with wheat (weisse) beers. When it thus appears it means the beer has been bottled or kegged with the yeast unfiltered or held in suspension (hefe-weiss). These beers have a cloudy appearance and we think they can be pretty special!

HefeweizenPronounced "hay-fuh-veyt-sssenn"
Hefe is German for yeast. Weizen is German for wheat. There is a message here people. Hefeweizen is a German wheat beer with yeast – as in the yeast is not filtered out. So, if it is not cloudy, it is not Hefeweizen. Furthermore, it is considered an ale, but does use an Ale yeast strain unique to the style that produces the phenolic flavours. Low hop bitterness, high carbonation, malty sweetness, cloves, smoke, banana and sometimes vanilla are big ticket items in a good Hefeweizen. Oh and it must be at least 50% wheat to qualify. Consumed in abundance throughout Germany, it is particularly popular in the South – and throughout the world for that matter.

Examples include:

Hell
This is not the burning lake or the terrain of Lucifer – rather it is the German adjective for light/bright. And it also doesn't mean diet or low alcohol. Its intention is to describe purely the colour of a beer. For example, Hefe-Weissbier Hell means a light/bright wheat beer.

Helles Pronounced "hell-us"
Helles a golden light/bright German lager, it is considered a transitional beer between the long Bavarian winters and the equally long, hot summers (Ah, to be German and suffer the exquisite choice of so many beers to deem one a "transitional”) Despite its name – it is not light in body or strength – just colour (see Hell above)

Examples include:

go to top





Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout, Russian Imperial Stout or Imperial Russian Stout are very dark and almost opaque black, with powerful roasted, chocolate and burnt malt flavours - hints of dark fruits, and often quite rich and sometimes resembling a rich dessert Oh and did we mention the high alcohol content? Originally brewed in England, by Thrale's brewery in London and named "Thrale's Entire Porter”. It was designed specifically for export to the Baltic States and Russian "Imperial” Court and thence after became Imperial Stout. Today it is incredibly popular with craft brewers around the world – but particularly in the US. So much so, there is a category American Russian Imperial Stout.

Examples include:

India Pale Ale or (IPA)
You will find IndiaPale Ale (IPA), English IPA, American IPA and American Imperial IPA/Double IPAs – but in general most of the craft brewers around the world are experimenting with IPAs with notable differences between them. Fundamentally they are derived from the original – Indian Pale Ale that was exported pale ale from England that was designed to survive the trip to India in the 1700s. Think lots of hops, high in alcohol and bitterly delicious.

Examples include:

go to top




Japanese rice lager

Japanese rice lager is pale yellow in color with a rounded malty character and dry finish. A good example of this is Asahi Super Dry.

Examples include:

go to top




KellerbierPronounced "kell-uh-beer"
This is German "cellar beer.” They are unfiltered, aromatic, hoppy lagers that come in a range of strengths, but mostly 5.0 to 5.3% abv. They are mostly deep amber with a reddish tinge, as a result of a good addition of slightly caramelised malt.

Examples include:

KölschPronounced "coellsh”
Kölsch is traditional German ale and the local beer of the city of Cologne ("Köln” in German). It is one of the palest German beers and the country's response to the British pale ale.

Examples include:


KristallweizenPronounced "chriss-ul-vite-sssen”
A Kristallweizen is a filtered pale Weissbier. It is a German wheat ale that is crystal clear (Kristtall is crystal – makes sense really!) It has a richly-textured, firm, white head and shares many of the characteristics of its unfiltered wheat counterparts – just minus the cloudy appearance.

Examples include:


Kvass (Russian)
Kvass is the Russian term for "leaven” and Kvass beer is made by the natural fermentation of bread made from wheat, rye or barley. It is sometimes flavoured with fruit or berries. An ancient style and generally low in alcohol. Kvass is commonly served unfiltered, adding to its flavour. The alcohol content is so low (0.05-1.44% abv.) that it is considered acceptable for consumption by children.


go to top




Lager
Lager is a beer produced with bottom fermenting yeast strains, most commonly the Lager yeast - Saccharomyces pastorianus. It ferments at colder temerpatures than ale yeast strains with the cooler environment inhibiting the natural production of esters and other by-products adored by Ale lovers, creating a crisper product adored by Lager Lovers.

 

LagerbierPronounced "lah-gir-beer”
In Germany, unlike in the rest of the world, a Lagerbier is always a blond, mild, low-hop quaffing lager, with an alcohol by volume level of 3.0 to 5.3% abv.

Examples include:

 

 Lambic
Is an "open” fermented beer using aged hops and stored in barrels, that is dry, cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste and infinitely refreshing. We love it! It is a very distinctive beer brewed only in the Pajottenland region of Belgium. Open fermentation is also known as spontaneous fermentation. Basically it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Senne Valley. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour:

Examples include:

LandbierPronounced "lunt-beer”
Landbier is a general term denoting a session or quaffing brew. Translated as "country” beer its required characteristics are fairly undefined.


Latzenbier Pronounced "lut-sen-beer”
A darker and stronger seasonal variation of the traditional Düsseldorf Altbier
See Altbier



go to top




MaibockPronounced "my bock”
Literally May bock in German. Is the Bavarians' strong, malty, golden, hoppy lager brewed for the spring season or May. It is generally lighter in colour than its Bock relatives.

Examples include:

MalzbierPronounced "mull-ts-beer”
Malzbier has an alcohol-by-volume content of no more than 0.5%. Generally dark and sweet, often made from a combination of malted wheat and barley (and whence named a Weizenmalzbier or wheat malt beer.) Similar to the Kvass as it is often considered suitable for children to drink.


MärzenPronounced "maer-tsen”
Märzen is German for March and the beer is named after the month in which it was brewed. In the Middle Ages, they had a difficult time brewing decent beer during the hot summer months, so they beavered away in March producing high-hopped and extra strong beer for the summer months.

Examples include:


Milk stout
Milk stout is also called sweet stout or cream stout. The name was banned in Britain in 1946 due to the implied addition of milk. It is a weaker and smoother, bottled English stout. Milk stout was supposed to be very nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers. Milk Stout is also known as Sweet Stout.

Examples include:

go to top




Oatmeal stout
Oatmeal stout is a very dark, full-bodied, roasted, malty ale with a (surprise, surprise) a pleasant oatmeal flavour. It sits between dry and sweet stouts.

Examples include: 3 Ravens Black

ÖkobierPronounced "eou-co-beer”
One of two German terms for a certified organic beer. The other term is Biobier. Organic beers must be brewed entirely from organically grown and processed raw materials.

Examples include:

OktoberfestbierPronounced "October-fest-beer”
Oktoberfestbier is well known around the world and this iconic event has created a style unto its own. Generally they are beers brewed within the city limits of Munich. Oktoberfestbiers, are generally well-aged, sometimes for three to four months. They are usually deep amber in color and have an alcohol content of 5.0 to 6.2% They are also available for export.

Examples include:

Old ale
A strong, well-matured, rich, dark ale. Also known as Strong Ale, the famous Beer Hunter Michael Jackson believed "it should be a warming beer of the type that is best drunk in half pints by a warm fire on a cold winter's night."

Examples include:

 

Oud Bruin (Flanders Brown)
Oud Bruin comes from southern Belgium and means "Old Brown" They are aged ales, medium bodied, gentle malts, no bitterness and you guessed it reddish brown. The extended aging also gives them a characteristics sour flavour.

Examples include: 

Oyster stout
Oyster Stout is a stout that was traditionally a good match with oysters – a common food at the time, hence the name. Brewers in the early 1900s started adding oysters to the beer – not a prerequisite for the style, but an interesting approach.

Examples include:

go to top




Pale Ale
The variety of Pale Ales seems to be endless – an extremely popular beer in England, America and Australia. Not surprisingly they are light amber or copper-coloured, top-fermented beer brewed using pale malts.

Examples include:

Pilsner / PilsPronounced "pills”
According to our sources nine out of ten beers worldwide today are made to the Pilsner style or a style that was created from it. Blonde, crystal clear, moderately carbonated. A lager with an up-front bitterness, it is not surprising that it is universally loved for its approachability and its refreshing characteristics.

Examples include:

Porter
What's in a name? A considerable amount. Porters were the dock luggers and couriers and the transport backbone of Central London during the UKs industrial revolution. They apparently had a predilection for this brew that proudly bears the Porter name and has spawned notable off shoots of the style worldwide. It began its life as an engineered mixture of stale ale with a fresh brown ale topped up with a mild ale. Today the complexity and interest remains and they are major hit around the world. The pale, black, smoked, crystal and chocolate malts used makes for a rich blend. You will also come across Baltic Porters.

Examples include:

go to top




RadlermassPronounced "rahd-luh-mahss”
Radlermass or Alsterwasser is a 50/50 mix of blonde lager and lemonade. Low in alcohol it is bottled or canned and premixed and its versions are readily available around the world. If you like that sort of thing of course.

Examples include:

RauchbierPronounced "row-ch-beer”
Rauchbier literally means "smoke beer” in German. And before you start thinking about a barbeque in your beer – we have good news, you just need to maintain an open mind. Green malt dried over an open flame imparts a smoky flavour that can be detected in the final product. Prior to the widespread use of kiln drying malt (which keeps the smoke away from the grain) smoky flavoured beers were relatively common. Artisanal versions remain and brewed around Bamberg and Franconia and many craft brewers around the world are experimenting with the style.

Examples include:

Red Ale
Red Ale is usually divided into two substyles – Flemish Red and Irish Red. There are also Amercian Red Ales. Flemish Red is a light and sour beer with a reddish brown colour. After the main fermentation it is matured on wooden casks and gets its sour taste from an injection of lactic acid bacterium which is left to work for years. After maturation it is blended with young beer followed by a second lagering of another 18 months for a third fermentation. Flemish red is considered as one of the most unusual Belgian beer styles. Irish Red Ale is sometimes classified under the Pale Ale family. It gets its name from the slightly reddish colour derived from small amounts of roasted barley. In the US Red Ale generally describes a darker amber ale, and some breweries may produce a "red" beer that is actually a lager with caramel colouring

Examples include:

RoggenbierPronounced "rogg'n-beer”
Roggenbier is German for Rye Beer, an old medieval ale made from half barley malt with equal portions of wheat and rye malts. It can be an ale or a lager, they are mildly hopped allowing the Rye flavours to stand out.

Examples include:

 go to top

Saison
Saison is a refreshing, slightly sour summer-style ale and Belgian specialty that is now produced around the world (though it was an endangered style at one time.) These "farmhouse ales” are light, fruity, sourish, amber coloured, refreshingly carbonated, and slightly bitter. They were originally brewed in winter to quench the thirst of the field labourers during the summer that followed.

Examples include:

Schwarzbier
Literally "black beer” in German – they are dark lagers that are very balanced with a creamy and long lasting head. Malt accents are obvious, rich yet mild. Sometimes also referred to as a SchwarzPils or Black Pils.

Examples include:

Scotch Ale (Wee Heavy)

Scotch Ale is fermented at lower temperatures than most ales They are smooth, medium bodied with some even leaning to a thicker viscosity. Warming alcohol also cuts a little of the maltiness – which is generally intense. Basically the Scots had barley in abundance so they are big on malt and hops didn't fare well in Scotland, so they are low on bitterness.

Examples include:


Steam beer
Not to be confused with the German all-barley ale Dampfbier (literally ‘steam beer') it is an all American creation. While it is considered a beer style, as the Anchor Brewing Company owns the trademark "Steam Beer” – any other beers brewed in the style are known as California Common. (They have been brewing it since 1896.) California Commons are described as highly effervescent beer made by brewing lager yeasts at ale fermentation temperatures.

 

Examples include:

SteinbeerPronounced "shteyne-beer”
Steinbier means "stone beer” in German and the brewing process is unusual, maybe a little dangerous and hence not widely used. Super heated rocks are used to bring the wort in the brew kettle to boil – how? By tossing them in of course. .It wasn't done for fun but necessity in that it was widely used when brew kettles were made of wood and couldn't be heated by direct flames. Beer boiled in this manner would have tasted different as the rocks scorched and caramelized some of the malt sugars, and lending a burnt smoky flavour.

Examples include:


Stout
Stout is a very dark to almost solid black made from black, top-fermenting ale yeast and tonnes of highly roasted malts. Known to have been inspired by the Porter style its moniker was originally a Stout Porter. One of the UKs greatest gifts to the world. It is now brewed the world over with varieties including Russian Imperial Stout, Sweet Stout, Dry Stout and the list goes on.

Examples include

go to top




Tarwebier
The Flemish word for the Belgian Witbier, or wheat beer.

Examples include:

Trappist beer
In 1997 the International Trappist Association was formed to protect the usage of the Trappist name in relation to beer, wine and cheese products. The association requires that for a beer to be called a Trappist, it must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist abbey by or under control of Trappist monks and the economic purpose of the brewery must be directed toward assistance and not toward financial profit. By law only seven breweries can describe their beers as Trappist; six of these are in Belgium (Orval, Chimay,  Westvleteren, Rochefort, Westmalle and Achel), and one (La Trappe), is in the Netherlands. Trappist beers are generally Belgian top fermented, bottle conditioned ales.

Examples include: Trappistes Rochefort 10, Chimay Blue and Westmalle Double

Triple or Tripel
An extra strong, hoppy golden ale, usually a Trappist or Abbey beer. Stronger than a Dubbel/Double.


go to top




UrbockPronounced "oore-bock”
The prefix "ur” means "original” in German. Strictly speaking, the original Bockbier is an ancient northern German, but the term is commonly used throughout Germany today to describe a barley-based lager. The original Bockbier - the real Urbock - was a strong, cold-conditioned brown ale from barley and wheat made by 13th-century brewers of Einbeck.

Examples include:


go to top




Vienna
Amber-red lager style originating in Austria. Also known as Märzen in Germany.

Examples include:

Vollbier
One of four German beer tax categories. Vollbier literally means "full" or "entire" beer abd. This beer category holds about 99% market share in Germany. Pils, Helles and Weissbier (Hefeweizen) belong in this category.


go to top




WeihnachtsbierPronounced "veye-nuchts-beer”
A seasonal speciality Weihenachtsbier is a strong brew intended for the colder, Northern Hemisphere Christmas weather (Weihnachtsbier means Christmas in German). Lagers that tend to be dark amber to brown – they go exceedingly well with the Christmas fare of pudding, desserts and of course German Gingerbread.

Examples include:


WeissbierWeißbier Pronounced "vice-beer”
Weissbier means "white beer” in German and generally refers to unfiltered wheat beer whereby the yeast remains in suspension and causes the beer to look slightly turbid.

Examples include:

WeissbierpilsPronounced "vice-beer-pilss”
Weissbierpils is a hybrid brew made by blending Pils (barley-based lager) with Weissbier (wheat ale) during cellar fermentation. It is a new style.

Examples include:

 

WeizenbierPronounced "veye-tssen-beer”
Another name for Weissbier or Hefeweizen. "Weizen” means wheat. In Germany, all Weizenbiers must have at least 50% malted wheat with the balance barley.

For more on this style, see Weissbier.


WeizenbockPronounced "veye-tssen-bock”
A strong version of an unfiltered Weissbier or Hefeweizen, made with 60 to 70% wheat malt. Pale to amber with the addition of lightly caramelised barley malts. And just to confuse you Bockbiers are lagers, however Weizenbocks are all ales. They are fermented with a special yeast that gives the brew a slightly spicy, clove-like flavour.

Examples include:

WeizendoppelbockPronounced "veye-tssen-doppel-bock”
Weizendoppelbock ale (literally "double wheat bock") is a stronger, darker version of the Weizenbock that has little bitternes and is very very malty and toasty.

Examples include:

WeizeneisbockPronounced "veye-tssen-ice-bock”
Weizeneisbock (literarlly "wheat ice bock”), is the wheat version on an Eisbock. It is complex, chewy, malty and warming with subdued hop aroma and a raisin like long lasting finish – delicious. See Eisbock

Examples include:


Wheat beer
Any beer containing a high proportion of malted wheat in addition to the malted barley. Also known as Witbier, or White beer in Belgium; and Weizen, Weisse or Weissbier in Germany.

 

Witbier, White beer, Biere Blanche
Witbeiris a Belgian style, top-fermented (ale) made from wheat and barley. The name comes from the hazy, white look the suspended yeast and wheat proteins gives to the beer – apparently it is the light reflecting off them. The big difference between witbier and other wheat bees lies in the beers history and origins are in the older, pre-hops "gruit” style of beer where herbs and spices where used. The Belgians and those that strive to mimic the style use coriander and bitter orange, and also hops – but they are not very hoppy beers.

Examples include:

go to top




ZoiglbierPronounced "tzoy-gel-beer”
Zoiglbier is essentially an effervescent form of a Bavarian Kellerbier, but brewed from more highly kilned malt, which gives the beer a slightly darker, deep amber, color. It is also less hop-accented.


ZwickelbierPronounced "tzvickle-beer”
Zwickelbier originated in the home breweries of Franconia and is similar to a Bavarian Kellerbier, but generally brewed slightly weaker and less hop-accented.

go to top