Beer Types Flashcards
Ale
Beers distinguished by use of top fermenting yeast strains, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The top fermenting yeast perform at warmer temperatures than do yeast’s used to brew lager beer, and their byproducts are more evident in taste and aroma. Fruitiness and esters are often part of an ale’s character.
All-malt
A relatively new term in America. “All malt” refers to a beer made exclusively with barley malt and without adjuncts.
Amber
(pale ale) Any top or bottom fermented beer having an amber color and amber/ crystal malt, that is, between pale and dark.
Contract Beer
Beer made by one brewery and then marketed by a company calling itself a brewery. The latter uses the brewing facilities of the former.
Hard Cider
A fermented beverage made from apples.
Hefe
A German word meaning “yeast”. Used mostly in conjunction with wheat (weiss) beers to denote that the beer is bottled or kegged with the yeast in suspension (hefe-weiss). These beers are cloudy, frothy and, very refreshing.
Lager
Beers produced with bottom fermenting yeast strains, Saccharomyces uvarum (or carlsbergensis) at colder fermentation temperatures than ales. This cooler environment inhibits the natural production of esters and other byproducts, creating a crisper tasting product.
Malt Liquor
A legal term used in the U.S. to designate a fermented beverage of relatively high alcohol content (7%-8% by volume).
Mead
Meads are produced by the fermentation of honey, water, yeast and optional ingredients such as fruit, herbs, and/or spices. According to final gravity, they are categorized as: dry (0.996 to 1009); medium (1010 to 1019); or sweet (1020 or higher). Wine, champagne, sherry, mead, ale or lager yeasts may be used.
Altbier
style of beer originating in Germany. usually a dark copper colour. It is brewed at a moderate temperature using a top-fermenting yeast which gives its flavour some fruitiness, but matured at a cooler temperature, which gives it a cleaner and crisper taste more akin to lager beer styles than is the norm for top-fermented beers, such as British pale ale
Pale ale
beer which uses a top-fermenting yeast and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the world’s major beer styles.
Porter/Stout
dark beers made using roasted malts or roast barley, and typically brewed with slow fermenting yeast. There are a number of variations including Baltic porter, dry stout, and Imperial stout. The name Porter was first used in 1721 to describe a dark brown beer popular with the street and river porters of London.[93] This same beer later also became known as stout, though the word stout had been used as early as 1677.[94] The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined
Mild ale
predominantly malty palate. It is usually dark coloured with an abv of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter hued milds as well as stronger examples reaching 6% abv and higher.
Wheat
brewed with a large proportion of wheat although it often also contains a significant proportion of malted barley. Wheat beers are usually top-fermented (in Germany they have to be by law).[96] The flavour of wheat beers varies considerably, depending upon the specific style.
Lambic
a beer of Belgium, is naturally fermented using wild yeasts, rather than cultivated. 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 common in lambics. In addition, other organisms such as Lactobacillus bacteria produce acids which contribute to the sourness.[99]
