Kato
10-01-2003, 07:48 AM
The Beer Essentials: Knowing Your Brews
Ales
Ales are brewed with "top-fermenting" yeasts at low temperatures. Ales include bitters, pale ales, porters, stouts, barley wines, trappist, and alt. In England ales are very popular.
Brown Ale is a sweetish, bottled mild ale, dark in color and low in alcohol, once a popular workers' drink in England, although sales have declined heavily in recent years. The northeast of the country produces stronger, drier versions like the well-known Newcastle Brown Ale. The sour taste comes from a slow simmering rather than a boil, and from the addition of lactic yeast.
Bitter
The distinctive style of draught ale in England and Wales is generally served in pubs. It is usually dry and hoppy with an alcohol content of 3.5%. Traditionally reddish amber in color, paler varieties are now proving popular in England. Stronger versions used to be called Best or Special.
Bock
A strong malty, warming German beer of about 6.5% alcohol, Bock was originally brewed for the colder months. Traditionally dark in color, today it's more likely to be golden-bronze. This powerful smooth brew originated in Einbeck in Lower Saxony, but is now more associated with Bavaria. The word bock means "billy goat," and a goat's head is often featured on the label. The brew is sometimes linked with seasonal festivals, such as Maibock, celebrating the arrival of spring. Extra-potent versions are called Doppelbocks (and are chiefly associated with Bavaria), with more than 7% alcohol, such as Paulaner Salvator.
Weizen/Weissbier (Hefeweizen)
The most popular of all the German wheat beers, this distinctive ale is bottle or keg conditioned, and it is customarily served with the yeast sediment. The aroma and flavor of a Weissbier is fruity/banana-like, clove, or vanilla and made with a significant percentage of malted wheat, and its hop aromatics are at a low intensity.
Ice beer and Dry Beer
A chilling innovation of the early 1990s, the brew is frozen during maturation to produce a purified beer, with the ice crystals removed to increase the strength. Many ice beers were originally developed in Canada by Labatt and contain around 5.5% alcohol. Canadian brewers Labatt and Molson, introduced Ice beer in l993. Most major US brewers have launched their own brands such as Bud Ice and Miller's Icehouse. ln 1996, Tennent's of Scotland produced a Super lce with a strength of 8.6%.
First produced in Japan by the Asahi Brewery in l987, Dry Beer is made when more of the sugars are turned to alcohol leaving little taste. After an initial surge in sales, when Anheuser-Busch introduced Bud Dry, the market has faded almost completely away.
IPA
The words behind the initials betray IPA's imperial origins: India Pale Ale. Companies like Allsopp and Bass brewed this strong, heavily hopped beer in Britain. The recipe was designed to withstand the long sea voyages to distant parts of the British Empire like India. According to legend, a cargo of 300 kegs of Bass East India Pale Ale wrecked off the port of Liverpool in 1827. Some of the rescued beer was sold locally and won instant fame among English drinkers. Specialist American brewers like Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing Company now probably produce the most authentic versions.
Lagers and Malt liquor
Lagers are brewed slowly with "bottom-fermenting" yeasts at colder temperatures. This process is called "lagering." Lagers include bocks, doppelbocks, Munich, Vienna, Märzen and pilsners. Pilsners come from a town called Pilsen in the Czech Republic and are now mass-produced due to their worldwide popularity.
In the US, malt liquor refers to a strong lager, made with a high amount of sugar to produce a thin but potent brew. These beers are designed to deliver a strong alcoholic punch (around 6-8%) but little else. Sales of malt liquor account for about 4% of the total American beer market.
Pale Ales
Classic Pale Ales are pale to copper-colored. This medium-bodied beer generally has a dominant English hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma with a low-to-medium malt characteristic. Fruity esters are usually part of the Pale Ale flavor profile.
American Pale Ales range from pale to light copper in color. These ales also have a fruity ester character.
India Pale Ale has a high alcohol content and a high hopping rate. This pale-to-deep copper colored ale was developed to survive the ocean trip from England to India when troops serving under the crown were stationed in that part of the world.
Pilsner
German-Style Pilsner: Popular throughout Germany, this style serves as an example for pale lagers around the world. A classic German Pils is very pale and high in hop aromatics. These beers may have a malty accent, but fruity esters are usually absent.
Bohemian-Style Pilsner: Originating in the Bohemian town of Pilsen (Plzen), this style was responsible for the lager revolution of the 19th century. Bohemian Pilsners are essentially similar to German Pilsners; however, they are slightly more full-bodied, darker, and are more highly hopped. This style balances bitterness and hop aromatics with a sweet malty characteristic.
Porters
Full-bodied, range in flavor from bitter to sweet, and are dark brown in color. The darkness in color comes from the use of chocolate and/or dark malts rather than the unmalted roasted barley featured in stouts.
Ales
Ales are brewed with "top-fermenting" yeasts at low temperatures. Ales include bitters, pale ales, porters, stouts, barley wines, trappist, and alt. In England ales are very popular.
Brown Ale is a sweetish, bottled mild ale, dark in color and low in alcohol, once a popular workers' drink in England, although sales have declined heavily in recent years. The northeast of the country produces stronger, drier versions like the well-known Newcastle Brown Ale. The sour taste comes from a slow simmering rather than a boil, and from the addition of lactic yeast.
Bitter
The distinctive style of draught ale in England and Wales is generally served in pubs. It is usually dry and hoppy with an alcohol content of 3.5%. Traditionally reddish amber in color, paler varieties are now proving popular in England. Stronger versions used to be called Best or Special.
Bock
A strong malty, warming German beer of about 6.5% alcohol, Bock was originally brewed for the colder months. Traditionally dark in color, today it's more likely to be golden-bronze. This powerful smooth brew originated in Einbeck in Lower Saxony, but is now more associated with Bavaria. The word bock means "billy goat," and a goat's head is often featured on the label. The brew is sometimes linked with seasonal festivals, such as Maibock, celebrating the arrival of spring. Extra-potent versions are called Doppelbocks (and are chiefly associated with Bavaria), with more than 7% alcohol, such as Paulaner Salvator.
Weizen/Weissbier (Hefeweizen)
The most popular of all the German wheat beers, this distinctive ale is bottle or keg conditioned, and it is customarily served with the yeast sediment. The aroma and flavor of a Weissbier is fruity/banana-like, clove, or vanilla and made with a significant percentage of malted wheat, and its hop aromatics are at a low intensity.
Ice beer and Dry Beer
A chilling innovation of the early 1990s, the brew is frozen during maturation to produce a purified beer, with the ice crystals removed to increase the strength. Many ice beers were originally developed in Canada by Labatt and contain around 5.5% alcohol. Canadian brewers Labatt and Molson, introduced Ice beer in l993. Most major US brewers have launched their own brands such as Bud Ice and Miller's Icehouse. ln 1996, Tennent's of Scotland produced a Super lce with a strength of 8.6%.
First produced in Japan by the Asahi Brewery in l987, Dry Beer is made when more of the sugars are turned to alcohol leaving little taste. After an initial surge in sales, when Anheuser-Busch introduced Bud Dry, the market has faded almost completely away.
IPA
The words behind the initials betray IPA's imperial origins: India Pale Ale. Companies like Allsopp and Bass brewed this strong, heavily hopped beer in Britain. The recipe was designed to withstand the long sea voyages to distant parts of the British Empire like India. According to legend, a cargo of 300 kegs of Bass East India Pale Ale wrecked off the port of Liverpool in 1827. Some of the rescued beer was sold locally and won instant fame among English drinkers. Specialist American brewers like Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing Company now probably produce the most authentic versions.
Lagers and Malt liquor
Lagers are brewed slowly with "bottom-fermenting" yeasts at colder temperatures. This process is called "lagering." Lagers include bocks, doppelbocks, Munich, Vienna, Märzen and pilsners. Pilsners come from a town called Pilsen in the Czech Republic and are now mass-produced due to their worldwide popularity.
In the US, malt liquor refers to a strong lager, made with a high amount of sugar to produce a thin but potent brew. These beers are designed to deliver a strong alcoholic punch (around 6-8%) but little else. Sales of malt liquor account for about 4% of the total American beer market.
Pale Ales
Classic Pale Ales are pale to copper-colored. This medium-bodied beer generally has a dominant English hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma with a low-to-medium malt characteristic. Fruity esters are usually part of the Pale Ale flavor profile.
American Pale Ales range from pale to light copper in color. These ales also have a fruity ester character.
India Pale Ale has a high alcohol content and a high hopping rate. This pale-to-deep copper colored ale was developed to survive the ocean trip from England to India when troops serving under the crown were stationed in that part of the world.
Pilsner
German-Style Pilsner: Popular throughout Germany, this style serves as an example for pale lagers around the world. A classic German Pils is very pale and high in hop aromatics. These beers may have a malty accent, but fruity esters are usually absent.
Bohemian-Style Pilsner: Originating in the Bohemian town of Pilsen (Plzen), this style was responsible for the lager revolution of the 19th century. Bohemian Pilsners are essentially similar to German Pilsners; however, they are slightly more full-bodied, darker, and are more highly hopped. This style balances bitterness and hop aromatics with a sweet malty characteristic.
Porters
Full-bodied, range in flavor from bitter to sweet, and are dark brown in color. The darkness in color comes from the use of chocolate and/or dark malts rather than the unmalted roasted barley featured in stouts.