Beer 101

I have already given you some basic knowledge on scotch so now its time to do the same for beer. Beer can be a little complicated because of how many styles there are,but I will do my best to break them down to you. After you are done reading this post you will know the basic beer tree and know what you like in beer and what you most likely don't.

Beer is broken up into two parent categories: Lagers and Ales. under these categories you'll find many other offspring of beer. In the following paragraphs, I will break down the lager tree as well as the ale tree so you can see where all these types of beer branch from.

First I will start with lagers. Lagers are a type of beer that is brewed using bottom-fermenting yeast at lower temperatures and for longer durations rather than those typically used to brew ales. The lower temperature in which this beer is brewed allows the the yeast which is different from the one used in brewing ales to slow work its way into the beer giving the lager a specific taste. Examples of lagers on the market today are as follows: Pilsner,Bock,Marzen,Schwiezbier, and Helles (aka pale lager). all these beers are part of the lager family, there are a few more but we will cover these for now and the others later when i review specific beers. Furthermore, lagers can be two different colors: Golden yellow and/or dark red to Brown. These beers also tend to be lighter than ales. Interesting fact…. lager means storage in German.

Ales is the second and final parent category in beer. In an ale you'll find a beer type brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste. Most ales contain hops, which impart a bitter herbal flavor that helps to balance the sweetness of the malt and preserve the beer. Ales are also top fermented as where lagers are not. Examples of Ales: brown ale, pale ale, india pale ale (ipa) scotch ale, belgian ale, and stouts. I will get more into detail when I review a specific type of ale in future postings.As with lagers, Ales also come in different colors. Some are a strong golden color, others hazy and pale, and some very dark. With ales you can also find that the alcohol level's in them can go anywhere from 5 percent to anywhere under 13 percent.

I hope that this bit of information is helpful to you in your future endeavors into buying beer or even just understanding the vast world of brew.