Beer 101

A ‘quick and dirty’ crash course on beer for those who don’t feel like reading a book about it. After all, that would detract from beer-drinking time, wouldn’t it? Welcome to an ever-growing section. You’re more than welcome to leave commentary.

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Ales and Lagers

Here I am, drinking a lovely Boulevard Pale Ale thinking about all of the times people have asked me this or that, and what means what. Being the ‘BeerGenius,’ I am supposed to know these things, and I always feel the dire need to start at the very beginning. Because, you know, it’s a very good place to start.

You see, there are really only two TYPES of beer, on beer’s most fundamental level: Ales and Lagers. You’ve no doubt heard both of these before, otherwise you probably would think it’s pretty funny that a guy would start a website devoted to drinking beer. Sure, it sounds cool to us, but as we’ve learned in life, our opinion isn’t the only one that counts…

Anyway, back to Ales and Lagers. There is a simple difference between the two, and it has to do with the way they’re fermented during the brewing process. Here we go:

Ales are fermented with ale yeast (of which there are many different ’strands’). Ale yeast sits on the top of the beer in the fermentation vessel, which is usually a cylinder with a cone on the bottom. It is fermented at a temperature between 68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (ideally, or 20-24 degrees Celsius), for a period of 4-8 days.

Lagers, on the other hand, are fermented with what we call bottom-fermenting yeast. This particular yeast is best utilized at a much chillier temperature – about 40 degrees Fahrenheit (or 4-5 degrees Celsius). Because of the lower fermentation temperature, the activity during fermentation (consumption of oxygen and sugars) is also much slower. Therefore, ‘lagering’ a beer can take anywhere from 3-15 WEEKS of time in the fermentation tank, at a consistent temperature.

Ale yeast produces beers that are a bit more floral and ‘colorful’ in style, while lagers are traditionally beers with an underlying ‘connectedness.’ Of course, these are generalizations, as one can easily confuse the two in a blind taste test if not told otherwise. As an example, nearly all stouts and porters are ales, while macro brews such as Budweiser and Coors are lager beers.

It is important to remember that these two types are simply technical differences in the beer themselves, and there are many more subcategories that define the way the beer feels on the palate.

In our next installment of Beer 101, we’ll go over some basic Ale styles and examples thereof. If you have any suggestions or commentary, well, that’s what below is for. Have at it.