Know Your Beer
Ale – This form of beer has to be fermented at a higher temperature than a lager. Ale has a higher alcohol content and usually is more full bodied and bitter. An Ale is typically English.
Barley – Barley is perfect for beer. The barley of preference is two-row barley because it is more flavorful than the less expensive six-row barley.
Beer – Any type of fermented beverage made from malted barley or other grains, hops, yeast, and water.
Bottom Fermenting Yeast – This type of process makes “Lager”. This method works best in low temperatures and produces a cleaner, crisper beverage. The yeast ferments more sugars and then settle to the bottom of the container.
Fermentation – The process of yeast converting sugars into malt, then into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Hops – One of the four main ingredients in beer. Hops are flowers that are natural preservatives and bittering agents when added to ‘wort’. The early addition of hops to a batch of beer is for bitterness, and the late addition is for aroma.
Malt – This is barley steeped in water until the enzymes convert its starches into sugars. Then they are dried and/or roasted to different degrees for flavor.
Pilsner – Originated in 1842 in the town of Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, these beers are very hoppy and are light to amber in color. The beer is medium in body and the aroma is floral.
Reinheitsgehott – The 1516 Bavarian Purity Law that states beer can only be made with water, hops and barley (later amended to include wheat). Yeast is not considered an ingredient to beer, but an ‘agent’ to it.
Top-Fermenting Yeast – These yeasts work better at warm temperatures. The t yeasts are unable to ferment some sugars, and generally yield a fruity, sweeter beer.
Wort – Is an unfermented beer in its earliest stages. This sweet liquid is made from heating the malt with water and hops.
Know Your Flavor
Acidic – Mostly sour.
Aroma – May be flowery, sweet, or spicy. The smell is from the process of fermentation.
Balance – Harmony of various flavors and aromas.
Bitter – Tangy or sharp taste, which is produced by the hops.
Bright – Describes the beer’s clarity.
Creamy – How it feels in your mouth, with small bubbles of natural carbonation.
Dry – A beer that is free of from sweet or fruit flavors..
Metallic – The taste of over-aged beer.
Musty – Slightly moldy or damp smell.
Tangy – Strong or penetrating.