Understanding Beer Style

Nowadays, beers are well divided into categories, making it easy for consumers to find the products they expect and for brewers to produce and provide them, but not always was like that. Before the beer hunter Michael Jackson (the beer journalist, not the singer), traveled the world to taste different beers, the consumer wasn’t concerned about beer style.

With the publication of the book ‘The World Guide to Beer’ in 1977, and many other books, magazines, and articles, the culture of beer started to spread out.

As a primary categorization, we could separate the beer style into 4 big groups, the German, Belgian, British, and American beer styles.

German

It’s impossible to talk about beer and beer history without mentioning Germany. The impact they had was immense and resonates to this day. Due to the ‘Reinheitsgebot’, hops became obligatory, controlling and improving beer. Other sanctions obligated the brewers to brew only in the cold seasons, making lagers predominant over ales. The creation of the Pilsen style revolutionized beer consumption, not only at that time but until today.

Famous beer styles: Pilsen, Helles, Dunkel, Doppel and Eisbock.

Belgian

Free from the bonds of 'German' purity law, Belgian brewers use all raw materials they have available, mixing wort and fruit, using wild yeasts by open tank fermentations, and seasoning beer. If we would summarize the Belgian beer style in two words would be 'complexity' and 'balance'. The Belgian brewing tradition is linked with abbeys, many styles born and still being produced into them.

Famous beer style: Witbier, Blonde Ale, Saison, Flanders Red Ale.

British

The United Kingdom drank from many sources, having influences from German to Nordic lands. In the past, they have two words for our beloved beverage: 'ale' and 'beer'. Ale shared roots with Denmark and Switzerland and was used to name the beer without hops. The beer came from the German word ‘bier’ and was used for beers with hops. As time passed, these definitions were being changed and passed to be used to export beers.

Famous beer style: IPA, Stout, Porter, Pale Ale, Irish Red Ale.

American

North American is the most recent from the other 3 ‘schools’; however, they were responsible for reborn many beer styles. With raw materials produced in the new world, the beer gains a new tone, providing freshness and citric characteristics to the beer. The USA passed through a prohibition where beer and other alcoholic beverages were forbidden, making many Americans brew their beer illegally. Due to many difficulties, the Americans create alternatives to malts, producing beers with adjuncts.

Another aspect of American tradition is the strong culture of craft beer, where several homebrewers produce and share each other’s.

Famous beer style: APA, American IPA, American Lagers, New England IPA.

Guidelines

From the 70’s, committees started to develop guidelines to characterize and determine beer styles. This is especially important to have a competition where the beers can be judged by an objective criterion. The most famous guidelines are BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) and BA (Brewers Association).

I hope you enjoyed the reading. Please comment on your favorite beer style, and subscribe to this newsletter to receive new content every week!