Just imagine, there are over 8,000 craft breweries in the United States alone. It goes on to prove that craft beer is bigger than ever. Let’s break down the most popular beer types here so that you can make recommendations, brew your own styles, and talk about craft beer like a pro. To begin with, how many types of beer are there?
Lagers were first introduced around the turn of the 16th-century. All beers were ales until that time. However, the beer market the world over is now famous for producing ales, lagers, and great pilsners.
What is an Ale?
Ale is a particular style of beer that is most basic. It is defined by the yeast used during the fermentation procedure. Ales as noted by fruit flavors tend to be more flavorful. Lagers, in comparison, tend to be crisper.
Moreover, there are many popular sub-styles in the category of Ales. The most popular beer brands in the market today include pale ales, stouts, porters, and wheat beers.
Ales are commonly brewed using yeast. These tend to gather or flocculate at the top of the fermentation tank during the brewing procedure. Lagers typically use a bottom-fermenting yeast that finally produces a crisper flavor in beer. It is the main difference between an ale and lager.
Top-fermenting yeasts producing ales prefer warmer temperatures, which are generally between 15 to 22 C. Lager yeasts typically react best at temperatures 20 degrees C or colder.
Most beers do not require aging. Ales are even better when they are aged or unaged for a short time. It is usually no more than a few weeks while Ales undergo aging.
Characteristics of an Ale
There are more styles of ale than there are of lager. Ale as a beer category has a few common characteristics.
- Ales are complex beers that tend to be more robust, and flavorful.
- Ales tend to be more aromatic, and fruitier.
- Many styles of ales have a stronger IBU or bitter note.
How to Serve an Ale?
There are too many styles of ale to warrant a common recommendation. However, Ales are best when served closer to room temperature. There is a trend though. The lighter the ale in both color and flavor, the colder it should be served.
Nevertheless, it is always best to go with your gut and go with the temperature that best suits your personal taste when deciding how cold you should serve a beer.
What Beer Types are Considered Lagers?
Lagers are typically made with bottom-fermenting yeast that has a lower tolerance to alcohol. Lagers taste light and a little malty. They are a new entry point for new beer drinkers. Classic lagers in America include Budweiser, Yuengling, Coors, Busch Lite, and Miller High Life.
Lagers are the most common type of beer in the world. They are crisp and refreshing. However, lagers constitute a surprisingly diverse group. Their style goes far beyond big names and includes all of the great Bavarian pilsners, as well as dunkels, bocks, and Oktoberfest.
Difference Between Lager & Ale
Lagers are primarily defined as bottom-fermented beer. Yeasts used for fermenting lager beer gather at the bottom of the fermentation tank. Ales are top-fermenting and just the opposite. And yeasts used for fermenting ale flocculate on the top of the fermenting tank.
Yeasts used for lager also tolerate much lower temperatures when compared to yeasts that are used for ales. Yeasts used for lager typically ferment between 45 – 55 degrees Fahrenheit. These lower temperatures normally reduce the number of by-products formed during the fermentation stage. Eventually, the procedure also produces a cleaner and crisper beer.
Lagers being more tolerant can handle longer aging times as compared to ales. The process is called ‘lagering.’ Lager beers can be aged for months at much lower cellar temperatures between 54 – 57 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lagers are a younger style of beer that was discovered in 1000 A.D. only when hops were introduced to brewed alcoholic beverages. Until then only ales were primarily produced. Lagers were accidentally discovered in the 1500s. It was found that storing brews made with cold-resistant yeast for a month produced a crisper beer in a historical lager-brewing region like Bavaria. Even the famous hoppy German pilsners are a 19th-century discovery and lagers are not much older than that.
Lagers group of beers are tighter than ales. But there are countless styles of ale. However, there are only a few styles within the lager group of beer. The characteristics of a lager generally include a lighter and crispy taste that is quite smooth and mellow. They also are less bitter and tend to have more carbonation than ales. However, some lagers are quite disparate.
Bocks have a great barley flavor. They range from amber to dark brown in color. While Oktoberfest and dunkels are known for their malty flavors.
- Styles: Lager is a brewing technique that includes many styles of beer from dark to pale and sweet to malty. They are diverse and there is a lager style to suit the taste of beer drinkers.
- Dunkel: It is the word in German for ‘dark’. It is also a classic pub beer from Bavaria. Specifically in the Munich area. It is the original lager style of beer made with dark roasted malts. Dunkel comes with a red-tinted color ranging from amber to mahogany. Its flavors generally include bread, coffee, nuts, and chocolate. It is marked with a delicate hoppiness and the characteristic lager crispness. The bitterness and alcohol content is relatively low in Dunkel.
- Schwarzbier: Schwarzbier is another dark German lager. It originates from the eastern state of Thuringia. It is a rarer style. And is characteristically dark chestnut to ruby-black in color alongside a complex taste. Schwarzbier features licorice, bitter chocolate, and roasted malts. It has mild bitterness, low alcohol content, and a dry, smooth finish.
- Czech Lager: Czech lagers are diverse. They enjoy a tradition as rich as German beers. These lagers are quite rare outside of Europe, Czech lagers are graded by color and alcohol content. The dark tmavé, the pale světlé, the black černé, and the amber polotmavé, are all pilsners. The alcohol content in Czech lagers usually ranges from 3 to 9 percent ABV. However, the country measures and expresses strength in degrees using the Plato scale.
- Pilsner: It is a pale beer. Pilsners define the essence of a lager. While German pilsners use delicate and spicy hops, Czech pilsners use floor-malted barley. The German variety produces a thin and light-colored beer that tastes ‘cleaner,’ while the Czech pilsners are golden and full-bodied. However, both pilsners are noted for their delicate bitterness, low-range alcohol content, and refreshing crispness.
- Helles: ‘Helles’ or ‘Hell’. These beers are ‘bright’ or ‘pale’ in appearance. With more emphasis on a soft malt flavor, lagers are quite similar to pilsners. However, with a light hop profile, the southern German pale lager is golden along with a mildly sweet, full body. It is low in bitterness and low in alcohol as well.
- Amber Lager: Märzenbier or March beer is the most famous among the amber lagers. It is well-known as Oktoberfest. Amber lager beers are simultaneously sweet and crisp. It is a characteristic of a specific blend of hops. Munich-derived märzens are similar to Vienna lagers that use a lightly roasted malt. However, most Amber lagers are brewed in North America today including the popular Sam Adams Boston Lager and Dos Equis. Averaging around 5% ABV, Amber lagers tend to be slightly stronger than other lagers.
- Bock: Bocks are German sipping beers. They are strong, malty, and warming, However, a number of sub-styles like the light-colored and creamy maibocks, or the pale or Helles bocks, the dark and rich doppelbocks, and sweeter, almost chocolaty, dark, and American bocks are included in this group. Bocks are mostly at least 6 percent ABV. But also reach 10 percent in some brands. With an average of 9 to 13 percent ABV due to freeze-distillation, Eisbock is the strongest and most flavorful sipping beer in the world market today.
- Mass-Market Lager: ‘Mass-Market Lager’ in general terms describes easy-drinking pilsners. These are adapted to appeal to the masses. They are golden in color. However, the white head remains. These lagers don’t have the hoppy flavor or full body of a pilsner. Moreover, the product is often simply labeled as ‘lager’ and is produced worldwide. Most of the big names in this beer style, such as Pabst Blue Ribbon, Budweiser, Stella Artois, Sapporo, Pacifico, Beck’s, Foster’s, and Heineken.
How to Serve Lager?
Lagers are generally recommended to serve cold. Few exceptions however include bocks that are often best served closer to room temperature.
Mass-brewed beers and dark lagers are commonly served in a mug or pint glass. Pilsners are usually served in a pilsner glass. Amber lagers and Helles are frequently poured into steins. A stemmed goblet called ‘pokal’ is the traditional way of serving bocks. Tilt the glass to a 45-degree angle while serving all lagers and pour slowly to produce a head that’s just about two fingers tall.
Food Pairings With Lagers
Lagers are an excellent choice for food pairings. The most versatile and best options are amber lagers that particularly go well with burgers, pizza, and other pub favorites. Mexican fare, hearty chilis, beef stroganoff, roasted chicken, and even cheese and macaroni go well with lagers.
Pilsner and other pale lagers are perfect for light foods. Including herb chicken, salads, or pasta dishes. They are a great choice with German favorites as well. However, they are not great for desserts with the likes of schnitzel and bratwurst.
Bocks are a fabulous choice that goes well with chocolate desserts and spicy foods. Most American lagers are famous for accompanying barbecue classics. The other big-name lagers are ideal with food from their country of origin. Try serving Mexican lagers with tacos or burritos. Japanese lagers pair well with tempura, while Italian lagers with pasta.
Best Lager Brands
There are simply too many lager brands to find a place in an article. However, these are among some of the best-known brands that have not been mentioned above.
- New Belgium Fat Tire
- Pilsner Urquell
- Anchor Bock
- Paulaner Oktoberfest
- Yuengling
- Augustiner Bräu Lagerbier Hell
- Lagunitas Pils
- Peroni
- Shiner Bock
- Sprecher Mai Bock
Hybrid Beers
Hybrid Beers are born out of creativity or necessity. Sometimes they are half lagers, half ales, or half ales, half lagers. They are a unique category either way. And end up straddling the line separating the two worlds of beer.
Undoubtedly, hybrid beers are a good choice for brewers. Especially for the ones who don’t have the ability to lager. Since lagers usually require refrigeration during the second phase of production. However, some hybrid-style yeasts can also ferment well into the ale yeast temperature range. And still, retain cleanness and lager characteristics.
Nevertheless, hybrid beers do not follow conventional thought. They are least concerned about whether the beer is either a lager or an ale. Hybrids instead borrow brewing practices from both types of beer. They are both. A little ale and a little lager.
A beer fermented with ale yeast may be held at cooler temperatures commonly reserved for lagers. Or a beer made using lager yeast may be quickly brewed and kept warm as an ale. Both these brewing techniques impart the characteristics of hybrid beer categories to create unclassified unique styles. Altbier, kolsch, cream ale, and steam beer, and are the most common examples of hybrid beers.
Difference Between Ales, Lagers & Hybrid Beers
Lagers and ales are differentiated by the type of yeast used and the required fermentation temperatures. Lagers are fermented with bottom-fermenting yeast that is active at cooler temperatures. They are also held for weeks, or months, at cooler temperatures after the fermentation process known as ‘Lagering.’ Ales on the other hand are fermented at warmer temperatures. They are subsequently packaged or served shortly after the fermentation process is over.
The yeast eventually determines whether a beer is a lager or an ale. Moreover, the brewing methods are commonly exclusive to either lagers or ales. The specific techniques in most cases enhance the flavor and quality of the beer style. However, they do not change the classification of the beer.
Hybrid beers take more of a freestyle approach. Some so-called hybrids are quite old. Each style has customary techniques in comparison to the conventional brewing methods. It is a matter of choice that hybrid beers use lager or ale yeast and brewing methods, or a combination of the two.
Although ‘Hybrid’ really is not the right word to use to describe these beers since there are many different ways to brew this style of beer. Nevertheless, they are all correct as long as you get beer in the end. The ‘Hybrid’ moniker is simply a convenient way. It is only meant to classify this type of beer that does not fit into any one of the two main categories.
Styles of Hybrid Beer
Few hybrid beer styles are brewed with methods common to lager brewing. Most are fermented with ale yeast. Here are some styles that are commonly referred to as hybrid styles of beer.
- Altbier: The word ‘Alt’ means old. Altbier is a style that is commonly brewed in Düsseldorf, Germany. Altbier is fermented using warm ale yeast. It is then aged in cold temperatures like a lager. However, Altbier predates lager brewing methods. Available water supply in the area gives this hybrid beer a minerality that complements the malty flavors and bitterness of the amber-colored ale. Quite a few altbiers have the hoppiness alongside a dry profile. It greatly varies between 25 to 50 IBUs. However, most altbiers’ are in the range of 4.5 to 5.5 percent ABV. Bolder and stronger versions of altbiers are named Sticke and Secret Alt.
- Kölsch: It is a German beer style made in and around the city of Cologne. Cologne is not far from Düsseldorf. With a delicate flavor profile, kölsch is a pale-colored hybrid beer. It is fermented with ale yeast. It is yet held at cold temperatures for some time after fermentation.
Kölsch hybrid beer is moderately alcoholic. It ranges from 4.5 to 5.5 percent ABV. Its bitterness is typically between 15 and 30 IBUs. Kölsch tastes a balance of spicy hops and sweet malts that is relaxing and smooth. Alongside a crispness that is usually associated with lagers and this hybrid beer was designed to compete with German pilsners. Nevertheless, kölsch is definitely unique and has the same mineral taste as altbier displays.
- Cream Ale: It is a genuine American-made beer. Cream Ale is light-bodied, mild, and pale golden in color. However, cream ale does not include any cream or dairy product. It does not have the richness of cream stouts as well. Dating back to the 1800s, this hybrid beer instead uses corn and sometimes rice to lighten up the brew.
Using lager yeast cream ales are brewed like an ale. It may also be the other way around. In some cases, cream ales were originally rather bitter high-alcohol beers. Present versions of this hybrid beer are toned down in both aspects. From 4 to 8.5 percent ABV, and 10 to 22 IBUs. Craft brewers nowadays use a wide variety of hops. Its larger crispness with the smooth, fruity nuances found in ales appeals to consumers.
- Steam Beer: Also called ‘California Common’, Steam Beer originated in San Francisco after the influx of miners and laborers during the gold rush. It is fermented in wide tanks with lager yeast. However, brewers would not wait for the lengthy time required for lagering. So, they fermented it at temperatures typically used for ale yeast to speed up the process. And packaged it within a week without conditioning.
The word ‘Steam’ probably comes from the highly pressurized bottles used for packaging. Steam produced from brewery rooftops while the wort cooled is another attribute according to one more account. However, with pale and caramel malts and Northern Brewer hops, Anchor Brewing continues to make steam beer the original way. Steam beer is a well-carbonated, amber-colored easy-drinking beer. It weighs in at 4.9 percent ABV. This style of beer is now made across the world by many other craft brewers as well.
How to Serve Hybrid Beers?
Altbier is nice when served a little warmer between 45 to 50 degrees while kölsch is best served at cold temperatures ranging between 38 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Both these German beers are traditionally poured into a stage. ‘Stick’ in German is a slender and tall cylindrical glass. A Collins glass is also a good substitute.
Cream ales and steam beers are often enjoyed cold. Quite similar to temperatures preferred for lagers. Beer mugs or pint glasses will do fine for glassware to be served.
Use the standard method for pouring a good balance of beer and head. It is ideal to tilt the glass 45 degrees prior to pouring the beer onto the side. And slowly raise it upright.
Food Pairings With Hybrid Beer
All hybrid beers make excellent dinner companions. They work well with a wide range of foods. German beers pair well with authentic Bavarian fares. These include potato dumplings, bratwurst, or wiener schnitzel. Cream ales and steam beer are refreshing for cookouts. Hybrid beers pair nicely with any grilled food.
Popular Brands of Hybrid Beer
Hybrid beer styles are more obscure than the typical ales and lagers. However, there is no shortage of hybrid beers to explore as craft brewing has revived them. Get a taste of German-brewed beers from altbier and kölsch. Many American interpretations are also nice but don’t have the local ingredients to accurately represent the original versions.
- Anchor Steam Beer
- Genesee Cream Ale
- Gaffel Kölsch
- Füchschen Alt
- Rogue Farms Honey Kolsch
- Sixpoint Sweet Action (Cream Ale)
- Reissdorf Kölsch
- New Glarus Spotted Cow
- Uerige Alt and Sticke
- Toppling Goliath’s Dorothy’s New World Lager (Steam Beer)
The Final Say
Dating back over 4,000 years, brewing beer is nothing new. Though it was not until 1000 A.D. that hops were initially introduced into the procedure. Brewed by almost every human civilization, ales are among the oldest in the beer’s lifespan. There are over 100+ distinct beer types you can get your hands on. More than 70 of these are Ales. These are followed by more than 25 styles of Lagers, and then a few Hybrid types. It applies to both mass-produced beers, and craft beers as well.