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Types of Beer, Learn all you need to know

Types Of Beer

Here we have a short and easy to understand post about different types of beers in bars.

So many Types and Sub-Types

There are so many different types of beers in the world and there are certainly more than made it to our list. You can find some very interesting blends and small batch brews all around the world.

The best way to find out what beer you like best is head to one of the many breweries and do a testing. You never know, you might find your new favorite beer.

How many types of beer are there?

The answer is Three, But there are 100’s of sub types.

The three main types are ales, lagers and stouts. Each of these beers types could be any one of the sub types. For example pale ale, pale lager, amber or blonde. This is how you get IPA (India pale ale) and APA (American pale ale).

Ales

Generally a very complex beer brewed using a warm fermentation method gives it a variety of fruit and malt aromas. You get a very full bodied taste and you can really taste the fruit flavor. There are different types of ales they include bitters, milds, abbey ales, pale ales and nut browns. Pale Ales are very popular.

Lager

Crisp and refreshing with a smooth finish, this is the reason why they are the most commonly sold beer in the world. (This includes pilseners).

Stout Beers

Dry or sweet, flavoured with roasted malt barley, oats or certain sugars, stouts and porters are characterized by darkness in colour and rich roasted malt flavour. Porter is an ale brewed with a special combination of malts to create a heavier flavour, aroma and colour. To complement this heavier flavour, porters generally have a fuller body and a slightly sweeter taste.

Stouts often use a portion of unmalted, roasted barley to develop a dark, slightly astringent, coffee-like character. Stout features a rich, creamy head and is similar to a dark porter, but is usually less sweet-tasting and more heavily hopped.

Lambic

Dry or sweet, flavoured with roasted malt barley, oats or certain sugars, stouts and porters are characterized by darkness in colour and rich roasted malt flavour. Porter is an ale brewed with a special combination of malts to create a heavier flavour, aroma and colour. To complement this heavier flavour, Porters generally have a fuller body and a slightly sweeter taste.

Stouts often use a portion of unmalted roasted barley to develop a dark, slightly astringent, coffee-like character. Stout features a rich, creamy head and is similar to a dark Porter, but is usually less sweet-tasting and more heavily hopped.

Beer Sub-Types

Amber

A very versatile beer, amber beers are full bodied malt aromas with hints of caramel, these beers could be either lager or ale.

Blonde

Blonde ales are very pale in colour and tend to be clear, crisp, and dry with low-to-medium bitterness and aroma from hops and some sweetness from malt.

Brown

Dark amber or brown in colour, brown ale have evidence of caramel and chocolate flavours and may has a slight citrus accent or can be strong, malty or nutty, depending on the area of brewing.

Cream

A very mild, sweetish, golden style of ale.

Dark

Dark ale is a British type beer, combining hops, yeast and a blend of malts. It’s a medium chestnut brown colour, with a delicate fruity smell and robust, malty character.

Light

Extremely light in colour and mild in flavour. Light beer has fewer calories and/or lower alcohol content.

Fruit

Most fruit beers are ales however, they typically do not carry an ale character. In order to allow for the fruit flavor to come through nicely, the malts flavor is not dominant and there is a low bitterness level to the beer.

India pale ale

A hoppier version of pale ale. Originally brewed in England with extra hops to survive the journey to British troops stationed in India.

Pale

Pale ale has a fruity, copper-coloured styler. It originiated from England. Pale ales are robust beers that can be enjoyed with strongly spiced foods.

Pilsner

Made with neutral and hard water. Tend to be golden in colour with a dry, crisp and somewhat bitter flavour. Pilsner stands out from other lagers due to its more distinctive hop taste.

Specialty

Specialty beers include a wide variety of styles such as Strong beers, fruit beers, honey beers, bock beers. These beers range in alcohol content from 5.0% – 9%.

Hope this helped

Hope this helped you to try and figure out which beer your want to try next. We always think the best option is to go into a brewery that has a wide range of beers. Go on a beer tour and try all the different types.

There are also lots of small batch brew houses these days so maybe pay them a visit too.

Let us know what is your favourite beer is in the comments below.

Cheers!