Lesson 2: Wines, Beers, & Malt Beverages
Beers and Malt Beverages
Beer:
Like wine, beer is one of the most ancient beverages known. Also, like wine, it is fermented but not distilled. However, the fermentation base is not crushed fruit but sprouted grain, i.e. malt. The malt used is usually barley, although there is a category of wheat based beers. All beer is further flavored with hops (leaves of the mulberry bush).
There are a large variety of beers, but they can be divided into three categories. The first two, lagers and ales are much more common than the third category, which is steam beer, (aka California common). This latter category is really a hybrid of lagers and ales. Malt beverages are related to beers.
Once divided into the lager and ale category, there is a second differentiation among beers. Gaining in popularity are “craft” or “artisinal” beers i.e. those brewed by microbreweries and often not widely sold. These tend to be more expensive than the mainstream beers as they use 100% barley malt, expensive hops and few if any additives. There are over 1,000 microbreweries in the U.S. and Canada alone.
An excellent site on the Web for information about beer styles and these microbreweries is the Beer of the Month Club site. You can learn about the craft beers, the microbreweries and arrange for a different beer to be sent to you each month.
Lagers:
Lagers are more popular than ales. They differ from ales in both fermentation technique and aging. Lager is bottom fermented, i.e. the yeasts are in the bottom of the barrel. It is a moderately hopped beer which is aged under refrigeration for 6 weeks to 6 months. Most lagers are fairly light in color, highly carbonated, and have a light to medium hop flavor. Most beer consumed in the U.S. are lagers. Budweiser is a lager as are beers made by Coors and Miller. Imported lagers include Foster's, Corona, and Heineken.
There are relatively few lager beer styles. They include:
- Pilsner: These are pale, dry, and crisp beers; most imported lagers are pilsner style. They’re designed to be thirst quenching.
- Amber: These are light bodied and mild flavored. This is the style associated with the big American breweries like Budweiser or Miller.
- Bock: This is a strong flavor for a lager. It is a traditionally German beer with a high malt flavor.
- Ice Beer: Ice beers are higher alcoholic beers with medium body.
- Light or Lite: These beers, like Miller’s Lite, are pale and watery, noted largely for their low calories.
Ale:
Ale, by contrast to lager, is top fermented, i.e. the yeast is floated on top of the liquid. It is not refrigerated, but rather aged only two to three days in room temperature conditions. Since they could be made easily and fast, ales became especially popular in the British Isles where pubs historically made their own proprietary ale on site. Ales generally have a stronger hop flavor and higher alcoholic content than lagers. There are also many more ale than lager styles; here are some of the most common:
- Bitter ale has a low carbonation and medium to strong bitterness.
- Brown ales are moderately bitter with a nutty or chocolate flavor – midway in strength between pale ales and porters.
- Cream ales are mild in taste.
- Hefe ales are made from wheat, not barley, and have quite a distinctive taste. They’re also cloudy.
- India Pale Ale or IPA ales are dark, full-bodied, quite bitter, very hoppy, and have a high alcohol content.
- Lambid/ Fruit Beers are wheat beers with fruit or sugar added – very distinctive.
- Old Ales are aged ales, medium to strong ales, served seasonally, usually in the winter.
- Pale Ales are gold to amber in color with low maltiness and bitterness.
- Porter is strong ale - brown to black in color, very hoppy and malty, with a taste of burnt charcoal derived from roasting the barley before using.
- Scotch Ale is smooth and strong, aka “wee heavy”.
- Stout is the strongest of the ales, very dark to black, also made from roasted barley.
- Trappist is a flavorful ale - fruity, dark, rich, and strong.
California Common or Steam Beer:
This is an American invention which is a hybrid of lager and ales. It is bottom fermented like lager, but is fermented at ale’s room temperatures. Steam beer can be considered a hearty lager or a light ale. The style was introduced by a San Francisco company called Anchor’s, hence this style is also known as “California Common.”
Malt Liquors and Malt Beverages:
There are some other categories besides lager and ales that need to be explained. First are beers that are labeled Malt Liquors. Malt Liquor is a marketing term used to describe a category of beers that could be described as “fortified American Lager.” Legally, many states legislate that any malted beverage over 4% alcohol by volume can't be labeled as "beer,” so these higher alcohol content beers became known as malt liquors. They generally are not known for their taste, but rather for their alcoholic punch. Sample brands include Olde English 800, Colt 45, and King Cobra.
“Malt Beverages” are malt based drinks that are alternatives to beers, much like wine coolers are to wine – they’re sweet and lower in alcohol, brewed to be flavorless and then specialty flavorings are added. At 5% alcohol, they are also known as “malternatives”, “flavored malts”, “alcopops,” or “clear malts.” Zima was the first brand introduced in 1992. It is still popular, but the category is losing popularity.
Zima, which is owned by Coors, tastes a little like a carbonated gin and tonic. Smirnoff Ice is one of several brands labeled as a “hard lemonade” as it has a tart, lemon taste. Skyy Blue is owned by Miller’s; it is flavored with Skyy vodka and has a citrus and cranberry flavor. Also part of this category are Bacardi Silver (owned by Anheuser-Busch but flavored with Bacardi rum) and Jack Daniel's Original Hard Cola.
