Prost! A Brief History And Celebration Of Beer
Beer, how we love you.
A beverage with a complex history spanning thousands of years brings us an elaborate landscape of styles, flavors, and cultural roots. Founded by tradition yet continuously evolving, four categories — ales, lagers, stouts, and porters — offer drinkers a journey that runs the gamut of flavors, aromas, historical significance, and taste approval.
Ales
Ales encompass a broad spectrum of styles, including but not limited to Pale Ales, India Pale Ales (IPAs), Brown Ales, and Belgian Ales. Each one has its own distinct characteristics and profiles.
Ales are typically fermented at warmer temperatures by top-fermenting yeast. This brewing style helps to represent a wide array of styles that we’ve all come to know and enjoy.
Pale Ales
Pale Ales are all about balance. They have a mild hop presence, often accompanied by a malty follow-up. Golden to amber in color, pale ales offer a blend of bitter and sweet flavor with a middle-of-the-road alcohol content that is appealing to newer beer drinkers looking to break away from “cheap” beer.
Expect anything from citrus, floral, or piney tastes and smells that come from the hops used during brewing. The malted backend often features toasted or caramel notes.
Going even further with the Pale Ale style, you can find variants such as English Pale Ales or American Pale Ales. The former puts more emphasis on the bitter hops, and the latter emphasizes sweetness with its heavier malt usage.
India Pale Ales (IPAs)
You can’t hear about craft beer without hearing about IPAs. A cornerstone of microbreweries everywhere, IPAs come in hot and heavy with their hops, resulting in high levels of bitterness and unique aromas.
Like most all beer categories, IPAs feature their own sub-styles, resulting in hundreds of choices for drinkers.
Juicy New England (AKA Hazy) IPAs, bitter West-Coast IPAs, potent Imperial IPAs, and lower alcohol Session IPAs are all commonly found on tap lists across the country.
Brown Ales
If you’re looking for something malt-heavy, Brown Ales are waiting for you. Dark amber or brown in color, these ales typically feature a mid-range alcohol content and suppressed hop bitterness.
Sip a brown ale and you’ll often taste some combination of nuts, caramel, toffee, and even chocolate.
Like IPAs, browns have sub-styles such as American Browns and English Browns. Again like IPAs, the American versions feature more hops and bitterness, while the English gravitate towards higher malt usage and complexity.
Belgian Ales
What makes Belgian Ales unique is their commitment to using styles and yeast strains that originate in, you guessed it, Belgium.
Belgian Ales can range from crisp and refreshing to dark and earthy. Flavors often found in Belgium Ales include banana, clove, and even bubblegum.
Belgian Blondes, Dubbels, Tripels, and Quadruples, each are sub-styles of the Belgium family of beer. Each one brings us a different level of alcohol content and yeast-derived flavors.
Lagers
Unlike its Ale cousin, lagers are fermented at cooler temperatures by bottom-fermenting yeast.
Often crisp and clear, lagers offer a ton of flexibility and accessibility.
Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark in color.
Pale lager is actually the most consumed and commercially available beer out there.
Pilsners
Pilsners are the most common and popular sub-style of the Lager. Pale in color with a shade of gold, these easy drinkers are often on the hoppy and bitter side.
Also known as “pils”, they have a crisp, refreshing finish, which helps make them so popular.
Usually found in the 4–5.5% ABV range, you can also expect a dense, white head on top of your pilsner.
Märzen & Oktoberfest
Märzen and Oktoberfest style lagers are German through and through. The world-famous Oktoberfest celebration that happens in Munich each fall features these malty, dry-finishing, and festive beers.
These fall staples are amber-orange to copper colored, with an off-white foam.
Porters
With Porters, you’ll find a heavy malt profile with bold tastes.
Originating from 18th-century England, Porters make use of chocolate, caramel, and toffee notes to accompany the malts.
Stouts
Dark, rich, heavy. These are the stouts. They’re unmatched in their roasted malt character.
No stout is more widely known and enjoyed than Guinness, the quintessential Irish-style Stout. Dry, with a coffee-bitter flavor and a beautiful head of foam, Guinness set the bar for what a stout should be.
Milk Stouts, on the other hand, provides a sweeter and smoother sip, thanks to the added lactose. It’s not uncommon to find notes of chocolate in Milk Stouts as well, adding to their sweet nature.
For those looking for a more intense and potent stout, reach for a higher-than-normal ABV Imperial Stout. In addition to its potency, you will often enjoy dark fruit flavors, and hints of chocolate.
Somewhat more limited than Ales or Lagers, Stouts rely on their unique richness and boldness to keep beer drinks coming back for more on a cold winter night.
Historical Significance and Global Influence
Ales trace their evolution from ancient European brewing practices, while lagers gained prominence in Central Europe, notably Germany and the Czech Republic. Stouts and porters emerged during England’s industrial revolution, evolving from working-class brews into globally cherished beverages.
Celebrating Beer, One Pint At A Time.
There is no end to the uniqueness and evolution of beer. While each style is rooted in geographical history, brewers worldwide continue to experiment and adapt.
The creation of ales, lagers, porters, and stouts goes hand in hand with centuries of craftsmanship, innovation, and cultural heritage.
Each style, with its unique flavors, aromas, and historical narrative, invites drinkers to experience a never-ending delight of aroma, flavor, and local community.
An emblem of human creativity and community, embodies tradition, innovation, and the joy of discovery.
One of humanity’s most cherished creations, let’s all raise a pint to celebrate beer.
Prost!
