A mildly useful guide to beer styles.
Beer would be much easier if breweries simply produced something called beer and left matters there. Indeed some large breweries in the past were perhaps heading in that direction.
Instead, there are lagers, pale ales, porters, stouts, sours, wheat beers and approximately hundreds of varieties of IPAs. This is excellent news if you enjoy trying different things, although less helpful when standing in front of our selection of over 200 beers while pretending to know what DDH means.
The first thing to know is that beer styles are guides and two beers described as pale ales can taste entirely different, while the boundary between a pale ale and an IPA is sometimes determined by whichever description the brewery thought would sell more cans.
Lager and pilsner
Lager is often treated as the uncomplicated option, but there is much more to it than the familiar mass produced brands found in nearly every pub fridge. Lager is fermented at cooler temperatures than ale and is then conditioned for longer, which generally produces a cleaner and crisper drink.
A good pilsner should be refreshing but not boring, with a light malt sweetness, a dry finish and enough hop bitterness to give it some character. Helles lager tends to be softer and maltier, while Vienna lager brings more toasted and caramel flavours. Dark lagers also exist for anyone who wants the appearance of a stout without necessarily committing to the same roasted taste.
Pale ale
Pale ale is one of the safest places to begin exploring craft beer. These beers are generally easy drinking, moderately hoppy and somewhere around 4 to 5%, although breweries retain the right to ignore all of those expectations.
British pale ales can have earthy, floral and gently bitter flavours, while modern American versions often use hops that bring citrus and tropical fruit. A pale ale should have enough malt character to taste like beer rather than carbonated fruit juice, but enough hop flavour to remain interesting. It is the dependable middle ground and there is no shame in staying there.
IPA
IPA originally meant India Pale Ale, although ordering one no longer requires either a voyage to India or any meaningful understanding of the British Empire. The modern version is usually stronger and hoppier than a pale ale, but that still leaves an enormous amount of room for variation.
A West Coast IPA is normally clear, bitter and dry, often with flavours of grapefruit, pine and resin. It is the style for people who think bitterness builds character. A New England IPA is hazier, softer and fruitier, with flavours that can suggest mango, peach, pineapple or orange. Double and imperial IPAs increase the alcohol, hops and general likelihood that standing up will become a carefully planned activity.
You may also encounter DDH, meaning double dry hopped. This involves adding more hops during or after fermentation to increase aroma and flavour without necessarily adding much more bitterness.
Porter and stout
Porters and stouts are dark beers made using roasted malts or grains. Expect flavours such as coffee, chocolate, caramel, toast and occasionally liquorice. Despite their appearance, they are not always heavy or especially strong. A dry Irish stout can be lighter in alcohol than many pale ales.
The distinction between porter and stout is not always very clear and has changed over time. Broadly speaking, porters are often smoother and more chocolate led, while stouts can have a more pronounced roasted or coffee character. Breweries are free to make this distinction as confusing as possible.
Milk stouts contain lactose, which adds sweetness and body. Imperial stouts are substantially stronger and may include chocolate, coffee, vanilla, fruit or barrels previously occupied by whisky. Lactose means that the beer isn’t suitable for vegans, but we can answer questions about the options that we have.
Sour beer
Sour beer is the category most likely to produce either immediate delight or the expression of someone who has accidentally swallowed vinegar. The acidity can come from different brewing methods, while fruit is frequently added to provide sweetness and flavour. We have a wide selection of sours in the shop, including from breweries such as Pastore, Vault City, Yonder, amongst many others.
A gose is usually light, tart and slightly salty, sometimes with coriander added. Berliner Weisse is similarly refreshing and often relatively low in alcohol. Modern fruit sours can involve enormous quantities of raspberry, cherry, mango, passion fruit or almost anything else the brewery found in the fruit aisle.
Some sours are gently sharp and refreshing. Others taste like concentrated sweets and may be thick enough to require a spoon. It is worth checking the description before buying one, particularly if the label includes several fruits, marshmallows and what appears to be an entire cheesecake.
Wheat beer
Wheat beers are brewed with a substantial proportion of wheat alongside malted barley. German versions, often called weissbier or hefeweizen, are usually cloudy and can have distinctive banana and clove flavours produced by the yeast. No bananas need actually have been harmed during production, but there’s usually some element of their taste lingering around in proceedings.
Belgian witbier is generally lighter and more citrus driven, often with coriander and orange peel. Wheat beers tend to have a soft texture and lively carbonation, making them refreshing even when their appearance suggests that someone forgot to finish filtering them.
Belgian beer
Belgian beer refuses to fit neatly into one section, which is very much part of its charm. There are blondes, dubbels, tripels, saisons, lambics and strong dark ales, often driven as much by the yeast as by the hops.
A saison is usually dry, highly carbonated and peppery. A dubbel tends to have darker fruit, caramel and spice, while a tripel is pale, strong and dangerously easy to drink. Belgian beers can conceal their alcohol with alarming efficiency, so discovering that the attractive little bottle contains something approaching 10 per cent is best done before ordering a second.
Amber, red and brown ales
These styles sit in the maltier part of the beer world. Amber and red ales often contain caramel, biscuit and toasted flavours, balanced by moderate hop bitterness. Brown ales can bring nuttiness, chocolate and darker fruit while remaining considerably lighter than most stouts.
They are sometimes overlooked amid the excitement surrounding heavily hopped IPAs and fruit sours, but a good amber or brown ale can be complex without becoming hard work. They also tend to taste recognisably of beer, an attribute that is no longer guaranteed.
Session beers and table beers
Session beers are designed to be enjoyed without immediately removing the remainder of the day from your diary. They are usually lower in alcohol but should still contain enough flavour to make drinking them worthwhile.
Table beers take this idea further and frequently sit below 3.5 per cent. The best examples use hops, malt and yeast cleverly to create flavour without relying on alcohol for body. The less successful examples taste like someone has washed out a pint glass and sold the resulting liquid, but fortunately brewing has become much better at producing enjoyable lower strength beer.
The most useful rule
The most useful rule is simply to drink what you enjoy. There is no requirement to progress from lager to imperial stout as if completing some sort of professional qualification. Nor must you pretend to appreciate a beer because it received an impressive rating from someone on the internet who claims to detect notes of antique furniture and distant thunderstorms.
If you tell us what you already like, we can usually suggest something nearby or something slightly more adventurous. With around 200 beers at Articans, there should be an option for almost everyone. And if the first one is not quite right, that merely means further research is required.
Leave a Reply