The family of beer

The world’s classic beers styles all originate from Europe, and many of them reflect centuries old local cultural traditions.

Drinkers can choose from a dazzling array of European beer styles - ales, lagers, lambics, stouts and porters, wheat beers or other speciality beers can all be found. Some are dark, some are light, there is tantalising array of tastes, flavours and aromas.

The family of beer has two broad branches.

Lager - the world’s most popular beer production style. The word lager means to store at a cold temperature- and such beers are traditionally fermented at cooler temperatures than other beers of between 5-9C and then matured or stored at close to freezing - 0C. The cold storage was originally a way of storing beer in parts of Europe when it was impossible to brew because it was too warm during the summer months. The advent of refrigeration enabled beers of this style to be produced all year round.

Ale – traditionally a beer, which has a warmer fermentation than a lager style beer using a yeast that rises to the top of the brewing vessel. But with modern equipment ales can be brewed with yeasts that settle at the bottom of the vessels. The term is most associated with the United Kingdom where many regions have their own distinctive style of ale including – mild, bitter, pale ale, IPA, brown ale and barley wine. Members of the ale family are typically fermented at 15-25C.

Some of the many members of the beer family:

Alt is the German word meaning traditional or old. It is a style of beer usually made in Dusseldorf and a few other cities in northern Germany. It is a dark copper brewd beer brewed using top fermentation.

Biere der Garde – a top fermenting beer for keeping from northern France. It was originally made in farm houses, but now is made in commercial breweries. It can be bottle-conditioned and is often sold in bottles sealed with champagne style wired corks.

Cask conditioned ale - The United Kingdom has a style of ale not found in volume anywhere else in the world – cask conditioned ale or real ale – these are un-pasteurised living beers which are predominately sold on draught in pubs. Ales can also be found in Belgium, Germayn and France.

Lambic – the unique wild beers of Belgium produced by spontaneous combustion. Lambic is usually blended to form Gueuze, and other variations are Faro (sweetened), Kriek (cherry), and Framboise (raspberry).

Pilsner –a light golden coloured lager brewed across Europe, and the most popular beer style in Europe.
Stouts and porter are examples of classic styles of ale brewed with dark roasted malts to give them their distinctive black colour.

Trappist beers – strong top-fermenting, bottle conditioned ales produced by the Trappist abbeys of Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, St Sixtus and Westmalle in Belgium and Schaapskooi in the Netherlands.

Wheat beer – beers made with at least 50 percent wheat. The style is very common typically in South Germany; they are sometimes identified as Weizenbier and on other occasions as Weisse or white beers. In northern Germany a distinctive wheat beer is brewed known as Weisse, which is characterised by a lower alcohol content and a sharp acidity. The Belgian also use the designation white or biere blanche to describe beers made with a proportion of unmalted wheat.