If you love to drink beer, and most of the world does, you might be aware of all the different kinds of beer available. They are all different in color and flavor as well as in calorie content and alcohol content. They come from different regions of the world and are made using ancient traditions as well as using modern technology. However, what you might not realize is that there are really only two distinct kinds of beers: lager beer and ales. What you see in the beer aisle at your local supermarket or in a specialty store simply represents modifications and interpretations of these classic recipes.

As a matter of fact, all beer starts out exactly the same way. The end product might be different because the actual ingredients can vary, but all beers begin with grain that is mashed with malt and mixed with water. These grains can include barley, wheat, and rice (which are the three most popular). They are milled together and boiled down and then natural enzymes are introduced to help break the starch down into sugars. The sugars ferment and create the alcohol of the final product. Again, this is the same for both lager beer and for ales.

From this point, the newly alcoholic mash is sent to brew kettles where it is, again, brought to a boil. It is at this point where the hops and yeast are added and where the ales and lagers separate. A lager beer is made with “bottom-fermenting” yeast. This means that when the yeast is added it sinks to the bottom and stays there. Yeast will rise to the top over time, but a lager is “finished brewing” before the yeast can rise. If the yeast does rise it is considered “top-fermenting” and the brew you have will be ale. The longer you let the ale rest and the more malt and hops you add will produce the various kinds of ale you can find on the shelves at your local market.

Because lager brewing stops before the yeast can rise, the brewing process results in a clean finish and offers a smooth, crisp taste to the person who drinks it. This is categorically what makes a lager. The other defining characteristic of a lager beer is that it cools at a much lower temperature than ale does which, again, contributes to the mild and crisp taste.

Lagers are very popular around the world for exactly the reason you might assume: they are clean, crisp, and easy to drink. Because they are so light, they are very easy to drink with heavy, deep-fried bar foods, which make these brews ideal for bars around the world. Because they are so light, these beers are also very popular in warmer regions of the world, especially when you consider that the recommended serving temperature for lager beer is near the freezing point. Popular lagers in the United States include Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Heineken, and Corona.

We all remember Christmases past when we were kids; your Dad would be sitting in his lazy boy sipping away on a cold can of beer watching you unwrap a gift or two on Christmas Eve. Back in the day there were really only two choices of beer, Old Style or Pabst. The choices for beer today would make our Dad’s blush. They would call them namsy-pambsy drinks. Beers today are more like fu-fu umbrella drinks. They come in every variety with a taste for every beer loving palate. No more “Old Pile” for the new generation of beer drinkers. Beer has become a taste extravaganza.

Micro brews have become all the rage over the past decade. Just about everything is being brewed into beer, flavored beers, stout beers, you name it there is a company who will brew it. It would leave the old guys asking where “real men” are anymore. Our fathers believed in sacrifice, alcohol was not to be enjoyed, but endured, none of this fun, yummy stuff, that is for sissies. Micro beers, however, are here to stay no matter what the old timers have to think about it.

Not only are there flavored beers now, but there are “light” beers. There are an assortment of different light beers that have flooded the market. Each of them is competing to be the one with the least calories, the one that you can drink on a diet. The one that won’t fill you up or give you that “beer belly” that our fathers sported like a trophy around their middle. Light beers are competing for the women beer drinkers who don’t really want all the calories, nor do they care about the taste, in the end it is all about the alcohol really.

Even the old time brewers are taking their chance at the micro beer craze with their own version of lime flavored beers. Beers are more than just about hops and barley, they are about targeting specific beer drinkers, marketing their brand, making something that has been around for centuries new again. Like everything else in America, companies can’t leave things alone, constantly changing, constantly keeping up with trends or creating them. So what would our fathers think of the new beers?

I am quite sure that my father would not be sitting in his lazy boy sipping on a woodpecker cider. Nor would he be in the kitchen cutting up oranges to put into his Blue Moon draft. He would be sitting in the corner sipping on the same old watered down, high produced, standard old Style beer. After all, beer is something of an acquired taste, one that should not be messed with or improved upon. The old timers like the day when a man was a man and just drank a good old cold beer after cutting their lawn on a hot summer day. They would scoff at the new definition of beer drinker who squeezes a lime into their Mexican import, goes to his wallet to pay the “landscaping” workers, and receives their own “brewing kit” for Christmas. A whole different generation of beer drinkers for sure.

Although the history of Carlsberg beer is relatively short, it is distinctly one of great celebration and legacy. After all, Carlsberg is one of the most recognized beer brands in the world today. It all started in 1847 when a young Dane named Jacob Jacobsen founded a small brewery just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. The promoter at the time said that the brewery’s fundamental principle of operation was to achieve the highest art of light beer brewing so as to establish Carlsberg products as the highest standard in the brewing world. It appears, from their continued success, that they have achieved this and continue to strive for it with every batch of beer they brew.

This enduringly positive attitude helped the beer to grow in circulation, which is obvious in its popularity today. In fact, throughout the history of Carlsberg beer, the brewing innovations that Jacobsen founded are now widely used in commercial brewing by companies all over the world. As a matter of fact, it was in Jacobsen’s own laboratory where the method for obtaining pure culture yeast was developed. Pure culture yeast is necessary to ensure a consistent quality of flavor in every batch of beer. Obviously, this is very important in today’s international beverage industry.

By 1868, Jacobsen was quite a successful businessman. When he had the opportunity to export the gamut of his products to Scotland and then to other European countries as well as the West Indies he did not hesitate. This is how Carlsberg beer became one of the first internationally exported beer trademarks. Because the foamy drink was wildly popular among dignitaries, country heads, and common-folk alike, the history of Carlsberg beer quickly became one of worldly renown. Even Queen Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill appreciated the quality brewing of Carlsberg. In fact, to this day, special Carlsberg brands are still produced for members of the royal family and other nobility.

There are two characteristics of Carlsberg beer, in particular, that consumers all over the world and throughout history have noted as the reason for its fairing so well. Despite being a light beer, Carlsberg has a somewhat complex aroma and a hoppy bitterness that are absent in many other light beers. It is this combination that has allowed Carlsberg to continue to grow in popularity over all these years. Another combination, this time of impeccable quality and aggressive promoting strategy, has helped the company to continue the tradition of brewing great beer. They have been able to preserve the respectable history of Carlsberg beer by not changing the recipe or process at all.

Most people can recognize Carlsberg beer, these days, because of its distinctive green label. However, in all the history of Carlsberg beer, it was not until 1894 that this label came to be. It was actually developed by an architect named Thorwald Bindesball. The well-known slogan, “Probably the best beer in the world” was made famous by an English actor whom you might know as Orson Welles in 1973.

It is difficult to say what the best tasting beer is simply because it is a matter of, in fact, personal taste. Everyone appreciates flavor differently, but in terms of classification it is probably safe to say that there are some beers that are “cleaner,” “smoother,” “hoppier,” and “more flavorful.” However, in order to identify these things you first need to understand the different kinds of beers.

There are really only two kinds of beer: lagers and ales. The only difference between them is how long they are brewed to allow the yeast to ferment. Lagers are bottom-fermenting brews which have less “flavor” because the yeast never rises to the top. These should be clean, smooth, and crisp (think Budweiser, Heineken, Stella Artois, and Pilsner Urquell, in order of lowest quality to highest). Ales, then, are brewed long enough for the yeast to rise, which adds depth of flavor to the brew.

That said the best tasting beer is always among those that have either a clean finish or a distinctly flavorful palate. It is also important to remember that the different kinds of beers should each be served at certain temperatures to maximize the flavors and the experience.

The lightest beers, like pale lagers and cream ales, should be served at near freezing temperatures. These are brews that are not intended to have much flavor, but some of the most popular brands are Budweiser, Heineken, and Carlsberg. The best tasting beer in this category is probably one that has little flavor, but for some reason goes very well with deep-fried, starchy, heavy bar foods.

Standard Pilsners and premium lagers, like Stella Artois, should be served at a slightly warmer temperature than pale lagers for maximum taste. This temperature is also ideal for Belgian White Ales (like Blue Moon) and dark lagers (like Dark Cloud from Mother Earth Brewing).

Pale ales (like Sierra Nevada, one of the most popular), lighter Amber Ales (like Full Sail), Porters (like those from Founders and Anchor brewing companies) and Bohemian Pilsners (like Pilsner Urquell, one of the most well-known brands in the world) are among the best tasting beer types to be served around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Fruit lambics (like 3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekske Kriek from Belgium) also taste best at this temperature.

“Cellar” beers are best served just below room temperature and are called this because you usually store them in a cellar, which is underground and thus slightly cooler than the surface temperature. Scottish ales, or Scotch-style ales (like Old Chub from Oskar Blues Brewery) and Brown ales (like Newcastle, one of the most popular) fit nicely in this category. So do India Pale Ales (like Dogfish Head’s 90-Minute IPA) and Premium Bitter Ales (like England’s Bitter Brewer).

Finally, “warm” beers are served at room temperature. This category includes stouts, the darkest beers, like Murphy’s and Guinness. The best tasting beers in this category usually serve up a complexity of flavors that many of the cooler beers cannot deliver. Guinness, for example, is quite aromatic and when you drink it you might taste a hint of chocolate!

Low calorie beer is somewhat of a sensitive topic in the beer world. This is because beer that is low in calories is also probably low in flavor as well as alcohol content. This, then, begs the question: “why bother?” Nonetheless, “lite” beer continues to reign among the top selling brands in America: Bud Light, Miller Light, and Coors Light, are always among the best-selling beers in the country. There are always newer versions of lite beer in development at any given time too.

The “lite” beer industry is somewhat of an anomaly for exactly that reason: that it is very successful despite the fact that it is somewhat insensible. However, there is another strange thing about low calorie beer that you might not expect: that the number of calories you save by drinking ‘lite’ beer really does not justify the fact that you pay the same amount of money for it. At least, this is the case with the most popular brands since smaller microbreweries may be able to regain some of their flavor while still offering a somewhat ‘lighter’ brew.

For example, among the top-selling beer brands in the United States, Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light, and Michelob Ultra all consistently rank within the top ten year after year. (It is important to note that their “full-bodied” versions also rank as high or higher). That said, though, it should make you wonder why they are so popular because these low calorie beer options do not have a depth of flavor and are not necessarily strong in alcohol content either.

The issue, then, must have something to do with a health-conscious society – one that wishes to do the best they can with the choices available. In the case of beer, then, many Americans opt for the low calorie beer option in hopes that it will justify straying far from their diet in the first place. The irony, though, is that the amount of calories you ‘save’ when choosing Bud Light over Budweiser is easily burned off during the amount of time it takes to consume one bottle of beer. Therefore, by you would take in about half a bottle more-worth of calories drinking four Budweiser bottles than you would drinking four Bud Light bottles.

What are you going to do about the calories that are common to both regular beer and the low calorie beer? Probably nothing, since it is likely that you will end the night with a restless sleep and not a thirty minute jog around the park to burn them off. However, many people do appreciate the “lite” option as it does help to reduce the amount of overall calories and carbohydrates that you take in. If you are, in fact, on a diet and watching those precious calories, it is sometimes just nice knowing that option is available. Although the margin may be small, the piece of mind it provides to you, as a consumer, may be more than enough to compensate. That, after all, is what you really want in the first place.

Beer is one of the oldest, most celebrated, most widely-appreciated crafts in the world. While most beer consumers probably stick to a few familiar brands when they choose to drink it, there is always something in the back of your mind that wonders what the strongest beers in the world taste like or what the most expensive beer might be. You might be surprised to find that the brews in the running for title of the “World’s Most Expensive Beer” are also some of the strongest in the world in terms of alcohol content. Then again, that really isn’t all that surprising.

TUTANKHAMUN ALE

At $52 bottle (one source suggests the retail price is $76) this beer is certainly more costly than your average weekend kickback, but when you consider that it is limited edition and is based on a recipe discovered in Queen Nefertiti’s Temple of the Sun it is definitely worth the price. Of course, when you discover that the Temple of the Sun, housed a brewery, it is not such a mystery that this recipe may have been left behind. When you look at the fact that the first bottle sold for $7,686 (and collectors are willing to pay over $500 for one bottle) the price becomes even more reasonable. Thus, Tutankhamun ale may be the most expensive beer ever sold at an auction. The name of the beer, then, is an obvious reference to Nefertiti’s stepson, commonly known as King Tut.

SAMUEL ADAMS UTOPIA

American patriots can cheer that the beloved Boston beer company has managed to brew a uniquely sophisticated beer that rings in around $100. At 50-proof it is potent, but the blend of high-quality hops and vanilla, oak, and caramel highlights might make you forget you are drinking beer in the first place. The ornate, copper-plated brew kettle helps mask the nature of the brew, looking more like Grand Marnier Liqueur Cuvee Du Centcinquantenaire than a simple bottle of beer.

CARLSBERG VINTAGE 3

Carlsberg is a beer company that has been around for a long time, so they know what goes into making a quality brew. Better known for their light-bodied, common ABV lager, the Vintage 3 is the third generation of a new direction of craft beers. More like a pale barley wine, this beer is aged in French Cote d’Or oak barrels and costs [the equivalent of] $348 per bottle, the most expensive beer they produce.

THE END OF HISTORY

Holding the title of “World’s Strongest Beer” for exactly 11 days, this beer from Scotland’s Brewdog brewery is a blonde, Belgian-style ale infused with nettles and juniper berries. For $765, it is the most expensive beer that comes to you wrapped in animal pelt and rocks a 55 percent ABV (okay, it’s the only beer).

ANTARCTIC NAIL ALE

For $800 you could own a bottle of the most expensive beer in the world. Brewed with actual Antarctic Ice, only thirty bottles were produced, but since all of the money goes straight to charity, it might also be the most humanitarian beer you will ever buy.

Most people who drink beer probably do so at whatever temperature it is out of the fridge or the tap. This is usually because most markets and bars store all of their beer in the same refrigerator, both in bulk storage and in the areas where they can be easily accessible. Just like wine, though, the various types of beer can taste better depending on what temperature you serve it. Beer temperatures, then, can greatly affect the quality of your beer drinking experience.

VERY COLD (32-39F/0-4C): Many beers that you find at top-rated ale houses are served at this, the coldest of beer temperatures, because it makes all beer taste good. Quite frankly, if you really don’t want to taste your beer, or if you prefer to drink a beer that has a very light taste, this is the temperature for you. Generally, the beers served at this temperature are simple or have flavors that are better when they are crisp

• Pale lagers
• Malt liquor
• Golden ale and cream ale (Canadian-style)
• Various ciders (Canadian, American, Scandanavian)

COLD (39-45F/4-7C): This is probably the temperature that most people are familiar with. It is a temperature that allows you to pick up more subtle flavors of the lighter beers but also one that is easier to maintain (which is better for smaller bars and restaurants). However, beers that taste best at this temperature include:

• Hefeweizen and kristalweizen
• Kolsch-style
• Premium lagers
• Pilsners (like Budweiser)
• Belgian White Ale
• Dark Lager (and stronger, richer lagers)
• Sweetened fruit lambics and gueuzes,

COOL (45-54F/8-12C): As you have probably started to gather, as beer gets darker it becomes more and more appropriate to serve it at warmer beer temperatures. This doesn’t mean that the following types of beers cannot be served colder, but they taste and settle best here in this middle range.

• Pale ales
• Amber ales
• Sweet stout
• Porter
• Golden ale (English-style)
• Fruit lambics and gueuzes
• Bohemian pilsner
• Ciders (French or Spanish)

CELLAR (54-57F/12-14C): These are, basically, beers that you would serve directly from kegs that are stored in a cellar. As the recommended beer temperatures suggest, these beers are best served just below room temperature.

• Bitter and premium bitter ales
• Brown ale
• India Pale Ale (IPA)
• Weizen bock
• Scottish Ale
• Old ale

WARM (57-61F/14-16C): While there is a warmer category (HOT), beers at this temperature are probably the end all for most beer drinkers as far as beer temperatures are concerned. As you can see, they are best when served at room temperature.

• Barley wine
• Abt/quadruple
• Imperial Stout
• Imperial/Double IPA

Many people all over the world like beer. In many countries, the tradition dates back many centuries, making beer a major part of the culture. There are many different kinds of beer, categorized by the way it is brewed and what it is made out of. This makes beer one of the most widely complex beverages in the world. Ironically, though, the process for making the many different kinds of beers is very similar; one only need look inside a beer factory to see this.

MASHING

Inside a beer factory the first thing that needs to be done is mix and mash the grains with malt and water. In modern times, this is done in a stainless steel tank. Depending on the type of beer you are making, the grains could include barley, wheat, and rice (and probably others because of the variety of specialty brands). Everything is milled, mixed, and boiled down and natural enzymes are added to break the starch into sugars, which will ferment and generate the alcohol content. The mixture is then strained which separates the spent grain husks from a clear, sweet amber liquid called wort.

BREWING

Once the mixture is strained, the wort is sent to the brew kettles. Once there, the liquid is brought to a boil where natural hops are added (for lagers). This is the “spice” or “flavor” of the beer. Depending on the recipe and the variety of hops, this step will change the fragrance and flavor of the beer. Before the beer ferments, though, the wort is pumped through another vessel, which receives it and cools it to the necessary temperature for receiving yeast.

FERMENTATION

Up until this point, the process for brewing beer inside a beer factory is exactly the same no matter what you are brewing (give or take the hops that you select for the flavors you are looking for). However, the first (of three) difference(s) between lagers and ales (which are, essentially, the two basic kinds of beers), is which kind of yeast you use. During the fermentation process, the brewer adds yeast at this point.

Lagers are made with “bottom-fermenting” strains of yeast, which sink to the bottom of the tank and ferment there. This provides a clean, crisp flavor because the yeast does not affect the flavor of the grains, malt, and hops. Lagers ferment at colder temperatures and brew for a longer period of time.

Ales are made with “top-fermenting” yeast strains. Typically, the yeast has risen to the top of the tank during the fermentation process. Top-fermenting yeast does affect the flavor of the brew. Ales ferment at warmer temperatures and brew for a short period of time.

STORING / BOTTLING

After the yeast is added and the beer is fermented it is either stored or bottled. Inside a beer factory you will find a large assembly line where the beer is put into bottles (or cans or kegs) and then either stored or further sent to the distribution area where it is shipped out to warehouses, liquor stores, grocery stores, and pubs.

Many people are familiar with St. Patrick as the person responsible for driving the snakes out of Ireland. However, many people are unaware that he is not only the Patron Saint of Ireland, but also of Nigeria, Boston, engineers, and paralegals. You may also not know that St. Patrick is attributed with using the shamrock (the “three-leaf clover”) as an illustrated parable of Christian teaching of “three divine persons in the one God.” This is the reason why the shamrock became a symbol for St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on the day of his death. What most people probably do not know, however, is that there is no historical or biblical indication of any connection between St Paddys Day and Green Beer.

That doesn’t seem to stop most people, though, from using the day as a reason to drink Irish whiskey and green beers, especially in the United States. No matter where you go, all over the country you will be able to find enumerable celebrations revolving around St Paddys Day and Green Beer and the festive day of March 17th. This is particularly true in areas of the country with rich Irish heritage, namely Boston. Of course, traditional Irish pubs all over the country do pretty well during this period of celebration.

Ok, now that this history is out of the way, you should know that on top of there being no relation between St Patrick and beer there is neither a relation between St Paddys Day and green beer because there really is no such thing as green beer. While there are certainly some beers that may be slightly red in color, the green beers that you may consume at your local Irish pub on the days surrounding March 17th, are probably hued with food coloring. Obviously, beers that are lighter in color will take on more of the color, so you will probably want to stick to things like pilsners or traditional lagers. Of course, this means that you can very easily enjoy green beers from the comfort of your own home as well.

Ironically, though, traditional Irish beers, and those more familiarly attributed to “St Paddys Day and Green Beer” are not green in color, but actually very dark. This is because they are stout beers. The famous of these is Guinness, whose dark, near-chocolate, malty flavor, and cascading action in the glass is common to many parts of the world. However, there are many brands of the come from the land of Erin.

• GUINNESS DRAUGHT: Very dark in appearance, the aroma is sweet like chocolate and coffee but tastes surprisingly light and thin. It is lower in alcohol content as well as substance.
• MURPHY’S IRISH STOUT: Black that fades to garnet (red) with a slightly off-white head, this beer is tradition at its finest. Very smooth (even smoother than Guinness) and creamy it easy to drink straight from the can or poured into a simple pint glass.
• O’HARA’s CELEBRATION STOUT: With a surprisingly dark head it smells like chocolate and a hint of smoke. The taste is similarly but finishes sweetly and is somewhat oaky, perhaps from the tannins.

There is a beer on the market that many purists would consider a “non-beer.” Non-alcoholic beer has been available for years, though it lacks one of the key components that many believe makes it a beer – the alcohol. It has therefore been given the nickname “near beer.” It’s been given a bad rap over the years because there are some non-alcoholic (NA) beers that simply taste really bad.

If you’ve had a bad experience with a near beer and you don’t like the beer, you owe it to yourself to try another kind. There are many on the market and not all of them leave a horrible after taste in your mouth.

Common Non-Alcoholic Beer

There are quite a few non-alcoholic beers on the market and you can usually find them in a liquor store or specialty shop that sells beer (World Market is one). It is harder to find a good non-alcoholic beer in a restaurant because it’s a tough market. If you’re lucky, they’ll have one beer available. The most common beers you can find around are:

• O’Douls (they also have an Amber)
• Bucker (Heineken’s brand)
• Kaliber (Guinness’ brand)
• Sharp’s

Alcohol or Not?

Non-alcoholic beer still contains a little alcohol. If you are a recovering alcoholic, it’s got enough alcohol in it that you should avoid it at all costs. It is talked about at AA meetings as a tease and can be just enough to set an addict over the edge. When you’re pregnant, it’s enough alcohol to make a doctor advise against drinking it.

A standard beer has about 5% ABV or alcohol by volume. The non-alcoholic content typically is about 0.5% ABV. Light beers which are also lower in calories have about 4.2% ABV. So while it is a significant decrease in alcohol, there is still alcohol present. Since there is still alcohol present, the US requires that a person be 21 years of age or more, with the exception of a few states.

Why Drink It?

So if non-alcoholic beer doesn’t have a lot of alcohol but still has enough to count, why drink it? There are a few reasons. If you find a good tasting non-alcoholic beer, it will take the place of regular beer when you’ve had enough to drink but your friends want to keep partying. If you are in the military, it’s the closest to beer that you’ll most likely get. Being on high blood pressure medication, it cannot mix with alcohol; however the non-alcoholic version is approved.

Non-alcoholic beer can be your savior at a party when you need to be “good” and not drink but still want to have the taste. It’s all a matter of what beer you select and why it is that you’re choosing a non-alcoholic beer. There are many kinds of beer in general and not everyone likes them all. So if you didn’t like the first kind you had, go in search of another one and you may find that you like the non-alcoholic version just as much as the real thing.