Types of Beer”
by William G. Robinson
that was created by man about
4,000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. Man
discovered it by baking a special
bread, mashing it, adding a
barley malt to it and allowing it
to ferment Today, after cen
turies of improvement from the
first creation of beer, we have
thousands of companies that
brew beer throughout the world..
The original beer has evolu-L
tionized into the following five
basic types of beer: Lager, Ale,
Porter, Stout, and Bock. Each two beers is the taste. Ale has a yeast that rises to the top. Ale is
type has its own flavor, color strong full-bodied taste and it is aged and brewed about the
and characteristics because of thicker than the average watery same way as most lager beers
the way it is fermented and tasting lager beer. I prefer an ale and color than lager beer. The
brewed. These types of beers are to a lager beer because of this real difference between these
just a general category because taste difference. I don't know of nearly dark brown in color.
no two beers taste the same, any American brewed ale type These same beers also have a
unless they are made at the beers, but I have had several higher alcoholic percentage
same brewery with exactly the good ales when I was in Ger than ale or lager. Like ale, there
same ingredients.
many and Spain. The best ale I are no stout or porter type beers
The most poplular beer in the
ever had was beer called a that I know of that are brewed
United States is the lager beer. It
Pilsener (German for ale) brew in the U.S., but I have a few
is fermented at a relatively cool
ed in a Stuttgart hofbrau favorites that I tasted while I
temperature, with a yeast that (brewery). It had a strong taste was in Europe. One of which
falls to the bottom at the end of without overpowering the taste was a German stout called a
fermentation. Lager beer is
of any food you might happen Weizen. It was brewed in a
usually the lightest in color, as to be eating. I also liked another Frankfurt hofbrau and tasted
compared to other types of Pilsener that was brewed in sweet, but not too sweet so as to
beers, and it has the best keep Wurzburg. It was similar to the disquise the natural flavor of the
ing qualities, Its somewhat bit- Stuttgart Pilsener in color and beer. It was a rather thick beer
ter taste can be attributed to a body, but tasted totally dif with a rich heavy foam. Another
light type of malt used in pro ferent, the difference being the German stout that I really liked
ducing the beer. Some well brewing process and use of hops was called a Hefe-Weizen brew
known American lager beers and malts from different areas.
ed in a local Wurzburg hofbrau.
are: Strohs, Budweiser, Miller,
Stout and porter are varia The characteristics between it
Schlitz, etc. Most lager beers
tions of ale. They are fermented and the Weizen were very close,
taste extremely watery. My in the same way as ale, but they
except that while the Weizen
favorite American lager beer is / use a dark or black malt Stout
had its yeast removed or strain
Michelob. It has a more distinct and porter are usually aged for a
ed off after fermenting, the
taste than most other lager longer period of time than ale.
beers made in the U.S., and I One of two major differences Hefe-Weizen didn't This makes
have been able to enjoy it with between stout and porter is that the beer extremely strong in not
dinner or a candy bar. Another stout is thicker in body and only taste but in alcoholic con
good lager beer is a beer called darker in color than porter. The tent as well. The first time I
"Corona," which is brewed in other major difference is that drank a Hefe-Weizen I got sick
Mexico. Like Michelob, it has a stout is brewed with a stronger- because of the yeast but I really
distinct taste that doesn't seem hop character than porter. It is
liked the taste of the beer, so I
overpowered by the water in the this difference that makes stout
got
used to the yeast rather than
beer.
a stronger tasting beer than
Ale is, by far, the most porter, but this same difference just quit drinking it I've never
popular beer in the rest of the gives porter a richer and heavier tasted a smoother beer than a
civilized world. Ale is fermented foam than stout They both Hefe-Weizen. Porter is the only
at a warmer temperature, with a taste sweeter than ale and are type of beer I haven't tried, but
I'm going to change that when I * thickest, heaviest, and highest in
return to Europe in the summer alcoholic percentage that I had
of 1989.
ever seen or tasted. It was com-
Bock beer is the last type of » pletely black like the German
beer. It is a seasonal beer that is bocks I had been
drinking,
produced mainly to observe but when I poured it into a glass,
custom and tradition. It is the it didn't foam up, and it
darkest beer, ranging from dark
resembled 30 weight motor oil. I
brown to a deep black in color.
was hesitant in drinking this
Bock is also the thickest and
beer, but I tasted it anyway, and
heaviest beer, resembling syrup
at times. Bock also has the it conformed to the German
bocks in all other aspects but
highest alcohol percentage
with greater effect. It definitely
reaching percentages of 10 per
affected my mind and kept me
cent or more. It is produced by
buzzing for quite a long time.
carmelized or highly roasted
I consider myself a beer con
malt and subsequently aged for
I've been to
a much longer period of time as noisseur because
compared with other beers. I several countries all over the
have two personal favorites in world and tasted hundreds of
this category. The first is a Ger different beers. I like drinking
man bock called "Dupelbach" beer for the taste, and today I
which was brewed in Munich. It drink mainly Corona or Coors
was a dark black beer, and if Light Although these beers
you looked at it too long you don't compare with the beers I
would think it was swamp water. became familiar with overseas,
It had a full body and a very they are better than nothing. My
strong taste to it and after just a personal preference as far as
few of them I was feeling very beer is concerned is nothing
good. The beer didn't go well more than an opinion. If you
with food or other types of beers drink beer for any reason, I
and it tended to get a person challenge you to try a European
sick very easily if consumed in import or maybe another brand
conjunction with anything. The of beer and compare the tastes
second bock I prefer is a to the kind you are drinking
Spanish bock brewed in now. And after doing this, you'll
Barcelona
called
"El be on your way to becoming a
Salvatore." This bock was the beer connoisseur like me.