Happy New Year!
Glorious, glorious, one keg of beer for the four of us – goes an old drinking song but with so many styles, what does the term beer really mean?
The definition of the word beer from the Webster’s Dictionary is a carbonated beverage made from malted barley, is flavored with hops, and generally is less than 5% alcohol by volume. The two main styles of beer are ales and lagers, and both styles meet the definition put forth by Websters. So, what is the difference between ales and lagers?
The big differences between ales and lagers are the yeasts used to ferment the beer, the temperature at which that fermentation occurs, and the resulting flavor of the beer.
Yeast strains have evolved to do very specific things – there are yeasts specific to making bread dough rise, ale yeast to ferment and produce ales and lager yeast to ferment and produce lager beers. The well-known scientist Louis Pasteur got his start working to determine what caused beer to ferment. He determined that it was yeast that caused fermentation and published his work in Etudes sur La Biere in 1876. Also in this work, Pasteur determined that heating beer improved shelf life and decreased spoilage – pasteurization – not just for milk!
Now back to ales and lagers! Ale yeast likes it hot and ferments beer at a temperature between 60 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit and lager yeast likes it cool and ferments beer at a temperature between 45 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The hot fermentation temperature for ale yeast allows the yeast to add its own flavors to the end product, and the fermentation is quick – two to seven days. Ales can have fruity esters resulting in flavors of apple, pear, banana, currants, and dark fruits like prunes and raisins. Ales are much older than lagers – historically ales fermented at the ambient temperature prior to refrigeration.
The cool fermentation for lager yeasts does not produce any yeast flavors in the final product and takes much longer to ferment – five to 10 days. Lagers are considered clean and crisp showing off the flavors of the other ingredients, malt and hops, and not the by-products of the yeast. Lagers have a history starting in the 1500s that will be discussed at another time. The discovery and use of refrigeration in the brewing industry allowed lager brewing to take off globally. Lagers are the largest style of beer worldwide – nine out of every 10 beers made globally is the lager style!
Well known ales include Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale, Guinness Stout, and the growing category of India Pale Ales (IPAs). If you want to really taste the yeast, consider a German Hefeweizen – Ayinger Brauweise or a Hofbrauhaus Muncher Weisse – yeast flavors of banana and cloves or a Belgium Blonde Ale – Leffe Blonde Ale with yeast flavors of orange or lemon or the Belgium ale, Duvel (the Devil), with flavors of pear and spicy phenols.
Well-known lagers include Budweiser, Coors Banquet, Miller High Life, Yuengling, Corona, and Heineken. An excellent example of a flavorful lager is Dos Equis Amber XX with rich malt flavors and a touch of bitterness which is a Vienna Lager style and a German Doppelbock, Paulaner Salvator which has a rich caramel malt sweetness with hints of chocolate and very low bitterness.
Of course, many craft brewers are blurring the lines between ales and lagers, and there are new styles emerging – like sour beers. For the New Year – if you always drink a lager, try an ale and vice versa! Expanding your beer palate can be quite interesting! As always, drink responsibly.
