What is a beer style?

A “style” is how a beer is categorized. These styles typically have defined ranges of ABV and color, as well as other factors like special ingredients. Brewing beer is part science and part art. Some brewers delight in brewing traditional styles to the book, while others love to throw definitions to the wind.

Styles are helpful to you, the beer drinker, by letting you know what to expect.

What Makes Beer Styles Different?

If you’ve had a beer before, you probably know that a stout is going to look and taste different than an IPA, but what causes that difference?

It all comes down to the beer recipe. The types of grain, hops, and yeast you choose, the amounts, and event the water has an impact on the flavor, color and ABV of a beer. That’s not even mentioning if you’re adding in special ingredients like fruit, spices or coffee. Every beer - even those within the same style - is different right down to the composition of the original ingredients.

Think about beer styles like music genres. “Rock” music might be created with a specific set of instruments, and although it was defined decades ago, its continuously evolving. Each musician to pick up a guitar has put their own personal spin on the genre, combining elements of other music genres and sounds. Those same instruments, although specific to rock, are also used to make music like pop or disco.

Beer has four main ingredients: water, grain, hops and yeast. They are a four-piece band that can play any request you can think of. The brewers are the masterminds behind the scenes creating a unique sound with every new beer they produce.

Ales + Lagers: What’s the difference?

While there are many variations of both, every single beer you’ve ever had is either an ale or a lager. The difference between an ale and a lager is the family of yeast strains that are used to ferment them.

Ale yeast strains produce a faster, warmer fermentation while lager strains like a slower, colder fermentation. The only difference in these two beer styles is the yeast!

Who makes the decisions?

Today, the Brewers Association is the organization that keeps our definitions of beer styles up-to-date. They are also responsible for introducing new styles and variants as they become popular. At the end of the day, craft beer is art! Style guidelines are just guidelines and brewers will continue to keep innovation beer as we know it!