Beer

  • Fermented from a primary starch source, e.g. malted barley.
  • Alcoholic beverages fermented from nonstarch sources such as grape juice or honey, as well as distilled beverages cannot be classified as beer.

How is Beer Made

Beer is made by brewing, through five essential stages: mashing, sparging, boiling, fermentation, and packaging.

Mashing: process of converting starches to fermentable sugars. A mixture of water and a starch source(known as mash) is heated to a certain temperature to allow enzymes present in the mash to break down the starch in the grain to sugars.

Sparging: extracts the fermentable liquid, known as wort, from the mash.

Boiling: sterilizes the wort and increases the concentration of sugar in the wort. During boiling, water in the wort evaporates, leaving the sugars and other components of the wort. During this stage, hops are added in order to extract bitterness, flavour and aroma from them.

Fermentation: uses yeast to turn the sugar in wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer. Beers requiring long storage before packaging or greater clarity go through a period of secondary fermentation.

Packaging: the final stage of the brewing process, where the beer is prepared for distribution and consumption. The beer is put into the vessel from which it will be served, and carbonated in its package.

Ales vs Lagers

All beers fall under one of these two categories. In other words, a pilsner is a lager, and porters and stouts are ales.

TL;DR

  • lager: bottom-fermented; brewed cold, slow; crisp, milder tasting
  • ale: top-fermented; warm, fast; robust, full flavor

Ales tend to be fruity-estery, while lagers are clean-tasting and frequently described as "crisp."

Ales and Lagers. Determined by the time and temperature of primary fermentation as well as where the yeast sits during fermentation.

  • Ale: brewed from malted barley using a top-fermenting brewers' yeast. This yeast ferments the beer quickly, giving it a sweet full bodies and fruity taste. Most ales also contain hops.
  • Lager: brewed using bottom-fermenting yeast, and ferments in cooler temperatures. Lager is generally less fruity and spicy than ales tend to be. Lagers are currently the most commonly consumed beers in the world.

All of those beers you think of as "national" brands -- Heineken, Tsing Tao, Sapporo, Kingfisher, Budweiser to name just a few -- those are all lagers.

Brewers generally want their beer to attenuate (convert sugar to alcohol) slowly in the ferment, thus changes will take place over a longer period of time. Hence, they tend to keep fermentation temperatures as low as possible, particularly in the aging process after attenuation is, for the most part, complete.

http://allaboutbeer.com/article/lager-beer-vs-ale-beer%E2%80%94does-it-matter/

“lager” beer (from the German lagern: to store) long storage period

Draft, Draught, Craft

Draft and draught are the same word (and pronouced the same: draft), meaning "on tap", as opposed to bottled. Draft beer is fresher than bottled or canned beer.

Craft beer are brewed by smaller breweries, as opposed to the large brands like Budweiser, Miller, Heineken, etc.

Color

pale, golden, amber, dark

Bitterness

IBU range: 5-120

Europe Breweries

德国 Weihenstephan（唯森）是世界最古老的酿酒厂

Belgium:

  • Leffe Blond: first brewed in 1240 by the monks of Abbaye de Notre Dame de Leffe, int eh Belgian province of Namur. Full-flavored, bright, golden ale.
  • Stella Artois: can be traced back as early as 1366, to the town of Leuven, Belgium.
  • Hoegaarden: the original Belgian White Beer whose heritage dates back to the 15th Century. The secret to Hoegaarden's refreshing flavor and spicy nose is real Curacao organge peel and a dash of coriander.
  • Duvel: strong golden pale ale.

France:

  • Kronenbourg 1664 golden pale lager Kronenbourg Brewery Strasbourg, France

Denmark

US Breweries

Northern California

  • Anchor Brewing: forged in san francisco in 1896, we are proud to be america’s first craft brewery.
  • Russian River Brewing Company: Santa Rosa, known for strong IPA and sour beers. Inventor of Double and Triple IPA.
  • Lagunitas: now part of Heineken
  • Sierra Nevada: chico
  • 21st Amendment Brewery: San Leandro (Bay area) https://www.21st-amendment.com/
  • Almanac Beer Company: Alameda https://almanacbeer.com/
  • Trumer Pils: Berkeley

Southern California

Hawaii

Others

  • Elysian Brewing, Seattle, WA
  • DESCHUTES BREWERY, BEND, OR: named after the Deschutes River, which runs through Oregon.
  • Founders
  • New Belgium, Fort Collins, CO https://www.newbelgium.com/ Fat Tire, Voodoo Ranger
  • Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, Delaware

Canada

  • Unibroue: Chambly, Quebec

Mexico Brands

  • Corona : pale lager
  • Modelo
  • Dos Equis

Lager

Pilsner

A type of pale lager, named from the city of Pilsen (Plzeň).

Pilsner Urquell, the world's first pale lager and ancestor of today's Pilsners

"Imperial"

The word "Imperial" is now commonly added to other beer styles to denote a stronger version, hence Imperial IPAs, Imperial pilsners etc.

Beer Purity Law

Reinheitsgebot, literally "purity order", also known as the :

Only 4 ingredients are allowed: hops, barley malt, water and yeast.

It was enacted in 1516 in Bavaria (a.k.a. Bavarian Beer Purity Law), yeast was still unknown at the time but later added. From 1906 it applies to the whole Germany.

Certification

BJCP，Beer Judge Certification Program