Your Essential Guide to Beer
8. American Lager :
Popular Examples:, Budweiser, Michelob, Coors, Miller Genuine Draft, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Corona Extra, Foster's Lager, Labett Blue, Yuengling, , Caloric Range: 135-155
Chances are this is the class of beer you're most familiar with. The biggest producers of American lagers, MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev, collectively control close to 80 percent of the domestic market. Of all beers, these are the lightest in color and most heavily carbonated. Their closest relatives are the pilsners, but unlike pilsners, which rely solely on barley and hops, these recipes veer toward rice and corn, crops that add little flavor but keep costs low. Plus, a true pilsner is more bitter, with somewhere between 25 and 45 International Units of Bitterness (IBUs). American lagers, with scores as low as 8, are clearly more mellow.
7. Light Lager:
In terms of flavor, these beers aim to replicate American lagers, but they adapt the formula with two key modifications: less alcohol and fewer carbohydrates. Whereas a typical American lager has about 5 percent alcohol, light lagers typically fall between 2.5 and 4.2 percent. And compared with the 8 to 15 grams of carbs in the average American lager, a light lager normally has anywhere between 2 and 9 grams. That makes them your best option for cutting calories. Of course, like American lagers, they lack the complexity of other beer styles. In fact, with the lightest loads of hops and barley, these are considered the least flavorful of all the beers.
6. Pilsner:
This is the beer that influences the brewing recipes of American lagers, so if you like the core domestic beers like Bud and Coors, you"ll probably love the proper pilsners. Born in the Czech Republic city of Pilsen, these beers are pale, light, and crisp. It's a profile they earn through a simple recipe that relies on four primary ingredients: barley, hops, water, and yeast. (By comparison, Budweiser adds less-flavorful rice to create its brew.) Pilsners, like the American lagers, are tan and gold in color, but they tend to have slightly heavier bodies and less carbonation. Authentic pilsners are difficult to come by in the US. Look to your local microbrew or imports from Europe.
5. Wheat Beer:
Wheat beer is created when the brew master thins out the barley with a significant dose of wheat during the fermentation process. In the US, there are a handful of microbrewers experimenting with wheat lagers. Not in Germany, though. The traditional German wheat beers are always produced as ales, and you'll recognize them by the words "weiss" or "weizen" on the label: weissbier, dunkelweizen, weizenbock, and so on. Compared with barley, wheat carries a heavier load of protein, which plays out as a thicker head in your mug. That protein—along with the fact that many wheat beers are served unfiltered—also helps create the distinctive cloudy look.
4. Pale Ale:
The American pale ale is predated by the English bitter beers, but today some of the world's best versions are coming from domestic microbreweries. Craft beer sales spiked by 12.4 percent in 2009, and now capture nearly 6 percent of the beer market. It's still in the niche category, but it's a niche with enough support that you shoudn't have trouble digging up a local brew. Although to a lesser degree than in a lager, pale ales are crisp and carbonated, but with the bitterness of a pilsner. Amber ale is a close relative; it's just a couple shades darker and leaves a stronger caramel impression on your taste buds.
3. IPA:
Looking for an ale with a little more oomph? This could be your beer. IPAs, or India pale ales, bring in loads of hops to cut through the sweetness of the barley, often leaving a lingering bitter taste on the tongue. The strongest variety—both in terms of bitterness and alcohol—is the imperial IPA, an ultra-heady brew that cranks the hop levels to maximum. Despite being high in calories, hop-heavy beers have advantages. Researchers at Jerusalem's Hebrew University found that IPAs were significant sources of polyphenols, a class of antioxidants that can lower your cholesterol and decrease your risk of cancer. Now you can officially drink to your health.
2. Porter:
These beers aren't quite as dark as stouts, but they generally fall outside the brown-colored beer spectrum. Of course, you might still sometimes find a light-colored porter sold as "brown porter." With beers this dark, the lines sometimes blur, but they are defined by strong barley flavors with mild hops. The key to both color and flavor is in the roast of the barley; craft beers generally are blends of brown, chocolate, and black malts. This can play out on your palate like toffee and roasted nuts or sweet licorice and toast. These are medium- to full-bodied beers that go down thick and smooth. Think chocolate milk.
1. Stout:
Popular Examples:, Sierra Nevada Stout, Beamish Irish Stout, Samuel Adams Cream Stout, , Caloric Range: 125-230
This is easily the darkest breed of beer, often pushing
toward completely black. Like porters, stouts pull much of their flavor
from the sugars in roasted barley, but they balance this with a slightly
heavier reliance on bitter hops. Casual drinkers are sometimes put off
by the color, but generally these beers are very palatable. They're
creamy with undertones of coffee and chocolate, and many of them are
served with slightly less alcohol than the average full-bodied beer.
Guinness Draught, for instance, delivers only 4 percent alcohol. But be
warned: Those labeled "extra stout" are a stronger breed and often carry
alcohol loads as high as 8 percent.
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