Craft beer has exploded in popularity over the last three decades, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Every state already has an outstanding craft brewery, and new varieties of craft beer emerge every year.
You should be familiar with hazy IPAs, session beers, sours, and wild ales if you consider yourself a serious beer lover.
To begin, beers are divided into three categories based on the yeast used. Ale yeast (a top-fermenting yeast that works best at warm temperatures) and lager yeast (which ferments on the bottom at cooler temps) are the two most frequent.
To produce sour and wild beers, the third employs a naturally occurring yeast in the environment. Lagers, such as Mexican beers, American pale beers, pilsners, and German bocks, are often light and crisp in taste.
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American Pale Ale
These are darker beers with hues ranging from dark gold to amber. These beers are likewise more hop-forward than IPAs, however, they aren’t as harsh. An APA is a fantastic option if you’re seeking a beer with a decent mix of a caramel taste and hop brightness.
They’re also somewhat alcoholic, with alcohol percentages ranging from 4.5 to 6.5 percent by volume. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale, Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Pale Ale, and SweetWater Brewing 420 Extra Pale Ale are all popular brands. Some of these are California common brands with a bitter taste and fruity flavors which run through your full body.
Brown Ales
Brown ales have a dark caramel or chocolate hue, as their name indicates. The roasted malts in the mash give the beer a substantial body and a nutty taste. The crisp flavors combined with a little hop in contrast to the cream ales, make the brown ales an awesome choice.
The majority of English-style brown ales are low in alcohol and lack hop flavor, however American versions may reach 8% and contain a mild bitterness from the hops. An excellent and unique beer for the average beer drinker who loves switching styles in the brewing process.
American Wheat
The fruity tastes and fragrant clove-like phenols are absent in the American form of hefeweizen, which has a more neutral flavor. They retain all of the chewiness of a German hefeweizen but are normally filtered to eliminate the cloudiness.
A minor quantity of hops is also added by certain American brewers to give these wheat beers a bitter edge for balance. These wheat beers, like hefeweizen, range in alcohol content from 4 to 7 percent. Blue Moon, Bell’s Brewery Oberon, Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat, and Southern Tier Hop Sun are all popular brands.
Pumpkin Beer
Brewers in the United States couldn’t resist making pumpkin-flavored beers, and they’ve become so popular that they’ve earned their own category! Depending on the brewery, actual pumpkin and artificial flavorings are used in these beers.
Ambers, IPAs, stouts, porters, and other beers may be used to make them. Southern Tier Pumpking, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale, Avery Brewing Rumpkin, and Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale are all popular brands.
Vienna Lager
These beers have a mild taste and are as simple to drink as American lagers, despite their deeper color (ranging from pale to medium amber).
These 4.5 to 5.5 percent alcohol beers are most popular in Mexican brewers, although they originated in Vienna. It is usually paired with cheese soup as it is made in lower temperatures with specific types of yeast, it goes well with this food.
Berliner Weisse
Because they’re not overly edgy, these low-alcohol beers might be a fantastic introduction to sour beers. Berliner Weisse is a light-colored, mildly sour beer with less than 3.4 percent alcohol by volume in most cases.
To balance out the acidic qualities, most brewers serve them with a flavored syrup called Woodruff. Dogfish Head Festina Peche, 3 Floyds Brewing Deesko!, Bear Republic Tartare, and Perennial Artisan Ales are all popular brands.
Belgian Pale
Belgian-style pale beers, in contrast to American pale ales, have a sweeter, more malt-forward taste. In addition, the yeast employed in these beers imparts a fruity taste and a spicy scent that is absent in American equivalents.
These beers will have an alcohol content of 4.5 to 7%. Orval Trappist Ale, Petrus Aged Pale, Boston Beer Belgian Session, Russian River Redemption, and Spencer Trappist Ale are all popular brands. Belgian beers are awesome, just like German pilsners.
Irish Red
Irish reds, like ambers, have a sweet and malty backbone that’s tempered by hops for a hint of bitterness. To give them a crisp taste, they are often brewed using lager yeasts rather than ale yeasts. They’re generally about 5% alcohol content, much as ambers.
On St. Patrick’s Day, you don’t have to drink Guinness; Irish Red is a great option! George Killian’s Irish Red Ale, Samuel Adams Irish Red Ale, and Three Floyds Brian Boru’s Old Irish Ale are all popular brands.
Russian Imperial Stout
The alcohol concentration of these stouts is quite high – up to 12 percent! They have a dark color and a dry finish, just like most stouts, but their high alcohol content brings out dried fruit aromas and dark chocolate flavors.
Try one of these with raw oysters on the half shell if you’re going to eat them raw. One of the trappist beers with a smooth flavor due to its storage in oak barrels with much leeway similar to amber beers. They also have a small malt presence and sweet flavors just like dark porters. There are flavors light and strong ones to choose from.
Kolsch
This one-of-a-kind beer is made using lager yeasts but fermented at ale temperatures. It’s light in color, like its larger siblings, but with a fruitier taste and a drier finish. Similar in after taste to the amber ale, and one of the favorite ipas.
Kolsch beers are as refreshing as lagers, but with a rich mouthfeel and spicy, aromatic hop presence, they’re as fulfilling as ales. Alaskan Brewing Kolsch, Ballast Point California Kolsch, and Samuel Adams East-West Kolsch are all popular brands.
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