Types of Beer / Beer Styles

Stout – Stouts are dark colored beers with lots of roasted, dark chocolate, coffee or burnt notes to them. Jet black in color with roasted malts being the focal point, this dry beer style has a hoppy bitterness that floats in the background. Because this is a forgiving type of beer to brew at home, it’s easy for a beginner to produce.

Porter – Another dark beer style, porters tend to be a touch more subdued than stouts. More chocolate character than roast and sometimes not as dry, the hops in porters tend to be less present. Think of a porter as the middle ground between light and shadow, or better yet, between stout and brown ale types of beer. There is generally a fair amount of visibility when looking through a porter.

Brown Ale – Brown ales are exactly what you would expect them to be. They are an ale that is, are you ready for this… brown. A touch lighter than a porter and darker than an amber ale, brown ales tend to be a happy medium between malt flavor and roast, though most brown ales tend to favor notes of caramel and chocolate. Hops can be a little more noticeable in brown ales, as there is generally less malt or sweetness present.

Amber Ale – An exceptional example of balance in action, amber ales are not too sweet, not too dry and not too hoppy. An amber ale is a delicious beer type that almost anyone will enjoy. Plus, it’s a good type of beer to brew as a beginner because after making it several times, it will give you a good baseline for how to tweak ingredients and notice the subtle changes that come about because of your varying recipes.

Doppelbock – An impressively complex beer style from Germany, Doppelbocks will almost always be named with a suffix of “ator” in honor of the original Celebrator from the Ayinger brewery. This style of beer, a lager, tends to have a slight sweetness to it, with a strong nuttiness and some chocolate notes thrown in. Doppelbocks, have little to no hop presence, however, because of the use of Noble hop varieties.

Bock – A less toasty and more caramel-forward little brother to the Doppelbock, Bocks are another lager from Germany that favors those seeking a flavorful, but not overly heavy drink to sip and contemplate. Traditional German ingredients and brewing practices are used in the production of these beers and cooler climates help it ferment for longer periods of time.

E.S.B. – A British-born beer of impressive complexity given its less than overt stature, Extra Special Bitter, or E.S.B., as it is known, blends a unique water profile with traditional English ingredients to produce a beer with a pronounced hop bitterness that is offset by a delightful malt character. Reminiscent of caramel and sometimes a dried fruitiness, the malts used in this drink meld together harmoniously to balance its earthy, woody, and sometimes spicy hop bitterness. English beers such as this are oftentimes served from a cask in pubs, which adds to the presentation of the beverage by emphasizing the aforementioned flavor profiles.

Pale Ale – Pale Ale is a style of beer with origins in The United Kingdom, but with a large international presence as well, especially in North America. A hop forward beer with less malt complexity than the E.S.B., American variations of Pale Ale tend to further emphasize the hop presence beyond their English brewing brethren and subdue the malt presence even further. As a result, Pale Ales tend to be markedly bitter, but with a low enough alcohol concentration for the average working man to enjoy a pint or two at his local pub without getting too inebriated.

India Pale Ale – A style of beer born out of necessity, India Pale Ales, share a direct historical link to the colorful land of India. As a British colony, a favored drink of their homeland was often demanded by the ruling British guard, but a common complaint of the beers shipped to India was spoilage. Because the addition of hops to a beer helps to prevent spoilage, India Pale Ales were produced with an exceptionally large hop concentration, resulting in an exceptionally bitter beer that most would deem undrinkable had it not been for the fact that hop flavor and bitterness tends to dissipate as beer ages. The end result is a beer with an imbalanced flavor that leans toward hop dominance with a diminished malt presence and just enough residual sweetness to balance out the bitterness in an otherwise boldly dry beer. This historically hoppy brew was born out of necessity and the tradition has been carried on over the years. Today, India Pale Ales are abundant and alive, especially in the United States, with hop lovers uniting to partake in the many flavors that hops can impart in beer.

Pilsner/Light Lager – Another beer of European origin – often imitated, but never duplicated, Pilsners tend to be light in both body and color with a noticeable Noble hop variety presence in both aroma and taste, but by no means a bitter beer.

Hefeweizen – Hefeweizen is a wheat beer of German origin with a strong yeast presence in both aroma and appearance. A wonderfully complex, yet quaffable and refreshingly light beer with notes of clove, banana and a certain slight tanginess of the wheat, Hefeweizens are usually accompanied by a cloudiness of yeast cells indicative of the yeast varieties used to produce the spicy and fruity notes of the beer. This cloudiness is caused by the yeast’s inability fall out of suspension after fermentation. As concerning as this brew may appear when looking at it through a glass, I assure you that Hefeweizen is one fine beverage.

Saison – Also known as “farmhouse ale,” Saison beers are of Belgian origin and were born of necessity. Primarily brewed in the fall, Saisons were traditionally conjured up as a means of creating something with the leftover grains from that year’s harvest, with fermentation lasting throughout the winter and providing a refreshing beer for consumption after a long day in the field. The ingredients for these beers often varied greatly from farm to farm, but have more recently been narrowed down to just a few core ingredients for sake of style guidelines and competitive judging. Saison is a beer with a broad spectrum of flavor based on a lengthy fermentation time and the use of yeasts historically indicative of a localized region, with notes of spice, fruitiness, sourness, bread or any combination thereof.

Dubbel – Pronounced like the word “double,” Dubbels are another Belgian style of beer with a complex flavor profile, especially when the beer is drunk at just below room temperature. An amber to dark brown colored beer, Dubbel flavors range from sweet to dry with pronounced esters of the yeast ranging from dried fruit, raisin, fig, fine chocolates, or bananas and roasted nuts. Dubbels are a great beer to age if you have the ability to exercise such discipline and patience.

Tripel – Another Belgian example of brewing bliss, the tripel, pronounced like the world “triple,” is a less malty cousin to the dubbel and is more straw-like in color with a relatively higher alcohol concentration than most other beers. Tripels tend to be more yeast dominant in their flavor profile with notes of fruitiness taking the center stage. A big beer with big flavor, Tripels are another style of beer that does well with age.

Quadrupel – Pronounced exactly as it appears, but often times referred to just as “quads,” this Belgian beauty is one of the most exciting beer styles you’ll ever have the good fortune to enjoy. With ethereal complexity and a slight sweetness that is balanced perfectly by choice hops and a beautifully masked alcohol that provides a sturdy backbone, quads are beers for contemplation and reflection and represent a true connoisseur’s drink of choice when something simple simply will not do.

Scotch Ale – Scotch ales are, as the name implies, of Scottish origin. Not unlike its distilled cousin, Scotch ales usually have notes of smoke in them, even though common Scotch ales tend to shy away from smoked malt and achieve this smokiness through the use of roasted malts. As with most European brews, hops are not the focal point of this beer, but common varieties tend to add depth to the malt with flavors of earth and wood. Scotch ale is a wonderful beer to warm you up on a cool, cloudy day.

Types of Beer List

Below is a list of the various types of beer you might encounter as a beer lover… or that you might consider making for yourself as a fellow homebrewer!

As you can see, the simple act of fermentation produces a wide variety of drinks in a multitude of styles and flavors. Your location in the world, the temperature in which you brew, and the ingredients you choose to use will determine the taste of the finished drink that you produce.

Click here to learn about the two major types of beer – ALES and LAGERS.

Are there other types of beer that should be included in this list? Leave a comment below and let the Doctor know what you have to say!