Glossary

Abbey ale/ Duppel (Double)/ Tripel (Triple)

Abbey beers are strong, fruity beers are brewed in Belgium, either by the Monks in the Belgian monasteries following the traditional recipes passed down for in some cases around a thousand years. Abbey beers can also be brewed under licence by commercial breweries following the traditional recipes of the monasteries. Duppel or Double tend to be dark, medium strength abbey ales, while Tripel or Triple tend to be a more hoppy, golden coloured brew, which is stronger than the Duppel.

Ale

Ale is the oldest type of beer, having been brewed in Great Britain for over a thousand years. Traditionally the term would refer to any beer that is produced with hops as part of it, but these days it tends to refer to top-fermenting beers, of which there are many different types of ale.

Bottom-Fermentation

Bottom-Fermentation occurs when the yeast reacts to form the alcohol at the bottom of the cask/keg, this happens when beer is stored in cool places such as cellars.

Brown Ales

Brown Ales are usually sweet mild ales that are darker in colour and have a lower alcohol content. This type of beer has a strong affinity with the north-east of England, where stronger, drier versions were produced. Brown ales are also found in East Flanders, Belgium, where  the product has both sweet and sour flavours due to the type of yeasts used.

Double Fermentation

Some beers have two different yeasts added to them at different stages of the beer production. A first yeast would be added and upon the fermentation of the first the second would be added and allowed to ferment.

Fermentation

Fermentation is the process under which yeast reacts with the glucose in the  wort and produces the alcohol content of the beer and the carbon dioxide to carbonate the beer as well.

 

Lager

Lager originates from 18th century Bavaria, Germany, when monks started to store the beer, while in production,  in the cool cellars of the monasteries for long periods of time, in an attempt to stop the beer going off in the summer heat. They discovered that the yeast in the beer reacted differently in the cool environment of the cellars, resulting in a slower fermentation process, than ales, also the yeast sunk to the bottom of the cask before fermentation. Lager takes its name from the German verb “to store” and is usually mass-produced and served ice-cold due to its lack of taste.

Lambic Beers

Lambic beers are brewed in Belgium and instead of manually adding the yeast to the brew, the casks are left open to allow the natural yeast to fall out of the rafters and ferment the beer naturally.

Pale Ales/Indian Pale Ale (I.P.A)

Pale Ales are usually bottled beer that is stronger in strength than the brewers;’ weakest beers, but can be very strong in their own right. I.P.As tend to be heavily hopped beers that were originally brewed to survive the long sea journeys from Great Britain to the furthest reaches of her Empire, India in particular. It was only tasted by the British market for the first time in the 1820s, despite being brewed in Britain, after a ship carrying 300 casks of Bass’s East Indian Pale Ale was wrecked off the port of Liverpool.

Porters/Stouts

Porters originated as a mild, brown ale, which was heavily hopped and left to mature in large vats, after it had adequately aged it was mixed with fresher beer to create the completed beer. Due to the high cost of production on the largest brewing companies were able to afford the costs of producing Porters. By the 19th Century, the popularity of porters in Britain was on the decline, with only the stouter porters (Stouts), the strongest porters, surviving. Porters have never been considered a craft beer.

Top-Fermentation

Top-Fermentation is where the yeast reacts at the top of the beer to produce the alcohol.

Wheat Beers

Wheat Beers are popular in Belgium, France and Germany, made with a mixture of wheat and barley, they tend to have a pale white colour.