Beer style is a term used to differentiate and categorize

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

s by various factors, including appearance, flavour, ingredients, production method, history, or origin. The term ''beer style'' and the structuring of world beers into defined categories is largely based on work done by writer Michael James Jackson in his 1977 book ''The World Guide To Beer''.Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter – How to save a beer style
/ref> Fred Eckhardt furthered Jackson's work, publishing ''The Essentials of Beer Style'' in 1989. There is no universally agreed list of beer styles, as different countries and organisations have different sets of criteria. Organisers of beer competitions such as the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is ...

's (CAMRA)

Champion Beer of Britain The Champion Beer of Britain (also known as CBOB) is an award presented by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), at its annual Great British Beer Festival in early August. Qualification and judging Beers can qualify for the Champion Beer of Brita ...

, the

Beer Judge Certification Program The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) is a non-profit organization formed in 1985 to recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills. The BJCP certifies and ranks beer judges through an examination and monitoring process. Purpose The BJCP has ...

(BJCP) local

homebrewing Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed dom ...

competitions, the Brewers Association's

World Beer Cup The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition organized by the Brewers Association, a trade group A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organizat ...

, and the

Brewing Industry International Awards The International Brewing Awards, previously known as the Brewing Industry International Awards (BIIA), is a biannual brewing competition with its origins dating to 1886. It is believed to be the oldest international brewing competition in the wo ...

have categories in which beers are judged. The categories are varied and include processes or ingredients not usually regarded as defining beer styles in themselves, such as

cask ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous ca ...

or gluten-free beer. Beer terms such as ''

ale Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to bala ...

'' or ''

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

'' cover a wide variety of beer styles, and are better thought of as broad categories of beer styles. A number of ethnic beers, such as

chhaang Chhaang or chhyang (, ne, छ्याङ, new, थो:) is a Nepalese and Tibetan alcoholic beverage also popular in parts of the eastern Himalayas, Yakkha, Limbu, Dura, Newar, Sunuwar, Rai, Gurung, Magar, Sherpa, Tamang and Lepc ...

and

cauim Cauim is a traditional alcoholic beverage or beer of the indigenous peoples in Brazil since pre-Columbian times. It is still made today in remote areas throughout Panama and South America. Cauim is made by fermenting manioc (a large starchy root), ...

, are generally not included on beer style groupings.

Classic styles

Hybrid and specialty styles

Types

Ale Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to bala ...

Cask ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous ca ...

* Kellerbier *

Lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

* Strong ale *

Sour ale Sour beer, also known as Sours, is beer which has an intentionally acidic, tart, or sour taste. Traditional sour beer styles include Belgian lambics, gueuze and Flanders red ale, and German gose and Berliner Weisse. Brewing Unlike modern brewin ...

Wheat beer Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German ''Weizenbier'' and Belgian ''witbier''; other types include Lambic (made with wild ye ...

Zwickelbier Kellerbier is a type of German beer, a lager, which is typically neither clarified nor pasteurised. The term Kellerbier literally translates as "cellar beer", referring to its cool lagering temperatures. Its recipe probably dates to the Middl ...

* Trappiste

Origin

An alternative approach is to categorize beers by the country or region from which they originated. Both the Brewers Association and the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) group their beer styles in this way. Beers that originated in a particular country or region may be subsequently produced in other countries, e.g. British style ales are now brewed in North America.

Other fermented drinks based on cereals

A number of ethnic beers or other fermented drinks based on cereals are generally not included on beer style groupings. They are included here for completeness. *Bouza *

Boza Boza, also bosa, is a fermented beverage originating from the Middle East and made in parts of Southeast Europe, Central and Western Asia, Caucasus and North Africa. It is a malt drink made by fermenting various grains: wheat or millet in Alban ...

*Bozo *

Braggot Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining chara ...

, Also called bracket or brackett. Ingredients consist of honey and malted grains with spices or hops. Welsh origin (bragawd). *

Cauim Cauim is a traditional alcoholic beverage or beer of the indigenous peoples in Brazil since pre-Columbian times. It is still made today in remote areas throughout Panama and South America. Cauim is made by fermenting manioc (a large starchy root), ...

Chhaang Chhaang or chhyang (, ne, छ्याङ, new, थो:) is a Nepalese and Tibetan alcoholic beverage also popular in parts of the eastern Himalayas, Yakkha, Limbu, Dura, Newar, Sunuwar, Rai, Gurung, Magar, Sherpa, Tamang and Lepc ...

Chicha ''Chicha'' is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post- Spanish conquest periods, corn beer ('' chicha de jora'') made from a variety of maize ...

Gotlandsdricka Gotlandsdricka (in modern Gutnish ''drikke'' or ''drikko'', and ''drikku'') is a traditional homebrewing, homebrewed alcoholic beverage made on the island of Gotland, Sweden. It is a kind of ale, closely related to the Finnish ''sahti'', and Norweg ...

Gruit Gruit (alternately grut or gruyt) is a herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. The terms gruit and grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit. Historically, gruit is the te ...

Kvass Kvass is a fermented cereal-based low alcoholic beverage with a slightly cloudy appearance, light-brown colour and sweet-sour taste. It may be flavoured with berries, fruits, herbs or honey. Kvass stems from the northeastern part of Europe, ...

* Oshikundu *

Podpiwek Podpiwek is a Polish and Lithuanian non-alcoholic beverage (even though it contains a small amount of alcohol, about 0.5%). It is usually made from grain coffee, hops, yeast, water and sugar, which undergo fermentation. Often created as a by ...

Purl A persistent uniform resource locator (PURL) is a uniform resource locator (URL) (i.e., location-based uniform resource identifier or URI) that is used to redirect to the location of the requested web resource. PURLs redirect HTTP clients using H ...

Sahti Sahti is a Finnish type of farmhouse ale made from malted and unmalted grains including barley and rye. Traditionally the beer is flavored with juniper in addition to, or instead of, hops;

Sato (rice wine) ''Sato'' ( th, สาโท, , ) is a traditional northeastern Thailand (Isan) beer style that has been made for centuries from starchy glutinous or sticky rice by growers in that region. Just as other regional varieties made not from grape ...

, also called (jug alcohol) when home-brewed in jugs * Sulima, made by the Mosuo people in the Lijiang region of Yunnan, ChinaWorld of Beer

References

Bibliography

*''Michael Jackson's Great Beer Guide'', Michael Jackson, {{Beer Styles L