We drink it we make it but what do we know of our beers. I've been reading to find out.
Here's a little collection of descriptions of various types of beers, if you knew it already I apologise. Its a collection of noted from Wikepidia and other sources just for general reading when your bored.
India Pale Ale or IPA
Is a style of beer within the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 19th century Prior to 1834 this style of beer was referred to as â pale ale as prepared for India â, â India Ale â pale India Ale â and â pale export India Ale â.
By the mid-18th century, pale ale was mostly manufactured with coke-fired malt, which produced less smoking and roasting of barley in the malting process, and hence produced a paler beer. One such variety of beer was October beer, a pale well-hopped brew popular among the landed classes, who brewed it domestically; once brewed it was intended to cellar two years.
Among the earliest known named brewers whose beers were exported to India was George Hodgson of the Bow Brewery, on the Middlesex-Essex border. Bow Brewery beers became popular amongEast |India Company traders in the late 18th century because of the brewery's location and Hodgson's liberal credit line of 18 months. Ships transported a number of Hodgson's beers to India, among them his October beer, which benefited exceptionally from conditions of the voyage and was apparently highly regarded among its consumers in India.
One of its benefits is its ability to mature over a period of time in the barrel, which helped during the long sea voyages out to the troops in India.
The term IPA is common in the United Kingdom for low-gravity beers, for example Green King IPA and Charles Wells Eagle IPA. IPAs with an abv of 4% or lower have been brewed in Britain since at least the 1920s
Porter
Porter is a dark style of beer originating in London in the 18th Century, descended from brown beer, a well hopped beer made from brown malt. The name came about as a result of its popularity with street and river porters.
Porter originated in London in the early 1720s. The style quickly became popular in the city: it had a strong flavour, took longer to spoil than other beers and in fact increased in alcohol content with age, was significantly cheaper than other beers, and was not easily affected by heat. Within a few decades, porter breweries in London had grown "beyond any previously known scale". Large volumes were exported to Ireland, where it was later (1776) brewed also. In the 19th century, the beer gained its customary black colour through the use of black patent malt, and became stronger in flavour
Early London porters were strong beers by modern standards. Early trials with the hydrometer in the 1770s recorded porter as having an OG of 1.071° and 6.6% ABV. Increased taxation during the Napoleonic Wars pushed its gravity down to around 1.055°, where it remained for the rest of the 19th century. The huge popularity of the style prompted brewers to produce porters in a wide variety of strengths. These started with Single Stout Porter at around 1.066°, Double Stout Porter (such as Guinness) at 1.072°, Triple Stout Porter at 1.078° and Imperial Stout Porter at 1.095° and more. As the 19th century progressed the porter suffix was gradually dropped. British brewers, however, continued to use porter as the generic term for both porters and stouts.
During the First World War in Britain, shortages of grain led to restrictions on the strength of beer. Less strict rules were applied in Ireland, allowing Irish brewers such as Guinness to continue to brew beers closer to pre-war strengths. English breweries continued to brew a range of bottled, and sometimes draught, stouts until the Second World War and beyond. They were considerably weaker than the pre-war versions (down from 1.055°-1.060° to 1.040-1.042°) and around the strength that porter had been in 1914. The drinking of Porter, with its strength slot now occupied by single stout, steadily declined, and production ceased in the early 1950s.
A revival of the style began in 1978, when the Penrhos microbrewery introduced a porter. A little later, Timothy Taylor began to brew a porter as well. There are now dozens of breweries in Britain making porter, with Fullers 'London Porter' winning gold and silver medals at the 1999, 2000 and 2002 International Beer & Cider Competitions.
Stout
Is a dark beer using roasted malt roasted barley, hops, water and yeast. Stouts were traditionally the generic term for the strongest or stoutest porters, typically 7% or 8%, produced by a brewery. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined
Stouts have a number of variations
Dry or Irish stout
Irish stout or dry stout (in Irish, leann dubh, "black beer") is very dark or rich in colour and it often has a "roasted" or coffee-like taste. The most famous example is Guinnes followed by Murphy's and Beamish. There are also a number of smaller craft breweries producing stout. The alcoholic content and "dry" flavour of a dry or Irish stout are both characterised as light, although it varies from country to country.
Imperial stout
Imperial stout, also known as "Russian imperial stout" or "imperial Russian stout," is a strong dark beer or stout in the style that was brewed in the 18th century by Thrale's brewery in London, for export to the court of Catherine ll of Russia In 1781 the brewery changed hands and the beer became known as Barclay Perkins Imperial Brown Stout. When the brewery was taken over by Courage the beer was renamed Courage Imperial Russian Stout. It has a high alcohol content, usually over 9 %
Milk stout
Milk stout (also called sweet stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose is unfermentable by beer yeast it adds sweetness, body, and calories to the finished beer. Milk stout was claimed to be nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers, along with other stouts, such as Guinness. The classic surviving example of milk stout is Mackesons for which the original brewers claimed that "each pint contains the energising carbohydrates of 10 ounces of pure dairy milk". In the period just after the Second World War when rationing was in place, the British government required brewers to remove the word "milk" from labels and adverts, and any imagery associated with milk.
Oatmeal stout
Oatmeal stout is a stout with a proportion of oats, normally a maximum of 30%, added during the brewing process. Even though a larger proportion of oats in beer can lead to a bitter or astringent taste, during the medieval period in Europe, oats were a common ingredient in ale, and proportions up to 35% were standard. However, despite some areas of Europe, such as Norway, still clinging to the use of oats in brewing until the early part of the 20th century, the practice had largely died out by the 16th century, so much so that in 1513 Tudor sailors refused to drink oat beer offered to them because of the bitter flavour.
There was a revival of interest in using oats during the end of the 19th century, when (supposedly) restorative, nourishing and invalid beers, such as the later milk stout, were popular, because of the association of porridge with health. Maclay of Alloa produced an Original Oatmalt Stout in 1895 which used 70% "oatmalt", and a 63/- Oatmeal Stout in 1909, which used 30% "flaked (porridge) oats"
In the 20th century many oatmeal stouts contained only a minimal amount of oats. For example, in 1936 Barclay Perkins Oatmeal Stout used only 0.5% oats. As the oatmeal stout was parti-gyled with their porter and standard stout, these two also contained the same proportion of oats. The name seems to have been a marketing device more than anything else. In the 1920s and 1930s Whitbread's London Stout and Oatmeal Stout were identical, just packaged differently. The amount of oats Whitbread used was minimal, again just around 0.5%. With such a small quantity of oats used, it could have had little impact on the flavour or texture of these beers.
Many breweries were still brewing oatmeal stouts in the 1950s, for example Brickwoods in Portsmouth, Matthew Brown in Blackburn and Ushers in Trowbridge When Michael Jackson mentioned the defunct Eldrige Pope "Oat Malt Stout" in his 1977 book The World Guide to Beer, oatmeal stout was no longer being made anywhere, but Charles Finkel, founder of Merchant Du Vin was curious enough to commission Samuel Smith to produce a version. Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout then became the template for other breweries' versions.
Oatmeal stouts usually do not specifically taste of oats. The smoothness of oatmeal stouts comes from the high content of proteins, lipids (includes fats and waxes), and gums imparted by the use of oats. The gums increase the viscosity and body adding to the sense of smoothness
Chocolate stout
"Chocolate stout" is a name brewers sometimes give to certain stouts having a noticeable dark chocolate flavour through the use of darker, more aromatic malt; particularly chocolate malt â a malt that has been roasted or kilned until it acquires a chocolate colour. Sometimes, as with Muskoka Brewery's Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and Rogue brewery's Chocolate Stout, the beers are also brewed with a small amount of actual chocolate
Coffee stout
Dark roasted malts, such as black patent malt (the darkest roast), can lend a bitter coffee flavour to dark beer. Some brewers like to emphasize the coffee flavour and add ground coffee. Brewers will often give these beers names such as "Guatemalan Coffee Stout", "Espresso Stout", "Breakfast Coffee Stout", "Stir Stick Stout", etc.
The ABV of these coffee flavoured stouts will vary from under 4% to over 8%. Most examples will be dry and bitter, though others add milk sugar to create a sweet stout which may then be given a name such as "Coffee & Cream Stout" or just "Coffee Cream Stout". Other flavours such as mint or chocolate may also be added in various combinations.
Oyster stout
Oysters have had a long association with stout. When stouts were emerging in the 18th century, oysters were a commonplace food often served in public houses and taverns. Benjamin Disraeli is said to have enjoyed a meal of oysters and Guinnes in the 19th century, though by the 20th century oyster beds were in decline, and stout had given way to pale ale
The first known use of oysters as part of the brewing process of stout was in 1929 in New Zealand, followed by the Hammerton Brewery in London, UK, in 1938. Several British brewers used oysters in stouts during the "nourishing stout" and "milk stout" period just after the Second World War.
Modern oyster stouts may be made with a handful of oysters in the barrel. Hence the claim of one Dublin establishment the Porterhouse Brewery that their award winning Oyster Stout was not suitable for vegetarians. Others, such as Marston's Oyster Stout, just use the name with the implication that the beer would be suitable for drinking with oysters.
Sorry for the long post
Here's a little collection of descriptions of various types of beers, if you knew it already I apologise. Its a collection of noted from Wikepidia and other sources just for general reading when your bored.
India Pale Ale or IPA
Is a style of beer within the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 19th century Prior to 1834 this style of beer was referred to as â pale ale as prepared for India â, â India Ale â pale India Ale â and â pale export India Ale â.
By the mid-18th century, pale ale was mostly manufactured with coke-fired malt, which produced less smoking and roasting of barley in the malting process, and hence produced a paler beer. One such variety of beer was October beer, a pale well-hopped brew popular among the landed classes, who brewed it domestically; once brewed it was intended to cellar two years.
Among the earliest known named brewers whose beers were exported to India was George Hodgson of the Bow Brewery, on the Middlesex-Essex border. Bow Brewery beers became popular amongEast |India Company traders in the late 18th century because of the brewery's location and Hodgson's liberal credit line of 18 months. Ships transported a number of Hodgson's beers to India, among them his October beer, which benefited exceptionally from conditions of the voyage and was apparently highly regarded among its consumers in India.
One of its benefits is its ability to mature over a period of time in the barrel, which helped during the long sea voyages out to the troops in India.
The term IPA is common in the United Kingdom for low-gravity beers, for example Green King IPA and Charles Wells Eagle IPA. IPAs with an abv of 4% or lower have been brewed in Britain since at least the 1920s
Porter
Porter is a dark style of beer originating in London in the 18th Century, descended from brown beer, a well hopped beer made from brown malt. The name came about as a result of its popularity with street and river porters.
Porter originated in London in the early 1720s. The style quickly became popular in the city: it had a strong flavour, took longer to spoil than other beers and in fact increased in alcohol content with age, was significantly cheaper than other beers, and was not easily affected by heat. Within a few decades, porter breweries in London had grown "beyond any previously known scale". Large volumes were exported to Ireland, where it was later (1776) brewed also. In the 19th century, the beer gained its customary black colour through the use of black patent malt, and became stronger in flavour
Early London porters were strong beers by modern standards. Early trials with the hydrometer in the 1770s recorded porter as having an OG of 1.071° and 6.6% ABV. Increased taxation during the Napoleonic Wars pushed its gravity down to around 1.055°, where it remained for the rest of the 19th century. The huge popularity of the style prompted brewers to produce porters in a wide variety of strengths. These started with Single Stout Porter at around 1.066°, Double Stout Porter (such as Guinness) at 1.072°, Triple Stout Porter at 1.078° and Imperial Stout Porter at 1.095° and more. As the 19th century progressed the porter suffix was gradually dropped. British brewers, however, continued to use porter as the generic term for both porters and stouts.
During the First World War in Britain, shortages of grain led to restrictions on the strength of beer. Less strict rules were applied in Ireland, allowing Irish brewers such as Guinness to continue to brew beers closer to pre-war strengths. English breweries continued to brew a range of bottled, and sometimes draught, stouts until the Second World War and beyond. They were considerably weaker than the pre-war versions (down from 1.055°-1.060° to 1.040-1.042°) and around the strength that porter had been in 1914. The drinking of Porter, with its strength slot now occupied by single stout, steadily declined, and production ceased in the early 1950s.
A revival of the style began in 1978, when the Penrhos microbrewery introduced a porter. A little later, Timothy Taylor began to brew a porter as well. There are now dozens of breweries in Britain making porter, with Fullers 'London Porter' winning gold and silver medals at the 1999, 2000 and 2002 International Beer & Cider Competitions.
Stout
Is a dark beer using roasted malt roasted barley, hops, water and yeast. Stouts were traditionally the generic term for the strongest or stoutest porters, typically 7% or 8%, produced by a brewery. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined
Stouts have a number of variations
Dry or Irish stout
Irish stout or dry stout (in Irish, leann dubh, "black beer") is very dark or rich in colour and it often has a "roasted" or coffee-like taste. The most famous example is Guinnes followed by Murphy's and Beamish. There are also a number of smaller craft breweries producing stout. The alcoholic content and "dry" flavour of a dry or Irish stout are both characterised as light, although it varies from country to country.
Imperial stout
Imperial stout, also known as "Russian imperial stout" or "imperial Russian stout," is a strong dark beer or stout in the style that was brewed in the 18th century by Thrale's brewery in London, for export to the court of Catherine ll of Russia In 1781 the brewery changed hands and the beer became known as Barclay Perkins Imperial Brown Stout. When the brewery was taken over by Courage the beer was renamed Courage Imperial Russian Stout. It has a high alcohol content, usually over 9 %
Milk stout
Milk stout (also called sweet stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose is unfermentable by beer yeast it adds sweetness, body, and calories to the finished beer. Milk stout was claimed to be nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers, along with other stouts, such as Guinness. The classic surviving example of milk stout is Mackesons for which the original brewers claimed that "each pint contains the energising carbohydrates of 10 ounces of pure dairy milk". In the period just after the Second World War when rationing was in place, the British government required brewers to remove the word "milk" from labels and adverts, and any imagery associated with milk.
Oatmeal stout
Oatmeal stout is a stout with a proportion of oats, normally a maximum of 30%, added during the brewing process. Even though a larger proportion of oats in beer can lead to a bitter or astringent taste, during the medieval period in Europe, oats were a common ingredient in ale, and proportions up to 35% were standard. However, despite some areas of Europe, such as Norway, still clinging to the use of oats in brewing until the early part of the 20th century, the practice had largely died out by the 16th century, so much so that in 1513 Tudor sailors refused to drink oat beer offered to them because of the bitter flavour.
There was a revival of interest in using oats during the end of the 19th century, when (supposedly) restorative, nourishing and invalid beers, such as the later milk stout, were popular, because of the association of porridge with health. Maclay of Alloa produced an Original Oatmalt Stout in 1895 which used 70% "oatmalt", and a 63/- Oatmeal Stout in 1909, which used 30% "flaked (porridge) oats"
In the 20th century many oatmeal stouts contained only a minimal amount of oats. For example, in 1936 Barclay Perkins Oatmeal Stout used only 0.5% oats. As the oatmeal stout was parti-gyled with their porter and standard stout, these two also contained the same proportion of oats. The name seems to have been a marketing device more than anything else. In the 1920s and 1930s Whitbread's London Stout and Oatmeal Stout were identical, just packaged differently. The amount of oats Whitbread used was minimal, again just around 0.5%. With such a small quantity of oats used, it could have had little impact on the flavour or texture of these beers.
Many breweries were still brewing oatmeal stouts in the 1950s, for example Brickwoods in Portsmouth, Matthew Brown in Blackburn and Ushers in Trowbridge When Michael Jackson mentioned the defunct Eldrige Pope "Oat Malt Stout" in his 1977 book The World Guide to Beer, oatmeal stout was no longer being made anywhere, but Charles Finkel, founder of Merchant Du Vin was curious enough to commission Samuel Smith to produce a version. Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout then became the template for other breweries' versions.
Oatmeal stouts usually do not specifically taste of oats. The smoothness of oatmeal stouts comes from the high content of proteins, lipids (includes fats and waxes), and gums imparted by the use of oats. The gums increase the viscosity and body adding to the sense of smoothness
Chocolate stout
"Chocolate stout" is a name brewers sometimes give to certain stouts having a noticeable dark chocolate flavour through the use of darker, more aromatic malt; particularly chocolate malt â a malt that has been roasted or kilned until it acquires a chocolate colour. Sometimes, as with Muskoka Brewery's Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and Rogue brewery's Chocolate Stout, the beers are also brewed with a small amount of actual chocolate
Coffee stout
Dark roasted malts, such as black patent malt (the darkest roast), can lend a bitter coffee flavour to dark beer. Some brewers like to emphasize the coffee flavour and add ground coffee. Brewers will often give these beers names such as "Guatemalan Coffee Stout", "Espresso Stout", "Breakfast Coffee Stout", "Stir Stick Stout", etc.
The ABV of these coffee flavoured stouts will vary from under 4% to over 8%. Most examples will be dry and bitter, though others add milk sugar to create a sweet stout which may then be given a name such as "Coffee & Cream Stout" or just "Coffee Cream Stout". Other flavours such as mint or chocolate may also be added in various combinations.
Oyster stout
Oysters have had a long association with stout. When stouts were emerging in the 18th century, oysters were a commonplace food often served in public houses and taverns. Benjamin Disraeli is said to have enjoyed a meal of oysters and Guinnes in the 19th century, though by the 20th century oyster beds were in decline, and stout had given way to pale ale
The first known use of oysters as part of the brewing process of stout was in 1929 in New Zealand, followed by the Hammerton Brewery in London, UK, in 1938. Several British brewers used oysters in stouts during the "nourishing stout" and "milk stout" period just after the Second World War.
Modern oyster stouts may be made with a handful of oysters in the barrel. Hence the claim of one Dublin establishment the Porterhouse Brewery that their award winning Oyster Stout was not suitable for vegetarians. Others, such as Marston's Oyster Stout, just use the name with the implication that the beer would be suitable for drinking with oysters.
Sorry for the long post
