Speak Beer Geek

What explains this?

Again, the yeast. Though its origins are murky, lager yeast, one theory holds, is a mutation of wine yeast. It was discovered accidentally (again) by German brewers tired of their ales souring in the summer heat. These brewers started storing their ales in caves, where at some point a batch got fermented by mutated yeast and produced a beer that was lighter, crisper, and drier. Modern chemistry would prove that this is because lager yeast leaves fewer byproducts in the beer. Lager yeast has one major drawback, however. It only ferments at cold temperatures—meaning, until mechanical refrigeration, it could only be made in caves or cellars.

Lager was an instant success in Europe. Not only was it crisp and refreshing, but owing to the development of pale malt in the 19th century, it was golden and clear, unlike dark, cloudy ales. Lager was introduced to these shores very shortly afterward, by immigrant brewers with names like Anheuser, Busch, Miller, Coors, and Pabst, and basically chased ale from the landscape—until the craft brew revolution of the 1980s. (Even today, ale is a fading style in Britain and only really thrives in Belgium, thanks to those monks. Germany and the rest of Northern Europe are lager dominions.)

Is the lager made by early German brewers the same as the lager made today?

Not quite. Bud, Miller, and Coors make a style now known as American light lager.

The main distinction between American light and original American lager (and traditional European lager) is the use of so-called adjuncts—mainly corn or rice—as a replacement for or supplement to barley malt, which is expensive. The move away from pure barley malt may have begun as a response to shortages at various times. But the beer—lighter in color and taste—caught on, and the big brewers have stuck with adjunct formulas.

So Bud and its ilk are bad?

Bud’s not my favorite, but I’ve drunk many a pleasurable one on a hot day at the beach or ballpark. These beers are brewed to very high standards; the issue is their recipes. The great virtue—and weakness—of this style is that it’s inoffensive to most palates. Add talking-frog or hot-bar-chick advertising campaigns and you can sell a lot of it. Indeed, half of all beer sold in America is made by Anheuser-Busch; Miller and Coors account for another 25 percent.

So beer geeks hate lager?

Not exactly, but many disparage American light lagers as watered down, homogenized versions of the robust beers that immigrant German brewers brought here. A growing number of craft brewers are making old-style lagers with lots of barley malt and hops, hewing to the traditional European formulas. (Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager is one tasty example.) And if you want to impress a beer geek, ask him or her to recommend a black lager. It’s really just a lager made with dark-roasted barley malt.

What if don’t like ale? I find Guinness too thick and Bass too bitter.

I don’t like all ales, either, but ale covers such a wide spectrum of styles and flavors that if you like beer at all, you’ll eventually find something to drink. Pale ale, a style popularized by Sierra Nevada, has some lager-like qualities: It’s golden in color and crisp in flavor. So does Kölsch, though you’ll have to look harder to find it, since not many craft brewers make it. If you come across a Kölsch called Hollywood Blonde, grab it—it’s incredibly smooth.

How can I sound beer savvy to a bunch of beer geeks?

Ask, “Are you a hops fan or a malt fan?”

These are the two major camps in the ale-drinking world: imbibers of lighter-colored and lighter-bodied ales, like pale ale and India pale ale (I.P.A.), which traditionally have a moderate to high hops content; and stouts, the dark ales, of which Guinness is the best-known example.

Great. But what are hops and why are stouts dark?

Hops are the flower cones of a vine related to the nettle and the marijuana plant. They give beer a mildly bitter bite and floral overtones. Stouts (and black lagers) contain barley malt that was roasted differently—the darker the malt, the darker the beer.

How do I know if I’ve become a beer geek?

When you pick up a bottle of India pale ale and are annoyed if the I.B.U. rating isn’t on the bottle. (If you have to ask what an I.B.U. is, you aren’t a beer geek yet.)

---