BASIC TYPES OF BEER 1

STOUT

The history of STOUT beer is intertwined with the emergence of PORTER beer.

In London, a dark beer with a strong hoppy flavour was once brewed using the top-fermentation process. It was delivered from various breweries to publicans, who then aged and blended it themselves according to their customers’ tastes. Due in part to its low price, beer became popular especially among porters.

When certain breweries brewed a stronger PORTER, they added the prefix STOUT (meaning proud, brave, strong) to its name.

Many STOUT beers do not fall under the classic Irish definition of stout, as embodied by the famous Guinness. The reason lies in the varying levels of hops, roasting, or higher gravity.

The IMPERIAL STOUT type of beer is very popular among connoisseurs. Typically, these beers are very dark brown to black, heavily malted, and with an intense flavour of roasted barley. Some beers also contain a hint of dark fruit (raisins, figs). The bitterness is not very pronounced, but the alcohol content is quite high and often exceeds 8%.

LAMBIC

LAMBIC beers are created in a process of spontaneous fermentation in the open environment.

After boiling, the beer is cooled in large vessels directly exposed to the outside air, allowing microbes to settle in the beer naturally. Old barrels are used, in which the wood is already saturated with a specific brewing culture. In this way, the character of the previous beer is transferred to the next.

A more modern way of brewing LAMBIC is by intentionally adding a brewing culture. This makes the process much more controlled and determines which microorganisms we want to be present in the beer. Unlike other types of beer, LAMBIC beer is brewed using hops that have been aged for at least three years.

SPECIAL BEERS

This category mainly includes beers that are difficult to place into any of the basic categories. These include fruit beers, gluten-free beers, radlers, rye beer, spiced beer, and similar.