{"id":508,"date":"2014-04-25T17:18:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T17:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/?p=508"},"modified":"2016-09-08T21:14:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T21:14:33","slug":"a-brief-history-of-beer-styles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/a-brief-history-of-beer-styles\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Beer Styles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like Moore\u2019s Law applied to brewing, the number of variations in craft beer seems to double every two years, which can leave the modern consumer moderately perplexed when happening across the next Kentucky Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double Decoction Trappist Imperial Gueuze dry hopped with Woodruff and blended with Russian River’s Supplication<\/em>. (A concoction courtesy of The Craft Beer Trend Predictor<\/em><\/a><\/span>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Long gone are the days when the average beer consumer could get by with the notion that somehow the true essence of any beer could be discerned via the all-revealing dichotomy of \u201cdomestic\u201d or \u201cimport\u201d.\u00a0 Alas, in order to meaningfully talk about beer nowadays, it is virtually impossible to do so without referring to and having a general awareness of the basic beer styles<\/em>.\u00a0 And because beer, like mathematics, builds upon itself, if you missed the basic algebra of beer styles, you\u2019re probably gonna run into some trouble when it comes to the present day calculus of beer. \u00a0So let\u2019s take it back to beer basics in an attempt to demystify the oft esoteric realm of modern craft beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beer Styles: The Dirty Little Secret<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ask the average craft beer fan to name their top five favorite styles of beer, and they might say something like IPAs, Porters, Belgians, Sours and maybe Wheat Beers. Ask that same question prior to 1977, and it\u2019s doubtful anybody<\/em><\/span> would have known what you\u2019re talking about. Well, anybody except Michael Jackson. \u00a0Fine, I\u2019ll say it: No, not Michael Jackson<\/em> the pop singer, Michael Jackson<\/em> the beer guy from England— the apparent real-life inspiration for Michael Bolton’s character from the movie Office Space<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Jackson (the beer guy), flat out invented<\/span><\/em> the term \u201cbeer styles\u201d more or less as we understand it today when he first introduced the concept back in 1977<\/span> with his vastly influential book The World Guide to Beer<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s right; the term \u201cbeer styles\u201d is no older than Orlando Bloom and is just as made up as Legolas of the Woodland Realm<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be clear though, classifying and differentiating beer is not a new concept by any means. An ancient Sumerian tablet dating back to 2050 BC turned out to be a receipt<\/em> for beer, documenting that the purchaser received\u00a0a \u201cbest\u201d ale, which suggests there were at least<\/em> two \u201cstyles\u201d of beer back then: \u201cbest\u201d and \u201cnot the best<\/span>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Alulu<\/a><\/p>\n

[Sumerian tablet\u00a0dating back to 2050 BC<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>is actually a\u00a0<\/span>receipt<\/span><\/span>\u00a0for beer. \u00a0The text<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>translates as “Ur-Amma acknowledges receiving from his brewer, Alulu, 5 sila (about 4 1\/2 liters) of the ‘best’ beer.”<\/span>]<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it is unlikely that at any point in history were beers more systematically and extensively classified as they are today, a trend which is most likely to continue until Armageddon, i.e. April 21st<\/sup>, 2053.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not long after the release of Jackson\u2019s seminal book, the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) was created, an organization known for defining and judging world beer styles.\u00a0 Beginning in 1985, the BJCP ran with the idea of beer styles (supplemented by Fred Eckhardt\u2019s book The Essentials of Beer Style<\/em> in 1989), and as of 2008, has \u201cofficially\u201d recognized 23 classic styles<\/em> of beer, and 80, yes 80, sub-styles which fall under the 23 classic styles. I say \u201cofficially\u201d because as of the time of this writing, 80 is the number that the BJCP has acknowledged as significant enough to be deemed worthy of appearing on its list. \u00a0The reality is, though, there are quite a few well established sub-styles of beer being brewed today which haven\u2019t yet been canonized by the BJCP (just in case 80 wasn\u2019t enough to keep track of).<\/span><\/p>\n

Style VS Sub-Style<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You probably noticed I\u2019m throwing around the terms \u201cstyle\u201d and \u201csub-style\u201d without having given much explanation as to what the difference is with respect to beer.\u00a0 To be sure, the use of this predominately BJCP nomenclature is purely conventional and is used as an organizational tool for the purpose of categorizing beer.\u00a0 For example, according to the BJCP Style Guide, India Pale Ale (IPA)<\/em> is a \u201cbeer style\u201d, and American IPA<\/em> is a \u201csub-style\u201d of IPA.\u00a0 In fact there are actually three sub-styles of beer which fall under the style of IPA: American<\/em>, English<\/em> and Imperial IPAs<\/em>. Notice that these sub-styles don\u2019t only refer to a specific country like the U.S. or England, but also to the qualitative nature of a beer as with the Imperial IPA<\/em> which is basically a stronger version of an IPA (American or English) in alcohol content and usually in hop and malt character as well. \u00a0To make a quick comparison, you might think of the Hot Dog<\/em> as being a \u201cstyle\u201d of American Food, and Chicago<\/em>, New York<\/em>, and Chili Dogs<\/em> as being \u201csub-styles\u201d of the Hot Dog. \u00a0Hungry yet?<\/span><\/p>\n

On the whole, the BJCP tends to take a mixed approach in defining beer styles by either country of origin<\/em> like the \u201cAmerican Ale\u201d style category which contains only beers originating from the U.S., or by common sensory characteristics<\/em> shared by a group of beers such as \u201cSour Ale\u201d which includes sour beers from multiple countries. \u00a0True, this method of grouping beers may sound a bit inconsistent, but there is one simple little trick you can use to categorize almost <\/em>every one of the 80 \u201cclassic\u201d beer sub-styles that appear on the BJCP\u2019s list.<\/span><\/p>\n

80 Sub-Styles of Beer on the Wall: The Big Picture<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Even though 80 sounds like a pretty daunting number of beers to familiarize yourself with, there are basically only three<\/span> main types of beer under which pretty much all of the 80 sub-styles fall: ale<\/strong>, lager<\/strong> or hybrid<\/strong>.\u00a0 For simplicity\u2019s sake, ales and lagers are distinguished by the two different species of yeast<\/em> used to ferment the beer: Saccharomyces cerevisiae<\/em> (ale yeast) and Saccharomyces pastorianus<\/em> (lager yeast). Generally, ale yeasts ferment at warmer <\/em>temperatures producing beers that are often described as more flavorful and sometimes fruity (estery), whereas lager yeasts ferment at cooler <\/em>temperatures commonly producing cleaner, crisper beers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ok, so the difference between lagers and ales has to do with the two different yeast strains used to ferment said beers, namely ale yeast and lager yeast.\u00a0 Easy enough. So does that mean \u201cHybrid\u201d beers are a hybrid<\/em> or a mix between the ale and lager yeast strains?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Hybrid beers, at least according to the BJCP, are not distinguished by different kinds<\/em> of yeasts, but rather the process<\/em> of how those yeasts are used during fermentation. This is simpler than you might think. Remember a couple sentences back when I said that ale yeasts are typically fermented at warmer<\/em> temperatures, and lager yeasts are fermented at cooler<\/em> temperatures?\u00a0 Well a hybrid beer does the opposite of this and ferments ale yeasts at cooler<\/em> temperatures and lager yeasts at warmer<\/em> temperatures, yielding lagers with ale-like characteristics and ales with lager-like characteristics.\u00a0 Yep, it\u2019s that simple. \u00a0But just in case you\u2019re like me and appreciate pictures to help explain things, here\u2019s a color-coded diagram that\u00a0illustrates just what we’ve been talking about (click to enlarge):<\/span>\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

This has been your crash course in the algebra of beer styles.\u00a0 If you feel you\u2019ve got a somewhat better understanding of beer styles and sub-styles, then I\u2019ve done my job.\u00a0 But again, this was just the algebra of beer styles and I’ve intentionally left a lot of meat on the bone.\u00a0 But for now just relax, enjoy your summer break while kicking back with your favorite sub-style of beer, and when we come back, we\u2019ll dive into the a calculus of beer styles.\u00a0 By the time we\u2019re done, I\u2019m confident you\u2019ll be able to deconstruct every piece of some of the most convoluted varieties of beer on the shelves today, not to mention\u00a0the hypothetical ones like\u00a0\u201cKentucky Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double Decoction Trappist Imperial Gueuze dry hopped with Woodruff and blended with Russian River’s Supplication<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, we\u2019ll pull the rug out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Like this\u00a0blarticle? Well, thanks- you\u2019re far too kind. \u00a0Want to read more beer inspired thoughts?\u00a0 Come back any time, subscribe to our\u00a0RSS feed or follow us on Twitter at\u00a0twitter.com\/beersyndicate.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Or feel free to drop me a line at:\u00a0dan@beersyndicate.com<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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