European Beer Buying
Tips: Lagers, Ales, and Lambics by Ruth Paget
Sampling
lambic beers when I was a young woman in Brussels, Belgium; vacationing in London,
England; and shopping for German beers during Oktoberfest when I lived in
Stuttgart, Germany were fun lessons in European culture.
When
I became more serious about buying beer I read Michael Jackson’s Beer Companion and The Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth for detailed information on brands
to look for in the store.
I
condensed Michael Jackson’s six categories down to three using tips from
Alworth’s book to obtain a quick mental map for making quick beer buying
decisions in the store or brew pub that follows:
3 Basic Beer
Ingredients
Common
to all beer types are hops, grain, and water.
-Hops
Hops
are a cone-like flower, which imparts aroma and flavor. Their flavor is bitter, but can be
modulated. Hops are very bitter in the
popular in the India Pale Ales on the market.
-Grain
Barley
or wheat are the most commonly used grains in beer making.
The
Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law) of 1516 from Bavaria, Germany specified that
only barley could be used as a grain in beer production and sought to curtail
the use of flavor additives besides hops
Additional
flavoring and coloring could be obtained in the final beer by roasting the
grain before hot water was poured on it to start the production process.
Creating Malt and Wort
Adding
the third basic ingredient of hot water to the grain and making it sprout makes
what is called malt.
Hops
may be added at different phases of production depending on whether they are
being used for aroma or flavor.
When
the grains have sprouted, the liquid in them is drained away, leaving what is
called wort.
Wort and Beer Types
What
happens to the wort determines if you will obtain a lager, ale, or lambic.
Different Beer Types
-lager
A
commercial, bottom-fermenting yeast is added to the wort and works in cold
temperatures.
-ale
A
commercial, top-fermenting yeast is added to the wort that works at warm
temperatures.
-lambic
A
spontaneous, top fermentation occurs from exposing the wort to “wild yeasts”
that come in through open windows in a cold brew house. These beers are produced in the Zenne (Senne
in French) Valley outside Brussels, Belgium.
Lambics
are famous for their Kriek (cherry) and Framboise (raspberry) beers, but plain
Geuze is considered a champagne of beers.
Notable Beer Types
I
used Jeff Alworth’s The Beer Bible to
set up the following list for shopping or ordering in a California Brew Pub:
Lagers:
-Dark
Lagers: Dunkel, Schwarzbier, Czech Tmavé
-Czech:
Lagers
-Pale
Lagers: Pilsners, Helles, and Dortmund Export
-Amber
Lagers: Märzen (Oktoberfest Beers) and Vienna Lager
-Bocks
Ales
-Bitters
-Pale
Ales
-Indian
Pale Ales
-Mild
Ales
-Brown
Ales
-Porters
and Stouts
-Ales
of the Rhine: Kölsch and Altbier
-Abbey
and Trappist Beers
-Saisons
and Rustic Belgian Ales
-Wheat
Beers
Lambics
Geuze,
Kriek (cherry), and Framboise (raspberry) are the most famous types.
Cheers
and remember color does not divide beer types like color in wine does.
Ruth
Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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