Glossary: Beer

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Ale: Umbrella term for top-fermented beers, usually with fruity esters and a fuller aroma than bottom-fermented types.
Altbier: A dark copper, top-fermented beer with a bitter character, traditionally from Düsseldorf and the Lower Rhine.

Barrel-aged beer: Beer that matures in wooden barrels after fermentation and takes on aromas from the wood and former contents.
Berliner Weisse: A tart, light wheat beer with low alcohol, traditionally drunk with syrup.
Beer mix drink: A drink made of beer plus at least one other component such as lemonade or cola.
Bock beer: A strong beer with at least 16 percent original gravity, full-bodied and malt-forward.
Brewer's yeast: Single-celled fungi that convert sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide and strongly shape a beer's flavour profile.

Collab brew: A beer developed and brewed together by two or more breweries or people.
Craft beer: Handcrafted beer from small, often independent breweries, usually emphasising aroma and style diversity.
Crowler: A large can filled at the tap and sealed by a machine.

Doppelbock: An especially strong, malt-rich beer with typically 18 percent original gravity or more; brand names often end in “-ator”.
Dry hopping: Adding hops after the main fermentation to gain aroma without extra bitterness.

Eisbock: A very strong beer made by freezing water out of a Bock, resulting in a concentrated flavour and more alcohol.
Dealcoholisation of beer: Methods that remove alcohol from beer or limit its formation.
Export lager: A mild, bottom-fermented beer with slightly higher original gravity than Pils; originally brewed for shipping out of town.

Draught beer: Beer filled in kegs and served through a tap system; fresh with fine foam.
Beer filtration: Brewing step removing yeast and haze particles from beer to increase clarity and stability.
Bottle conditioning: Further fermentation in the container in which residual sugar and yeast create natural carbonation.

Gose: A top-fermented wheat beer with a slightly salty and tart note and coriander, originally from Goslar and Leipzig.
Growler: A refillable bottle or jug, usually of glass or stainless steel, for taking fresh draught beer to go.
Gypsy brewing: Brewing without an own brewery: the brewer rents capacity at other breweries for their own recipes.

Hazy IPA (NEIPA): A cloudy, fruity-hoppy IPA with soft bitterness and full mouthfeel.
Munich Helles: A mild, easy-drinking, bottom-fermented lager of golden colour with a pronounced malt character, originally from Munich.
Hops: A climbing plant whose cones give beer bitterness, aroma and keeping quality; with malt the most important beer ingredient.

IBU (International Bitterness Units): A figure for the bitterness of a beer; the higher the value, the more bittering compounds from hops it contains.
India Pale Ale: A hop-forward pale ale with pronounced bitterness and often a fruity, resinous aroma.

Kellerbier (cellar beer): Naturally cloudy, usually unfiltered beer with low carbonation, traditionally matured in a cool cellar.
Kettle sour: A tart beer in which the wort is soured with lactic acid bacteria before boiling.
Kölsch: A pale, top-fermented, filtered beer from Cologne with mild hop and fruit character; protected as a designation of origin.
Contract brewing: A brewer or brand that has its beer produced under contract at another brewery.

Lager: Umbrella term for bottom-fermented, cold-matured beers; internationally often a pale, mild beer.
Lambic: A Belgian beer made by spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts and bacteria and often matured for years.

Mashing: Brewing step in which crushed malt is mixed with warm water so enzymes convert starch into sugar.
Malt: Germinated and dried grain, usually barley, which provides sugar, colour and flavour for beer.
Märzen (Oktoberfest beer): An amber to pale, bottom-fermented full-strength beer with a robust malt body; the base of many festival beers.

Top-fermented: Fermentation method with yeasts working at 15 to 24 degrees Celsius that collect at the top of the vessel.

Pilsner: A pale, bottom-fermented beer with a clear hop bitterness and a lean body. It is the most widely drunk style in Germany.

Radler (shandy): A beer mix drink of beer and lemon soda, usually 1:1; called Alsterwasser in northern Germany.
Rauchbier (smoked beer): Beer from malt kilned over beechwood fire, with a distinct smoke and bacon aroma, especially from Franconia.
Purity law (Reinheitsgebot): Historic rule from 1516 allowing beer to be made only from water, malt, hops (and yeast); today anchored in the provisional beer law.

Schwarzbier (black lager): A dark, bottom-fermented beer with mild roasted notes, lighter than stout.
Original gravity: The amount of dissolved substances in the wort before fermentation, given in degrees Plato or percent; determines strength and body.
Stout: A very dark, top-fermented beer with roasted notes of coffee and chocolate from heavily roasted barley or malt.

Tap takeover: An event in which a brewery fills several or all taps of a venue with its beers.
Taproom: A bar attached to a brewery that serves the brewery's own freshly tapped beer.

Bottom-fermented: Fermentation with cold-loving yeasts at about 4 to 12 degrees Celsius that settle at the bottom; the basis of lagers.

Wheat beer: A top-fermented beer with a large share of wheat malt; fruity and spicy with banana and clove notes.
Wort: The sugary liquid obtained from mash and hops that forms the base of beer before fermentation.

Zwickelbier: Naturally cloudy, unfiltered beer drawn straight from the sampling tap (Zwickel) of the maturation tank, with gentle carbonation.