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Beer styles: a brewer's guide

A reference guide to 35 classic beer styles, each with its origin, vital statistics, ingredients and how to serve and carbonate each one.

How the styles are organised

This guide covers the major beer style families: ale (16), lager (7), wheat beer (2), sour and wild (4) and strong beer (6). Each style page gives the origin, the typical strength, bitterness and colour, the grain, hops and yeast that define it, and classic commercial examples.

The vital statistics are drawn from the widely used beer style guidelines. They describe the typical range for a style; any individual beer may sit outside them and still be a fine example.

Ales, lagers and everything between

The oldest and broadest split is between ales, fermented warm with top yeast, and lagers, fermented cold with bottom yeast and matured cold. Ales tend to be fruitier and more expressive, lagers cleaner and crisper.

Around them sit the wheat beers, the strong beers, and the sour and wild styles that use bacteria and wild yeast for tartness. Each family has its own logic of ingredients and process.

From style to a real brew

Knowing a style is the first step to brewing or serving it well. The ingredient notes on each page point to the grain, hops and yeast to reach for, and the serving notes cover the carbonation and pour that suit it.

Tasting a benchmark commercial example first is the single most useful thing you can do before attempting a style yourself. Each style page names a few classic examples worth seeking out.

Using the vital statistics

The vital-statistics table on each style page gives the typical strength, bitterness and colour as a range. Those three numbers, alcohol by volume, bitterness in IBU and colour in SRM, are the quickest way to place a beer and to check a recipe against the style.

They are guidelines rather than limits. Plenty of excellent beers sit a little outside the book range for their style, and the ranges themselves shift over time as tastes and the styles evolve.

Related

Sources: BJCP Beer Style Guidelines