Beer and the terms that come with it can be a bit intimidating, not to mention confusing!

Our A to Z guide will help you understand some of the most common terms that you might come across on beer labels or in beery chats.

• A
  • Abby Beer: A beer in the Trappist style.
  • Acetaldehyde: a chemical and byproduct of fermentation that tastes and smells like green apples.
  • Adjunct: any unmalted grain or additional fermentable brewing ingredients. In addition to honey, syrups, and various other sources of fermentable carbohydrates, adjuncts are frequently either rice or maize.
  • Aerobic: An organism, such as top fermenting ale yeast, that needs oxygen to metabolize.
  • Aged: This covers a range of flavors and aromas perceived in an older beer. In reference to how stouts and darker beers with higher alcohol content can acquire sherry-like, vinous flavours and how wild or mixed-fermentation ales can develop more funk and acidity, it typically has a positive meaning. Additionally, it can discuss the variety of smells created by barrel ageing, such as vanilla and caramel.
  • Alcohol: a term used to describe ethanol, the main colourless alcohol found in beer.
  • Alcohol by Volume (ABV): a way to express a solution’s alcohol concentration in terms of the volume of alcohol per volume of beer. To calculate the approximate volumetric alcohol content, subtract the final gravity from the original gravity and divide by 0.0075. For example: 1.050 – 1.012 = 0.038/0.0075 = 5% ABV.
  • Alcoholic: warming alcohol flavours like ethanol. Described as having a vinous and peppery flavour. A beer’s mouthfeel is frequently bigger the higher the ABV it contains. Alcohol can be tasted, smelled, or felt as a sensation.
  • Ale: Beers distinguished by the use of top-fermenting yeast strains, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Compared to the yeast used to create lager beer, top-fermenting yeast works better at warmer temperatures, and its byproducts are more detectable in flavour and fragrance. Esters and fruitiness are frequently present in ales.
  • Ale Yeast: The top fermenting yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae produces more flavour molecules and ferments at warm temperatures (15–21 C).
  • Alpha Acid: One of the two main soft resins that naturally occur in hops (the other is beta acid). The majority of the bitterness in beer comes from iso-alpha acids, which are transformed from alpha acids during wort boiling. Alpha acids can oxidise (go through a chemical transition) as they age, losing some of their bitterness.
  • Amber: Any top- or bottom-fermented beer that is between light and dark in colour and has an amber hue.
  • American lager: A light in colour and highly carbonated lager.
  • APA: American Pale Ale
  • Aromatic hops: Describes additions of hops that happen later in the boiling process. Less time in the boil kettle will result in more fragrant hop characteristics from the hops as opposed to bittering hop characteristics.
  • Astringency: An aspect of beer flavour mostly brought on by tannins, oxidised phenols, and different aldehydes (in stale beer). Astringency, which is sometimes mistaken for dryness, can make the mouth pucker.
  • Attenuation: Attenuation refers to how much of the sugar in the wort was converted to alcohol. A beer with a dryer, less sugary finish.
• B
  • BA: Barrel Aged
  • Barley: In addition to serving as a source of food for both humans and animals, barley is used as a base malt in the creation of beer and some distilled drinks.
  • Barleywine: A very strong ale (8-12%) based on a traditional English beer style. American and British versions differ based on whether they are hop or malt forward, respectively.
  • Barrel:
    • a unit of measurement that is 31 gallons in the US.
    • a wooden container used to ferment, mature, or condition beer. Some of the barrels used by brewers are relatively new, while others have previously been used to house wine or spirits.
  • Berliner weisse: German brewers make this pale, top-fermented wheat beer.
  • Beta Acids: One of the two main soft resins that naturally occur in hops (the other is alpha acid). Beta acid is partially responsible for the preservation properties of beer and makes up a very small portion of its bitterness.
  • Beer: Name given alcohol-containing beverages produced by fermenting grain, specifically malt, and flavored with hops.
  • Biere de garde: French brewers make this strong, bottle-conditioned ale. 
  • Bitter:
    • Bitterness of hops or malt husks; sensation on back of tongue.
    • An English specialty beer, and very much an English term, generally denoting the standard ale—the “session” beer—in an English brewer’s range. They are characterized by a fruitiness, light-to-medium body and an accent on hop aromas more than hop bitters. Colors range from golden to copper. Despite the name, they are not particularly bitter.
  • Bitterness: The perception of a bitter flavour, in beer from iso-alpha-acid in solution (derived from hops). It is measured in International Bitterness Units (IBU). The amount of bitterness in a beer is one of the defining characteristics of a beer style.
  • Bittering Hops: refers to hop additions that happen early in the brewing process, during the boiling stage. Hops will produce more bittering properties as they are boiled for a longer period of time.
  • BJCP: A non-profit organisation called the Beer Judge Certification Programme (BJCP) was established in 1985 to advance beer education, foster a love of authentic beer, and honour beer evaluation and tasting abilities.
  • Black Malt: Partially malted barley roasted at high temperatures.Beer gets its dark colour and roasted flavour from black malt.
  • Blending: The process of combining various batches of beer to get a finished product.
  • Bock: A strong lager beer. Typically brewed to celebrate the approach of spring.
  • Body: The beer’s consistency, thickness, and ability to fill the mouth. The sensation of palate fullness in the mouth ranges from thin- to full-bodied.
  • Boiling: When wort (unfermented beer) is boiled in the brew kettle, a crucial step in the brewing process. One or more hop additions may take place during the boiling process to give the finished beer bittering, hop flavour, and hop scent. Additionally, boiling causes the aggregation of excess or undesirable proteins in the wort (see “hot break”) and the elimination of various volatile substances from the wort, particularly dimethyl sulphide (see below). In addition to sterilising beer, boiling also stops the enzyme’s conversion of proteins to sugars.
  • Bottle Conditioning: A method through which beer naturally carbonates in the bottle due to the purposeful addition of extra wort or sugar, which causes fermentation.
  • Bottom Fermentation: One of the two fundamental fermentation processes distinguished by the propensity of yeast cells to sink to the fermentation vessel’s bottom. Compared to ale yeast, which is top fermenting, lager yeast is said to be bottom fermenting. These types of beers are often referred to as lagers or bottom-fermented beers.
  • Brettanomyces: a type of yeast, or more precisely, a genus of single-celled yeasts, which are crucial to the beer and wine industries because of the sensory flavours they generate. Brettanomyces, also known as “Brett” in casual context, can produce acidity and other sensory qualities that are frequently described as leather, barnyard, horse blanket, and just plain stench. Both positive and unpleasant qualities can be present. It is typical and preferred in several barrel-aged and similarly acidic American-derived styles, including Lambic and Oud Bruin.
  • Brewhouse: The collective equipment used to make beer.
  • Brew Kettle: One of the brewing equipment pieces used to boil the wort (unfermented beer).
  • Bright Beer: Beer ready to be packaged.
  • Bright Beer Tank: a container used to store beer after primary fermentation, where the beer undergoes secondary fermentation, matures, clarifies, and spontaneously carbonates. Also known as a serving tank, secondary tank, and a conditioning tank.
  • Brown Ale: A British-style, top-fermented beer. Brewers make it lightly hopped and flavored with roasted and caramel malt.
  • Byproducts: Desirable and undesirable compounds that are a result of fermentation, mashing, and boiling.
  • Butterscotch: Indicates the presence of Diacetyl. A volatile compound in beer that contributes to a butterscotch flavour, measured in parts per million.
• C
  • California Common: The generic name for steam beer.
  • CAMRA: The CAMpaign for Real Ale. An organization in England that was founded in 1971 to preserve the production of cask-conditioned beers and ales.
  • Carbon Dioxide (CO2): The gaseous by-product of yeast. Beer’s carbonation (bubbles) is caused by carbon dioxide.
  • Carbonation:
    • Sparkle/fizz caused by carbon dioxide, either created during fermentation or injected later.
    • adding carbon dioxide by the following methods to a liquid (like beer):
      • pressurizing a fermentation vessel to capture naturally produced carbon dioxide;
      • injecting the finished beer with carbon dioxide;
      • adding young fermenting beer to finished beer for a renewed fermentation (kraeusening);
      • Prior to packaging, prime (sugar addition to fermented wort) causes a secondary fermentation in the bottle, commonly referred to as “bottle conditioning.”
  • Caramel malt: a malt with a delicious, coppery hue. Crystal or caramel malt gives beer its colour and flavour. The high concentration of non-fermentable sugars in caramel malt sweetens the beer and aids with head retention.
  • Cask: a closed, beer-carrying barrel-shaped container. They are available in a range of sizes and are now frequently constructed of metal. In order to relieve pressure as the beer ferments inside the cask, the bung in a cask of “Real” beer or ale must be made of wood.
  • Cask Conditioning: storing unpasteurized, unfiltered beer in cellars for a few days at around 13 degrees Celsius while the conditioning process is finished and the carbonation develops.
  • Cellaring: Storing or aging beer at a controlled temperature to allow maturing.
  • Chill Haze: When the naturally occurring proteins and tannins in finished beer mix upon cooling to form particles large enough to reflect light or become visible, the result is a murky or hazy appearance.
  • Clovelike: Spicy character reminiscent of cloves; characteristic of some wheat beers, or if excessive, may derive from wild yeast.
  • Collab: Two or more breweries joining together to brew a beer, which is still an effective way to maximize that beer’s potential audience.
  • Colour: The colour or tone of a beer that is largely generated from grains, though occasionally from fruit or other beer ingredients. Darker colours will be seen in beer varieties prepared with caramelised, toasted, or roasted malts or grains. Beer consumers can occasionally, but not always, predict how a beer will taste based on its colour. It’s crucial to remember that beer colour does not correspond to beer’s alcohol content, texture, or calorie content.
  • Conditioning: A step in the brewing process in which beer is matured or aged after initial fermentation to prevent the formation of unwanted flavors and compounds.
  • Conditioning Tank: A vessel in which beer is placed after primary fermentation where the beer matures, clarifies and, is naturally carbonated through secondary fermentation. Also called bright beer tank, serving tank and, secondary tank.
  • Contract Beer/Brewery: A business that hires another brewery to produce some or all of its beer. The contract brewing company handles marketing, sales and distribution of its beer, while generally leaving the brewing and packaging to its producer-brewery.
  • Cream Ale: an American-style beer. Producers brew it to be sweet, with a gold color, and high carbonation.
  • Crisp, crispy: In contrast to “juicy” and “hazy,” “crisp” or “crispy” is a term used to describe lagers and describes how dry and clean they are. “Well-attenuated,” a more technical term, is similar. In the course of fermentation, sugars are attenuated, turning them into alcohol and carbon dioxide; the term “well-attenuated” refers to the amount of sugar that has been retained after fermentation.
  • Crispy boi: A term that can be used to describe the lager counterpart to “hazeboi,” but more often refers to the crisp lager itself. 
  • Cuvee: a large vat used for fermentation.
• D
  • Dank: Frequently used to describe IPAs and some pale ales and is generally understood to imply that the hop flavour has a cannabis-like quality. However, to others, this term is ambiguous and can also imply other meanings, such as the smell of a musty cellar.
  • DDH: Double Dry Hopped.
  • Decoction: a mashing technique that involves taking out a portion of the mash, boiling it, and then adding it back to the mash tun. Frequently repeated in some mashup programmes.
  • Diacetyl: A volatile compound produced by some yeasts which imparts a caramel, nutty or butterscotch flavor to beer. This compound is acceptable at low levels in several traditional beer styles, including: English and Scottish Ales, Czech Pilsners and German Oktoberfest. However, it is often an unwanted or accidental off-flavour.
  • Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS): Low concentrations of DMS can give beer a pleasant, sweet aroma. Higher concentrations of DMS can give off the distinctive flavour and scent of cooked vegetables like cooked maize or celery. Low concentrations are acceptable and typical of several lager beer varieties.
  • DIPA: Double IPA or Imperial India Pale Ale. Double ‘I’
  • Doppelbock: Brewers make this “double” bock darker, sweeter, and higher in alcohol content than bock.
  • Drain pour: A beer so bad you taste it and dump it.
  • Draught/Draft Beer: Instead of cans, bottles, or other packaging, beer is taken from kegs, casks, or serving tanks. Sometimes, beer consumed from a growler shortly after filling is regarded as draught beer.
  • Dry: Refers to the absence of sugar or sweetness in a beverage.
  • Dry Hopping: The late addition of hops to the brewing process to boost the finished beer’s hop scent without dramatically changing its bitterness. Dry hops can be added to the wort in the kettle, whirlpool, hop back, or even later in the process when the beer is fermenting.
  • Dry stout: An Irish style stout
  • Dual Purpose Hops: Hops that are added to provide both bittering and aromatic properties.
• E
  • EBC: European Brewing Convention. An EBC scale is used to indicate colors in malts and beers.
  • Esters: volatile flavour molecules that add to the fruity scent and flavour of beer by forming during fermentation when organic acids and alcohols combine. Ales frequently contain esters.
  • Estery: Aroma or flavor reminiscent of flowers or fruits.
  • Export: Any beer produced for the express purpose of exportation. For example: export-style German lagers.
• F
  • Fermentation: the process through which yeast converts fermentable glucose chemically into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide gas in roughly equal amounts. Top fermentation, which results in ales, and bottom fermentation, which results in lagers, are the two primary fermentation techniques used in brewing.
  • Fermentable Sugars: Sugars that can be consumed by yeast cells which in turn will produce ethanol alcohol and CO2.
  • Final specific gravity: pecific gravity of a beer when fermentation is complete (that is, all fermentable sugars have been fermented).
  • Filtration: The passage of a liquid through a permeable or porous substance to remove solid matter in suspension, often yeast.
  • Fining: the practice of adding clarifying agents to beer during secondary fermentation, such as isinglass, gelatin, silica gel, or Polyvinyl Polypyrrolidone (PVPP), to speed the precipitation of suspended particles like yeast, proteins, or tannins.
  • Finish: the lingering aftertaste that results after an alcohol beverage is swallowed.
  • Flocculation: The tendency of suspended wort or beer particles to group into big masses and settle out. Protein and tannin particles will flocculate out of the fermenter, coolship, or kettle during hot or cold breaks during the brewing process. Depending on the yeast strain, yeast cells will flocculate to varied degrees during and after fermentation, which will impact both the beer’s fermentation and filtering.
  • Foeder-aged or foedered: Essentially the same as barrel-aging, but in a wooden vessel at least three times the size of your typical oak barrel.
  • Forced Carbonation: The beer is placed into a sealed (or soon-to-be sealed) container and carbonation is rapidly added. Under high pressure, the CO2 is absorbed into the beer.
  • Fresh Hopping: The addition of freshly harvested hops that have not yet been dried to different stages of the brewing process. Fresh hopping adds unique flavours and aromas to beer that are not normally found when using hops that have been dried and processed per usual. Synonymous with wet hopping.
  • Fruity/Estery: Flavour and aroma of bananas, strawberries, apples, or other fruit; from high-temperature fermentation and certain yeast strains.
  • Funky: more colloquial catch-all for the expressions of tartness and acidity in mixed-fermentation and spontaneous-fermentation beers. More specific terms include aromas of “horse blanket,” “barnyard,” “goat” and “hay.”
• G
  • Grainy Tasting or smelling like cereal or raw grains.
  • Gravity: A measure of the density of a liquid or solid compared to that of water ((1.000 at 4°C)).
  • Grist Ground malt and grains ready for mashing.
  • Growler: A jug- or pail-like container once used to carry draught beer bought by the measure at the local tavern. Growlers are usually 1L or 2L (68 oz) in volume and made of glass. Brewpubs often serve growlers to sell beer to go. Often a customer will pay a deposit on the growler but can bring it back again and again for a refill. 
  • Gruit: An old-fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit.
  • Gusher: A sugar-packed sour or IPA that explodes in its can, and is generally regarded as… dangerous.
• H
  • Hand Pump: A device for dispensing cask-conditioned draught beer using a pump operated by hand. The use of a hand pump allows the draught beer to be served without the use of pressurized carbon dioxide.
  • Haul: Your “haul” is the beers you bought/got.
  • Hazebro, hazeboi:  An IPA obsessive. 
  • Hazy: From a touch of cloudiness to an opaque thickness, this refers to a characteristic lack of clarity in a New England–style IPA, thanks to the yeasts and grains used. It can also be a noun, and almost never refers to more traditionally hazy styles, like hefeweizens.
  • Head: The foam that forms on top of your beer when poured.
  • Head Retention: The foam stability of a beer is measured, in seconds, by the time required for a 1-inch foam collar to collapse.
  • Heat Exchangers: Used to cool hot wort before fermentation.
  • Hefe: A term that means “yeast” in German. used to indicate that the beer is bottled or kegged with the yeast in suspension (hefe-weiss) most frequently in association with wheat (weiss) brews. These foamy, hazy beers are extremely refreshing.
  • Hops: Herb added to boiling wort or fermenting beer to impart a bitter aroma and flavour.
  • Hoppy: Aroma of hops, does not include hop bitterness.
  • Hopping: The addition of hops to un-fermented wort or fermented beer.
  • Hophead: Someone who appreciates highly hopped beers such as IPAs.
  • Hot Break: The flocculation of proteins and tannins during wort boiling.
  • Hydrometer: A glass instrument used to measure the specific gravity of liquids as compared to water, consisting of a graduated stem resting on a weighted float.
• I
  • Ice beer: when brewers freeze beer and remove the ice, creating a higher alcohol content.
  • Imperial: A beer that is stronger than the original base style. Some beers may be called doubles or triples instead of imperial but they are similar connotations. (Imperial IPA, has a double “I”, aka Double IPA or DIPA)
  • Imperial stout: a very strong, dark, hoppy black ale
  • India Pale Ale/IPA: Producers originally brewed an ale in England for British troops in India during the 1700s. They highly hopped it to survive a voyage that could last as long as six months.
  • Inoculate: The introduction of a microbe such as yeast or microorganisms such as lactobacillus into surroundings capable of supporting its growth.
  • International Bitterness Units (IBU): The measure of the bittering substances in beer (analytically assessed as milligrams of isomerized alpha acid per litre of beer, in ppm). This measurement depends on the style of beer. Light lagers typically have an IBU rating between 5-10 while big, bitter India Pale Ales can often have an IBU rating between 50 and 70.
  • Isinglass: A gelatinous substance made from the swim bladder of certain fish that is sometimes added to beer to help clarify and stabilize the finished product.
• J
  • Juicy: A prime example of terms entering the lexicon by way of social media, “juicy” became the most common catchall term to describe sweeter, fruitier New England–style IPAs.
• K
  • Keg: A cylindrical container, usually constructed of steel or sometimes aluminum, commonly used to store, transport and serve beer under pressure. 
  • Kettle sour: Whereas many traditional sour ales are made with spontaneous or mixed fermentation, kettle-souring is a more controlled process in which the brewer adds the bacteria Lactobacillus to the unfermented wort while it’s in the kettle in order to manipulate the beer’s tartness and acidity.
  • Kolsch:  A lagered ale. The opposite of steam beer. Ale yeast is fermented at cooler lager temperatures.
• L
  • Lace/Lacing: The lacelike pattern of foam sticking to the sides of a glass of beer once it has been partly or totally emptied. 
  • Lactobacillus: a bacteria or microbe. Due to its ability to transform the unfermented carbohydrates found in beer into lactic acid, lactobacillus is most frequently regarded as a beer spoiler. For the purpose of giving some brands’ flavour profiles a desired acidic sourness, some brewers purposefully add Lactobacillus to finished beer.
  • Lager: Any beer that is bottom-fermented with yeast at a cooler temperature is referred to as a lager. Lagers are often fermented and served at cooler temperatures than ales and are most frequently associated with crisp, clean flavours.
  • Lager Yeast: Saccharomyces pastorianus is a bottom fermenting yeast that ferments in cooler temperatures (7-12 C) and often lends sulfuric compounds.
  • Lagering: Bottom-fermented beer is kept for a variety of lengths of time in cold cellars at temperatures close to freezing, during which the yeast cells and proteins settle down and the beer’s flavour develops.
  • Lambic: a naturally-fermented Belgium beer. Brewers don’t add yeast but allow naturally-occurring yeast in the environment ferment the wort. They usually give it a fruit flavor.
  • Lauter Tun: A large vessel fitted with a false slotted bottom (like a colander) and a drain spigot in which the mash is allowed to settle and sweet wort is removed from the grains through a straining process. In some smaller breweries, the mash tun can be used for both mashing and lautering.
  • Lautering: The process of separating the sweet wort (pre-boil) from the spent grains in a lauter tun or with other straining apparatus.
  • Lightstruck (Skunked): Appears in both the aroma and flavour in beer and is caused by exposure of beer in light-coloured bottles or beer in a glass to ultra-violet or fluorescent light.
  • Liquor: The name given, in the brewing industry, to water used for mashing and brewing, especially natural or treated water containing high amounts of calcium and magnesium salts.
• M
  • Maibock: a sweet pale German lager. Brewers make it for spring consumption.
  • Malt: Processed barley that has been steeped in water, germinated on malting floors or in germination boxes or drums, and later dried in kilns for the purpose of stopping the germination and converting the insoluble starch in barley to the soluble substances and sugars in malt.
  • Mash: A mixture of ground malt (and possibly other grains or adjuncts) and hot water that forms the sweet wort after straining.
  • Mash Tun The vessel in which grist is soaked in water and heated in order to convert the starch to sugar and to extract the sugars, colors, flavors and other solubles from the grist.
  • Mashing: The process of mixing crushed malt (and possibly other grains or adjuncts) with hot water to convert grain starches to fermentable sugars and non-fermentable carbohydrates that will add body, head retention and other characteristics to the beer. Mashing also extracts colours and flavours that will carry through to the finished beer and also provides for the degradation of haze-forming proteins. Mashing requires several hours and produces a sugar-rich liquid called wort.
  • Medicinal: Chemical or phenolic character; can be the result of wild yeast, contact with plastic, or sanitiser residue.
  • Metallic: Tastes tinny, bloodlike or coinlike; may come from bottle caps.
  • Milkshake (Smoothie/Slushie): A “milkshake,” “smoothie,” or “slushie” beer, typically an IPA or a sour, acquires this mouthfeel from adjuncts such fruit purées and various sugar sources, particularly lactose (or milk sugar), giving it even more body than a hazy IPA. Lactose offers the finished beer both sweetness and body because yeast cannot ferment it.
  • Mixed fermentation: Common for sours and traditional Belgian styles, this refers to fermentation by way of a combination of brewer’s yeast and wild yeast, like Brettanomyces. When it’s all wild yeasts doing the fermenting, that’s known as “wild fermentation” or “spontaneous fermentation.” 
  • Mouthfeel: The textures one perceives in a beer. Includes carbonation, fullness and aftertaste.
  • Musty: Moldy, mildewy character that can be the result of cork or bacterial infection in a beer. It can be perceived in both taste and aroma.
• N
  • Nitrogen:
  • When used for the carbonation of beer, Nitrogen contributes a thick creamy mouthfeel, different from the mouthfeel you get from CO2.
  • NEIPA: New England IPA. An IPA that has more tropical/fruit forward flavour. Is also typically very hazy.
  • Noble Hops: Hop varietals from the past that are highly valued for their distinctive flavour and aroma. These have historically only been grown in four small regions of Europe:
    • Hallertau in Bavaria, Germany
    • Saaz in Zatec, Czech Republic
    • Spalt in Spalter, Germany
    • Tettnang in the Lake Constance region, Germany
• O
  • Oats: Brewers sometimes use oats to give beer a malty flavor and smooth mouthfeel.
  • Oktoberfest: a beer festival held annually in Münich for 16 days and nights in late September and early October. It originally celebrate a royal wedding in 1810. It’s also a style of beer. There are only 6 offical oktoberfest breweries.
  • Original Gravity (OG): The specific gravity of wort before fermentation. A measure of the total amount of solids that are dissolved in the wort as compared to the density of water, which is conventionally given as 1.000 and higher. Synonym: Starting gravity; starting specific gravity; original wort gravity.
  • Oxidation: A chemical reaction in which one of the reactants (beer, food) undergoes the addition of or reaction with oxygen or an oxidizing agent.
  • Oxidized: Stale, winy flavour or aroma of wet cardboard, paper, rotten pineapple sherry and many other variations.
• P
  • Package: A general term for the containers used to market beverages. Packaged beer is generally sold in bottles and cans. Beer sold in kegs is usually called draught beer.
  • Palate: The top part of the inside of your mouth and is generally associated with how humans taste.
  • pH: Abbreviation for potential Hydrogen, used to express the degree of acidity and alkalinity in an aqueous solution, usually on a logarithmic scale ranging from 1-14, with 7 being neutral, 1 being the most acidic, and 14 being the most alkaline.
  • Phenols: A class of chemical compounds perceptible in both aroma and taste. Some phenolic flavours and aromas are desirable in certain beer styles, for example, German-style wheat beers in which the phenolic components are derived from the yeast used, or Smoke beers in which the phenolic components are derived from smoked malt. Higher concentrations in beer are often due to the brewing water, infection of the wort by bacteria or wild yeasts, cleaning agents, or crown and can linings. Phenolic sensory attributes include clovey, herbal, medicinal or pharmaceutical (band-aid).
  • Pitching: The addition of yeast to the wort once it has cooled down to desirable temperatures.
  • Porter: A dark ale, often confused with stout, but with more toasted and sweeter qaulaities than stout.
  • Primary Fermentation: The first stage of fermentation is carried out in open or closed containers and lasts from two to twenty days during which time the bulk of the fermentable sugars are converted to ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.
  • Priming: The addition of small amounts of fermentable sugars to fermented beer before racking or bottling to induce a renewed fermentation in the bottle or keg and thus carbonate the beer.
• R
  • Racking: The process of transferring beer from one vessel to another, especially into the final package or keg.
  • Rauchbier: A smoked beer. Made with smoked malt.
  • Real Ale: A style of beer found primarily in England, where it has been championed by the consumer rights group called the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). Generally defined as beers that have undergone a secondary fermentation in the container from which they are served and that are served without the application of carbon dioxide.
  • Reinheitsgebot: “Purity Law” originating in Bavaria in 1516 and now applied to all German brewers making beer for consumption in their own country. It requires that only malted grains, hops, yeast and water may be used in the brewing.
  • Residual Sugar: Any leftover sugar that the yeast did not consume during fermentation.
  • RIS: Russian Imperial Stout. A stout brewed for export to Russia. Typically high ABV and IBU.
  • Roasted malt: Gives off dark coffee flavour, and dark red colours to beer.
  • Roasty: A defining characteristic in traditional stouts, porters and in some dark lagers, “roasty” captures that espresso or black coffee flavor and astringency.
• S
  • Saccharomyces: The genus of single-celled yeasts that ferment sugar and are used in the making of alcoholic beverages and bread. Yeasts of the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces pastorianus are commonly used in brewing.
  • Saison: a Belgian-style mildly sour ale with spice or herb flavors.
  • Scotch ale: strong, very dark, thick, creamy copper-colored ale.
  • Secondary Fermentation:
    • The second, slower stage of fermentation for top fermenting beers, and lasting from a few weeks to many months, depending on the type of beer.
    • A renewed fermentation in bottles or casks and initiated by priming or by adding fresh yeast.
  • Sediment: The solid waste that collects at the bottom of fermenters, containers used for conditioning, and beer bottles that have undergone bottle conditioning.
  • Session Beer: A beer of lighter alcohol of which one might expect to drink more than one serving in a sitting.
  • Sessionable: A lighter, lower-ABV beer you can consume multiples of in a single drinking “session.
  • Shelf life: Describes the number of days a beer will retain it’s peak drinkability.
  • Smokey: It might be difficult to picture a beer as “smokey” till you’ve experienced the world of rauchbiers, which are unquestionably in vogue. These smoked malt-based beers can mimic the flavours and aromas of a campfire or bacon.
  • Solventlike: Due to high fermentation temperatures, this flavour and aromatic profile typically resembles acetone or lacquer thinner.
  • Sour/Acidic: a flavour that is said to be tart and acidic. Sometimes the outcome of an intentional bacterial effect by the brewer, from either wild or introduced bacteria like lactobacillus and pediococcus.
  • Sparging: In lautering, an operation consisting of spraying the spent mash grains with hot water to retrieve the liquid malt sugar and extract remaining in the grain husks.
  • Steam beer: An aled lager. Opposite of a Kolsch style. Lager yeast is fermented at warmer ale temperatures.
  • Sulfur: Aroma reminiscent of rotten eggs or burnt matches; a by-product of some yeasts or a beer becoming light struck.
  • Stout: A dark ale, with typical characteristics of roast coffee and dark chocolate.
  • Sweet: Taste like sugar; experienced on the front of the tongue.
• T
  • Tannins: a collection of organic substances found in some grains of cereal and other plants. The hop cone contains tannins. Additionally known as “hop tannin” to differentiate it from tannins derived from malted barley. The majority of the tannin in malt comes from the barley husks, yet hop tannins and malt tannins are chemically unrelated. In severe cases, tannins from either source may be experienced as having a flavour or sensation akin to drinking extremely steeped black tea.
  • Tart: Taste sensation cause by acidic flavors.
  • Top Fermentation: One of the two fundamental fermentation processes distinguished by yeast cells’ propensity to rise to the surface of the fermentation vessel. Lager yeast ferments at the bottom, while ale yeast ferments at the top. These types of beers are often referred to as ales or top-fermented beers.
  • Trappist: A Catholic order of monks and nuns who happen to be really good at brewing beer. Originally, they were made for the community members and to sell to fund the monasteries operations. Only 11 monastery breweries exist today with six in Belgium, two in Netherlands, and one in Austria, Italy, and the US. This is protected term, and a Trappist beer can only be produced by these locations.

• U
  • Umami: the flavour of glutamic acid (MSG). Beers properly aged on yeast sediment can develop umami-like character
  • Unfiltered: Beer that has not bee nfiltered to remove yeast.

• V
  • Vienna lager: An amber lager.
  • Vinous: Reminiscent of wine.
  • Viscosity: the thickness of beer.
  • Volatile Compounds: Chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature which causes large numbers of molecules to evaporate and enter the surrounding air.
• W:
  • Water: one of the beer’s four ingredients. As much as 90% of some beers are made up of water. Some brewing centres gained notoriety throughout the world for a specific style of beer, and the pH and mineral content of the brewing water had a significant impact on the distinctive flavours of those beers. Due to its hard (higher PH) water, Burton is known for its bitter brews, while Edinburgh’s pale ales, Dortmund’s pale lager, and Plzen’s Pilsner Urquell are known for their soft (lower PH) water.
  • West Coast IPA: traditionally known for their bold hop aroma, high bitterness, and citrus and piney notes and flavors.
  • Wet Hopping: the addition of newly harvested, still-wet hops at various stages of the brewing process. Wet hopping gives beer distinctive flavours and smells that are not often present when using hops that have been dried and processed in the conventional manner.
  • Wheat beer: Beer that is made from a mash that includes wheat.
  • Whirlpool:
    • a technique that involves swirling the wort until a vortex forms, then collecting hot break material in the centre of the kettle.
    • a piece of equipment used in breweries to separate hot break trub from boiling wort.
  • Winy: Sherrylike flavor; can be caused by warm fermentation or oxidation in very old beer.
  • Wit/White Beer: A wheat beer spiced with corriander and orange peel.
  • Wort: The solution of grain sugars strained from the mash tun. At this stage, regarded as “sweet wort”, later as brewed wort, fermenting wort and finally beer.
• Y
  • Yeast: A micro-organism of the fungus family. Genus Saccharomyces. The natural malt sugars are transformed into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeast during fermentation. The Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observed yeast for the first time under a microscope in 1680; in 1867, Louis Pasteur found that yeast cells lack chlorophyll and that they could only grow in an environment containing both nitrogen and carbon.
  • Yeast Pitching: The point in the brewing process in which yeast is added to cool wort prior to fermentation.
• Z
  • Zymurgy: The branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation processes, as in brewing.